You never know what will be the next donation to the Archives, or where it will come from. In this latest blog post from the Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, photograph assistant Bettina Helms tells the story of how we acquired several new images of the Baker family of Winchester.
In June, Rebeca Thibodeau of Ocala, Florida contacted the Archives after she had purchased a framed set of eight pictures of Henry Baker family members at a church rummage sale. After researching the family, she realized they were from the Winchester area. Would we like to have them?
Henry Baker had emigrated from Germany to Winchester in the eighteenth century and we already had a copy of his naturalization certificate in the Archives, so we said yes.
The pictures arrived in mid-July, and proved to be copies of five drawings and three photographs. Information enclosed with the pictures indicated that they were Heinrich Becher (sometimes spelled Becker, Bacher, and other variations) who was later Henry Baker; his wife Maria Elizabeth Fink Baker; their son Henry William Baker; his wife Catherine Miller Baker; their son George Washington Baker; his second wife Sarah Jane Hartman Baker; their son William Hartman Baker; and Mary Riviera Pierce Baker.
The first two pictures of Heinrich/Henry and his wife were probably copied from charcoal drawings highlighted with chalk. The next two, Henry William and Catherine, were originally either in the same medium or pastel work. George W. Baker’s original is a little harder to figure out – suggestions of craquelure on the lower end hint that it may have been a “Primitive” oil painting. The exact method of reproduction is also uncertain, possibly photogravure. The last three are definitely reproduced from photographs.
How did they come to be in Ocala, Florida? William H. and Mary had a daughter Sara, who married Thomas Jesse Holt of Savannah, Georgia in 1896. Their daughter, Harriet, married a Louis Connell in 1935. The Connells later settled in Ocala.
At any rate, the Archives now have not only Mr. Baker’s naturalization certificate, but also a picture of what he looked like at about that period, along with three generations of descendants. A very nice find!
To learn more about the Stewart Bell Jr. Archives visit our website or come to the Archives during opening hours: Monday to Wednesday, 1pm to 8pm and Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm.
Image credit: Heinrich Becher/Henry Baker, Henry Baker Family Papers, 1458 THL, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Handley Regional Library and Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society.