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[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Michael Baker Estate Papers, 1810-1839, SC 0120, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Va.
The collection was donated to Special Collections in July 2010 by Dale Harter.
The papers were purchased by Dale Harter and Pat Turner Ritchie at an auction held by Jeffrey Evans & Associates before being donated to Special Collections. The papers came from a Rockingham County, Virginia estate.
In order to streamline the process of applying collection numbers, Special Collections staff completed a large-scale renumbering campaign in the spring of 2017.
Michael Baker (1747-1803) was a large landholder and store owner in Brocks Gap in northwest Rockingham County. His store, located at the mouth of Lairs Run, served customers from Runions Creek, Bergton, Dry River, Criders, and Pendleton County, West Virginia. Baker also owned a house lot, tanyard, a slaughterhouse and lot in Georgetown, Maryland, and acreage in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. His estate was almost three times as large as any other estate in Rockingham County during 1800-1810. Michael and his wife, Elizabeth, who died in December 1824, had twelve children. Many of the children, including Sarah, Catharine, Isaac, Abraham, and John, are referred to in the documents within this collection.
The Michael Baker Estate Papers,1810-1839, consists of one folder of receipts, legal notes, correspondence, and the sale bill of the Michael Baker estate.
Comprised of thirteen documents, this collection contains the 1810 sale bill from the Michael Baker estate, legal notes and notices of received payments pertaining to the division of assets from the Elizabeth Baker estate, and a letter written by John Baker referencing the sale of land in Brocks Gap.
The collection is arranged chronologically in one folder.