Well… maybe not candlestickmakers. But Bakers… lots and lots and lots of Bakers! All the way back to 1635 for sure and who knows how much farther back than that???
Turns out that Louisa Baker Cottrell, my great great grandmother, is descended from a long and marvelous line that we can trace back at least to 1607 when Alexander Baker was born in London. He was a ropemaker in England and came to America in 1635 at the age of 28, with his wife Elizabeth, age 23, and daughters Elizabeth, age 3, and Christian, age 1, on the ship the Elizabeth and Ann. His son Samuel was born in 1638 in Massachusetts; Samuel’s son William was born in 1675 in Massachusetts; William’s son Thomas was born in 1710 or 1711 in Pennsylvania (and is reported to have died when the gunpowder he was making for the Americans for the Revolutionary War exploded in 1777); Thomas’s son David was born in 1749, probably in Virginia — he was a corporal in the Revolutionary War and fought in the Battles of Brandywine, White Plains, Princeton, and Trenton (where his brother was killed), and was mustered out in 1778 from Valley Forge; David’s son Martin was born in 1797 in North Carolina (probably in the town now called Bakersville after David Baker); and Martin’s daughter Louisa was born around 1826 in North Carolina.
Martin and several of his children, including Louisa and her brother Josiah, moved to Parker County, Texas in the 1850s. We just located the record of Louisa’s marriage to George W. Cottrell (also spelled Cotrell) in Johnson County, Texas. They were married on January 29, 1855, and their firstborn was my great grandfather, Martin Gilbert Cottrell, born in Parker County on September 30, 1855. When George made his claim for 160 acres in Parker County in 1861, one of his witnesses was his brother-in-law Josiah A. Baker.
There are scores and scores of Baker descendants out there who claim descent from David or Alexander. Lots and lots of new cousins to touch base with. What fun!