FIRST Documented Burial in Baker Cemetery - Parker County, TX
N 32° 35.064 W 097° 43.643
14S E 619441 N 3605929
A Texas Historical Marker at the Baker Baptist Church, 1912 Baker Cut Off Rd, Weatherford, TX, indicates that the first burial in the nearby Baker Cemetery was that of Elizabeth Baker, in 1854. Her son, Josiah, founded the Baker community.
Waymark Code: WMYAXH
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/22/2018
Views: 1
This cemetery was long-neglected, and kudos goes to the Abandoned Cemetery Association of Parker County for restoring it. Mrs. Baker's marble headstone was among those that were broken, probably by vandals, but its two pieces have been rejoined and the marker has been reset in its holder. Mrs. Baker is buried next to her husband, Martin, who traveled to Arkansas to retrieve her body after she died there. A hand, pointing to Heaven, is depicted at the top of the headstone, and the inscription is:
Elizebeth, [sic]
Wife of
M. Baker
Died
July 21, 1854
Aged
57 Ys. 4 Ms. 3Ds.
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The 2002 Texas Historical Marker is a third of a mile south of the cemetery, and it provides some history of the Baker community, which this cemetery served:
Settlement in this part of Parker County began in earnest in the 1850s and the county was formally established in 1855. Josiah and Nancy Catherine "Kate" Baker, their four children, Josiah's parents and Kate's mother came to this area in 1854. The community that grew up around their homestead came to be called Baker. A general store and cotton gin were early commercial ventures.
The Bakers donated land for the community school, which began in 1872 and was designated Baker School District No. 60 in 1884. It served the educational needs of children in the area until consolidating with Weatherford Schools in the 1950s. Josiah and Kate Baker also gave the land for Baker Baptist Church, organized as Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in 1854 by prominent pioneer Baptist minister Noah T. Byars.
Josiah Baker's mother, Elizabeth, died in 1854 and was buried in what became the Baker Cemetery. Hers is the first documented burial in the cemetery, which also is the resting place of Josiah's father, Martin (d. 1858), and his wife, Kate (d. 1895). A Civil War veteran, Josiah moved from the community in 1895 and was buried in Crystal Falls in nearby Stephens County upon his death in 1907.
As a pioneer community in this region of the state, Baker is a part of the rural heritage of Parker County and of Texas. It is a reminder of early settlement patterns as pioneers came to this area and made their homes.
Type of documentation of superlative status: Baker Community Texas Historical Marker
Location of coordinates: Grave site
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