BAKER Family of Edgmond/Ightfield

The National Archives hold most of the registers.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Shropshire Archives have some meeting minutes and cemetery records.

http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/archives.nsf

Access To Archives is the easiest way to find any relevant documents.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/results.aspx?tab=2&Page=1&Contain...

The Religious Society Of Friends have their own indexes of the registers open to the public but not avaiable, as far as I know, online. They are not in the non-conformist indexes released last year.

Any prosecution of Quakers for their beliefs will be recorded in the assizes.

You are probably best off contacting them via their website.

http://www.quaker.org.uk/

The surviving parish registers of Edgmond start in 1669, and were printed and indexed by the Shropshire Parish Register Society. Copies will be in various repositories, certainly at Shropshire Archives and the Society of Genealogists in London; also perhaps on a commercial cd.

I seem to recall an earlier query on these Barkers that was inconclusive, and that there was no evidence of a connection with the parish.

Turning now to the Ightfield branch of the very large family of Mainwaring (originating in 11th or 12th century in Cheshire), their pedigree was recorded in the Heralds' Visitation of Shropshire, 1623. This was printed by the Harleian Society and a cd version is, I believe, now accessible online. The edition was, however, based on secondary sources and is thought to differ from the original. (I saw this briefly in 1990 and could see a major difference straightaway).

The family is covered in various manuscript pedigree collections on film at Shropshire Archives, such as those of the 19th century brothers George and Joseph Morris. You can e-mail for a copy to archives@shropshire.gov.uk but this will be expensive at £1-00 a page plus time.

I have my own electronic sketch, largely without dates which might be got to you.

As for Baker, I assume that your interest in the marriage of Margaret, daughter of Sir George Mainwaring and Sir Richard Baker. He was not a Shropshire man but of Sissinghurst Castle in Kent.

Now, someone seems to have postulated (on what basis I do not know) that they had a younger son Sampson who left issue in the Bridgnorth area of Shropshire. This is set out in the pedigree of Bellis-Dod-Baker in Burke's Landed Gentry, 18th edition, volume 3 (1972); which pedigree has caused me grave doubts in the past. It has all the look of a modern compilation and the constituent families were not the usual, traditional landed gentry.

More perhaps anon. But do you want to explain your interest?

I fear that you may be trying to re-invent the wheel. It seems clear from the web that there has been a lot of US interest in Bakers in or near Edgmond. A Google search (not exact phrase) against baker quaker edgmond should bring up close to the top a link to a site (probably with the heading Erroneous Baker Genealogy) which summarises things; and provides some detaled research.

The "Erroneous" refers to old claims that the settler was descended from Sir Richard Baker of Sissinghurst. I was pleased to see that the site owner agrees that this is nonsense.

I still did not note what reaal evidence there is that the settler came from Edgmond.

Thanks for the replies!

What is my interest you ask? Well, I descend from Sarah Baker who was born about 1666 in Edgmond, Shropshire, England who married Charles Whitaker in what is now Delaware Co. Pennsylvania.  Sarah's brother Joseph founded the city of Edgmont (with a "T") in Delaware Co. as they named it after their hometown in England.  There's no doubt that they were from Edgmond, England!

We have found a few Baker records in Shropshire, but I intend to find more to prove who her father, grandfather,  great-grandfather, etc., are.  I also want to find Sarah's birth/baptismal record in Edgmond as I only know her exact deathdate which was July 6, 1699.   I'm well aware of the arguments made against Richard Baker and Margaret Mainwaring being the great-grandfather of Sarah.  There are published books on the this Baker family in the USA which have their share of mistakes, but these arguments have their flaws as well.  This book states that Sarah's father was John, grandfather was John, great-grandfather was Richard (from Sissinghurst, Kent, England), but other records state that Sarah's father was Robert.  One person told me that Robert was the son of John and grandson of Richard.  I just want to learn about Sarah's family in Edgmond, who her father was for sure and all previous generations as well whether there is any Royal lineage through the Mainwarings or not.  

Richard Baker was indeed from Sissinghurst, Kent, England, but Margaret Mainwaring was born in Ightfield, Shropshire, England.  I've read conflicting information regarding their children's names so I hope to locate such records to reveal what is correct.  I know Richard was buried at St. Bride's in London, but I don't know about Margaret which is something else I need to learn.  

By the way, we have also found a few Baker records in nearby Newport.  I've also found records of John Baker, supposedly the son of Richard, in Massachusetts and apparently died there.  The published Baker family book has him as dying in Edgmond, England.  Now with so much conflicting information on my Baker lineage, I would like to learn what is correct.  

I'll check out your links!

Thanks!

Bill

Been looking at my Baker's but cannot help, on my side it seems they came from Dudley and l can only get back to John Baker B1816 in Dudley..  On my hubby's side got back as far as Anne Baker B1783 in Cannock.  Wishing you well in your search/

Gena,

I've just seen your post about Bakers in Cannock in 1783. I've recently been looking at the Cannock BT's and wonder if you know that most of the Bakers born and married in Cannock were born in Great Wyrley rather than Cannock itself? I would look at the Shareshill PR's as well for the time period you're looking at.

Judy

Although Bill’s enthusiasm has to be admired any record of the baptism of the “required” Sarah simply does not survive in registers of Edgmond or Newport.

In cases like this one has to look for sideways evidence such as a reference in a Will that has been proved. Many Quaker families, by the way, tended to use the central, PCC (Prerogative Court of Canterbury rather than the local diocesan or “peculiar” probate Court. The PCC database can be searched online at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doucumentsonline . Thinking of the possibility of references in a Will of some family other than Baker, you can search by place (preferably parish) without surname for a span of years. It would cost £3-50 to buy each Will online but the whole thing can be done and downloaded in five minutes, at least in UK.

As regards any connection of Edgmond Bakers with those in (then very distant) Kent one has to ask why on earth should there be one. You can enter Baker alone into IGI for Salop. There are 4,599 entries of baptisms, although a large proportion represents repetitive and amateur ones. But you could scan all the early ones just to get a feel of the spread of the surname – in no way a single family – across the county. Even without the IGI there were substantial yeoman or lesser gentry families in Hanwood and Worfield, just for two.

As regards things seen in print in US you have to question what was the source. A true tradition brought over with the original settlers which has been faithfully preserved without embellishment, or a much later flight of fancy that has gained authority? Personally I consider a descent from Sir Richard or any other member of the Kent family as most unlikely.

Turning to Margaret Mainwaring, I can readily see eight lines of descent for her from King Edward I. Two via Sir Robert Corbet, five via his wife Elizabeth Vernon and the latter’s mother Lady AnneTalbot; and one earlier up the Mainwaring line via a daughter of John, 1^st (parliamentary) Baron Dudley and above him, Ralph, 1^st Earl of Stafford.

Note however that Margaret is not shown as Sir Richard’s wife or mother of his children in a major source. To explore some of these major lines you could take out a short-term subscription to www.stirnet.com . A superbly researched site, clearly laid out, with hyperlinks between families.

Bit more for Bill. A Google search against the combination of [ sir richard baker edgmond ] throws up a site seemingly called Quaker Links. An item going back to 1998 or so refers to someone having seen the Will of Robert Baker "who died in Edgmond in 1671"; and that this includes a reference to a Sarah.

As I cannot see this Will as proved in the PCC between 1670 / 1675 it may have been proved in the diocesan court at Lichfield. If so, and surviving, it would be at Lichfield Record Office.

We can suggest how to get a search made and obtain a copy; but as the 1998 correspondence seems to emanate from USA might it not be best to explore all this earlier research over on your side? (I did comment earlier on wheels and their re-invention).

Also clear from the above item is the degree of doubt that Sir Richard is in any way an ancestor.

And more.

The same Google search terms bring up a Rootsweb item that contains a full, literal transcript of Robert Baker's Will.

To be noted: no reference to anyone named Richard or Margaret.

Correction. That Will does refer to a daughter Margaret. But no son Richard (when there was ample chance so to name one if Robert had been son or grandson of Sir Richard).

Message for Judy.  Thanks for that will look into it