The death of a son
You can’t help but wonder what dreams and plans there were for that boy.
He was born 190 years ago yesterday, on the 13th of June 1824. His parents, Josias and Nancy (Parks) Baker named him William H.1 — and nobody today knows what the H stood for.
He was likely born in Monroe County, Indiana. His North Carolina-born parents had moved there with his mother’s family before 1820,2 and they stayed there until the 1850s when — as was true of so many others — you could write “Gone to Texas” after their names.3
William wasn’t the first-born child of this couple. He had three older sisters — Mary, called Polly, born in 1817; Elizabeth M., sometimes called Milly, born in 1819; and Nancy Caroline, called Caroline, born in 1822.4 But he was the first-born son.
And perhaps especially in farm families like the Bakers, and perhaps even more especially in families with many daughters, a son occupies a special place.
You can’t help but think William’s place became even more special when the next child arrived — another girl, Martha, in 1826.5 And even if his special place was a little diluted when the next baby, born in 1829, was a boy, given the name John T. Baker,6 you can’t help but think it became just that much more precious to that family when they lost John, only 14 months old, in May of 1830.7
But William grew and thrived and managed to be recorded as one of those tick marks on the census records. The family in 1830 consisted of one adult male, aged 40-50 (Josias), one adult female aged 30-40 (Nancy), all their many daughters — two females aged 10-14 (Polly and Elizabeth), one female aged 5-9 (Caroline) and one female aged 0-4 (Martha) — and just that one boy, aged 5-9.8
He welcomed two more younger siblings. Rebecca was born in 1831 and Barsheba in 1834.9 He might have danced at the wedding of his sister Polly to Isaac Payne in 183610
Did the family start to breathe easier when William became a teenager in 1837?
When he turned 14 in 1838?
You can’t help but wonder, did they celebrate his birthday when he turned 15 in 1839?
Because you can’t help but wonder what plans and dreams those parents saw when they saw their boy growing up tall and strong and so very close to manhood.
And you can’t help but wonder what dreams and plans died when William died.
The Family Bible offers no details beyond the date. 30 August 1839.11 Fifteen years old. Ten years after his brother John. Ten years before his sister Martha.12
There’s no record of what caused William’s death.
No record of where William was buried.
And nothing, beyond our imaginations, to tell us exactly what dreams and plans died with that boy, born on a June day 190 years ago yesterday.
RIP, cousin William.
SOURCES
- Baker Family Bible, 1787-1878; The Holy Bible (Philadelphia : Jesper Harding, printer, 1846), births column, entry for William H. Baker; Bible Records Collection; Dallas Public Library, Dallas, Texas. ↩
- 1820 U.S. census, Monroe County, Indiana, population schedule, p. 117 (stamped), line 36, Josiah Baker; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 November 2009); citing National Archive microfilm publication M33, roll 14. ↩
- Josias first appears in Texas records on the tax rolls in 1853. Ellis County, Texas, 1853 Tax Assessment List, p.1, entries for Josias Baker; Texas Comptroller’s Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,282,181. ↩
- Baker Family Bible, births column. ↩
- Ibid. ↩
- Ibid. ↩
- Ibid., deaths column. ↩
- 1830 U.S. census, Monroe County, Indiana, p. 149 (penned), line 12, Josiah Baker; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 November 2009); citing National Archive microfilm publication M19, roll 30. ↩
- Ibid., births column. ↩
- Monroe County, Indiana, Marriage Record A, 1818-1840, pp. 140-141, entry for Isaac Payne and Mary P. Baker, 11 November 1835; Monroe County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, Bloomington; FHL microfilm 1,295,699, Item 1. ↩
- Baker Family Bible, deaths column. ↩
- Ibid. ↩
You’re lucky to have the family bible, Judy. The only mention I have found of one of my great-grandmother’s step-brothers is in two letters she wrote. Charley Clasby was born between July 1870 and July 71 and died before 1880.
We really are lucky, Ginny, and even luckier that Josias’ descendants donated the Bible to preserve it.
I am one of the fortunate ones to have copies of journal pages written by my 2nd great-grandfather, Isaac Newton Carr. In one of his entries, dated January 11, 1879, he wrote about his son, Ezra, dying from what they thought was “the diphtheria croup” — six days shy of his fifth birthday. The journal entry was very long and sorrowful. It even detailed little Ezra’s last words. It was all I could do not to let my tears fall on his journal page.
I’ve finally started a blog to capture a lot of Isaac’s more interesting journal entries beginning with his service in the Union Army in 1861. I’ve got a long way to go. There are 29 journals preserved, which run from 1861-62 and 1865-1923. They document his war experiences followed by his life as an Iowa farmer and businessman. This is a truly remarkable collection and I’m blessed to have found it.
Wow… What a fabulous find, Carole, even with the sad parts…
Yes, it is.
By the way, I see that your SLIG class is almost sold out this first day of registration. Congratulations! I’ve never seen three SLIG courses sold out within the first couple hours. That’s a record! I remembered that you promoted the DNA courses in your blog. One is already sold out and the one I signed up for only has 6 seats left.
Yes, the SLIG lineup for 2015 is truly amazing — and the seats are going going gone! in many classes. Glad you got into the one that you wanted.