The Baker Hoax was alive and well in Canada as well as in the USA. The Canadian Baker Hoax group, was based in Niagara Falls, Canada. The place several USA Bakers were said to have settled to when coming from PA.
There are many grains of truth in old Baker Hoax records. One thing I have noticed? The Lemon/Lemmon, Cober, Baker, and several other surnames are charted in Canada and documented. Not as they are in US family histories however. Probably alot more accurate than they are in the USA.
I think the Baker Association in Niagara Falls, Canada, used records from the Cober, Lemon, and other family lines and wove them into being a "Baker" family, when selling fake charts to claim the estate in Pennyslvania. This information was used in the USA as well as in Canada, to sell subscriptions to file for the non-existant estate in PA.
That a Jacob, Michael, and Peter Baker were in Canada. Yes. That they were correctly charted as we find in many USA vanity history books? No.
Keep in mind, the Baker Hoax was started to fleece as many Bakers and allied families as they could, the more allied surnames they added, the better for the Baker Heirs Association. When many of these vanity county history books were written, the people were under the impresson they had a "professional" genealogist do the charting, therefore it must be accurate, so they used this info for charting their family line county history books. The relatives did not lie, many just did not know any better. On the other hand.. some did know, and filed to claim the estate any way they could. Greed is a great motivator.
I have tried for many many years to get people to trace the allied lines in Canada, keeping in mind the old Hoax was alive and well there also. I think doing that could bring breakthroughs with many of the PA Baker family lines.
I will reprint a letter from the phony Canadian Baker Heirs Association. I haven't been able to chart just how far back they set up shop in Canada. 1900 seems to be the earliest, but I can't say for sure.
One note: I am NOT researching any Baker from Canada, or any Jacob Baker, George Baker, or George Peter Baker. I want to have the Hoax information online to save others wasted research by using the charts of W.H. Baker (Missouri) to further their family line; and so they know the estate WAS/IS phony, as is some family information being passed down for over 100 years.
Each year more of the old letters are found about the vast estate in Philadelphia, and 16 other counties in PA. It is enough to capture ones' attention. Problem being? They start research using Old family research, from those long gone, trying to claim the estate from the late 1800's on. It kept the old legend going, and false family history being handed down.
It took until 1937 to finally stop the Baker League, Baker Heirs' Association, and other names they used over the years, and to convict a few involved. Think about it.... the only scam in history to last as long, or to have gathered that much money from that many people across the USA, Canada, and Europe. The scam was passed down through families of the original hoaxsters, so it could be kept going. Think of it as a family business, one group died out, and another took its' place.
The records in Canada could sort out many false family histories, but to do it, would have to find clues of another surnames' history being used in place of the faked Baker family. Confusing yes, impossible no.
I added these links to show you what I mean. If you read about the Cober family, Lemon/Lemmon family, and which Bakers they married, the info seems much the same but the Bakers they married are not the same as many have charted in the USA. Some of the charts I have here from the newsletter contain these same exact allied people; only in Canada they are shown married to another Baker group, with documentation.
The Bakers that will benefit most from close study of Canadian records? Montgomery Co, Ohio; BrothersValley, PA; Philadelphia Co, PA; Ohio and Pennsylvania Bakers; family names: Cober, Lemmon/Lemon, Fry, Brecht/Breck.
Have a list of those involved in the Baker Hoax and keep an eye out for any mention of them in Canada. A couple to watch are: Shaffer, McCollum/McCullum.
===== Jonathon Baker by Bobbi Kerlin
Jonathon Baker's notes: Concord P.O. June 1st, 1896
Lot 11 in 2nd concession was then owned and occupied by Jonathon Baker, Sr., who with his wife, Elizabeth Cober, started on said lot in 1816.
Jonathon Baker, was born February 16th, 1792, in the State of Pennsylvania, and came to Canada about 1801 with his father, John Baker, who settled on lot 29 in 3rd concession of the Township of Markham; said lot 29, west half now owned by George Baker, Sr., east half by Abraham and Lovi Baker.
The said Jonathon Baker's wife, Elizabeth, was born February 15th, 1797; her father, Nicholas Cober, also came from Pennsylvania about the year 1796, and first lived not far from the Falls of Niagara, where his daughter Elizabeth was born; he, after that, settled near Yonge Street, north of Thornhill, on lot 34 in 1st concesssion of the Township of Vaughan, in what was formerly called Home District, new County of York, in the month of March, 1797, where he camped the first night under a beech tree.
Jonathon Baker, lived on said lot 11 from 1816 until the time of his death, which took place April 8th, 1860, a period of 44 years. His wife Elizabeth died on or about the 18th of July, 1888; they now both lie buried side by side in same graveyard, on east half of lot 13 now in the occupation of George Baker, Jr.
We will take the farm we are best acquainted with, that is west half of lot 13 in 2nd, with about 45 acres of clearing, then owned and occupied by Michael Baker.
Catherine Bennett (dau of Jesse Bennett and Anna Cober) was born October 21, 1809 in Vaughan Township, York Co., Ontario, and died January 20, 1895 in Vaughan Township, York Co., Ontario. She married Jacob Baker April 12, 1825 in Vaughan, York County, Ontario Canada.
Anna Catherine Cober, daughter of Peter Cober and Anna Stroeher. She was born February 8, 1781 in Brothersvalley, Somerset Co., Pennsylvania, and died July 1869.
Marriage Record, Catherine Bennett & Jacob Baker, Register of Rev. Wm. Jenkins; York County, Ontario Canada, Record No. 156Ontario Historical Society, Papers & Records, Vol. 27, pp. 15-76.
Amos Baker, an Old Order Dunker, preserved a Conestoga wagon of similar design and use in Vaughan Township, York County, Ont.
Mabel Dunham, in her Trail of the Conestoga (1925) has made immortal the story of the 1802 migration of the Mennonite Bricker brothers from eastern Pennsylvania to Ontario in a Conestoga wagon. A Conestoga wagon used by early Mennonite immigrants on their trip to Ontario is still preserved in 1998 at Doon Heritage Crossroads in Kitchener, Ont. To mark the Waterloo County Centennial of 1952, Amzie Martin, a man of Mennonite descent, drove this Conestoga Wagon from Pennsylvania to Kitchener. Amos Baker, an Old Order Dunker, preserved a Conestoga wagon of similar design and use in Vaughan Township, York County, Ont.
Place in Pennsylvania to Place in Canada (Somerset County, PA, to York County, Canada; Brothersvalley Township, Somerset County, PA to Markham Township, York County, Canada)
Vaughan, a sister community next to Markham, is now a city and part of the Regional Municipality of York. Settled at the same time as Markham by Germans from Lancaster County, its early history is best exemplified by the Jacob Baker family who came to this region in 1800 by Conestoga wagons
Canada Heirloom Series Online
History of Toronto and County of York was published in 1885 by C. Blackett Robinson
Jesse M. Baker, merchant, Bethesda, was born in Whitechurch in 1857. He established his present business in 1882 and occupies the position of Postmaster for the Village of Bethesda. He was married in 1880 to Mary M. Eyer, a native of Markham, by whom he has two children, George E., and Abram R. (vol. II, p. 448)
Jacob Baker, lot 8, concession 7, was born in Whitchurch Township in 1808, being the son of the late Jacob Baker, who came from Pennsylvania to Canada and located in Whitchurch Township at an early day, and died in 1817. The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Mary Law; she died in 1858. Mr. Baker has been twice married; his first union was with Elizabeth Connor in 1832, who died in 1841. In the year following her demise he married Ruby Lemmon, a native of Pennsylvania, the issue of the union being four children, viz.: John, Lemmon, Abner and Carlton. (vol. II, p. 448)
History and Culture of the York Region
The first Mennonite settlement in Upper Canada, though, is noted on the plaque erected near the Jacob Fry House at the Museum of the Twenty, Main St., Jordan.
It reads: First Mennonite Settlement: “Following the American Revolution, Mennonites living in Pennsylvania began to come to the Niagara Peninsula in search of good farm land. A small group settled on land west of Twenty Mile Creek in 1786. Niagara Farmers, Canada
Peter Baker
Peter Baker was born August 14, 1833. He was the son of Michael and Mary Cober Baker. He married Mary Ann Sheffer January 28, 1857.
Peter Baker had two sons, George, who died quite young, and Jesse, who married Melinda Eyer.
Nicholas Cober was born November 24, 1763 and died August 27, 1842. He married Eva Fisher who was born June 27, 1777 and died February 21, 1859. They were married in Somerset Co., Pa., and both are buried in the Cober cemetery near Maple. They had three sons and eight daughters. His son, Peter, became elder, or overseer, as they were called then, of Markham and later Nottawa district. Three daughters married ministers, namely, Magdeline who married Christian Troyer June 5, 1882.
From Baker Newsletter files, source not given:
Nicholas Cober was born on 24 Nov 1763 in Somerset, PA, USA. He was buried on 31 Aug 1842. He married Eve Fisher in , Somerset, Pa. Eve Fisher was born on 27 Jun 1777. She died on 21 Feb 1859. She was buried in Cober Cemetary, Maple, York, Ontario, Canada
Peter Sr. Cober was born ca 1740 in Germany. He died in 1804 in Brothersvalley, Somerset, PA. He was buried in Brothersvalley Twp., Somerset County, Pa. He was married in Germany.
Baker/Cober Info Thanks to: Margaret R. Hornsby
BAKER-COBER CEMETERY
Brethren In Christ / Cober Dunkard Cemetery
Cober, Peter
In Memory of Peter Baker Son of Johnathan & Mary Baker Born May 20, 1848 Died January 21, 1890 Aged 42 years, 8 months, 1 day
Baker, Jacob
In Memory of Mary, Wife of Jacob Baker Died July 5, 1859 Aged 83 years & 9 months. They immigrated from PA in the year 1803.
Ontario Canada, Cemetery Finder with names Cemetery Finder In Canada
Jacob Baker; Baker-Cober Cemetery, York, Vaughan Peter Baker; Baker-Cober Cemetery, York, Vaughan Baker-Cober Cemetery; also known as Brethen in Christ Cemetery, and Cober Dunkard Cemetery.
Baker - Cober Cemetery, Con. 2, Lot 12 Film: MS 451, Reel 136
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