John (Jack) Twitty Baker was the oldest son
of William Baker and his second wife, Hannah Caroline Edwards, born abt.
1805 in Kentucky. His parents were both from Guilford County, North
Carolina and married in Jefferson County, Tennessee. Shortly after Jack
Baker's birth in Kentucky, the Baker family moved to Madison County,
Alabama in its earliest days, when it was still part of the Mississippi
Territory. His parents remained there for fifty years, settling in the New
Market area where they owned substantial lands. Jack Baker married Mary A.
Ashby abt. 1829, and the first eight of their eleven children were born in
Jackson County, Alabama. Family tradition holds that Jack Baker was
involved in a fight there in town, that left him badly injured. He is said
to have killed three men during the altercation, and, fearing retribution
from their families, fled over the county line to his parents home in
nearby Madison County. When he returned to his home in Jackson County, he
found his barn burned and many of his cattle missing. Acts of retaliation
are said to have continued for years, before he finally sold his property
in October 1848. Like his father, Jack Baker had been prosperous in
Alabama, owning substantial property and slaves. The
Bellers, and some
other Madison County, Alabama families, had migrated to Carroll County,
Arkansas, and Jack Baker and his family followed suit. Settling in Crooked
Creek Township, Jack Baker became a prominent member of that society,
owning slaves and accumulating extensive property.
For Jack Baker in 1857,
the lure of California was not the gold fields themselves, but the profits
that could be made there by selling cattle. His oldest son, George
Washington Baker, was planning to move to California with his family.
Fifty-two years old at the time, Jack Baker decided to travel with them,
as did his son Abel Baker. His wife, Mary A. (Ashby) Baker, and eight of
their children, would remain at home in Arkansas. Captain John Twitty
Baker became the leader of "The Baker Train". The group gathered,
and made their preparations, in the area of William C. Beller's homestead
at Milum Spring (also called Caravan Spring) near Baker's daughter-in-law,
Minerva Ann (Beller) Baker's, late father's store called "Beller's Stand".
(In 1857, the name of the spring near the Beller homestead, if it had one,
remains unknown. Sometime after the Mountain Meadows Massacre, it became
known as "Caravan Spring", to honor the
wagons that had gathered there. The modern name of the spring is "Milum
Spring", and is located in present day Boone County, Arkansas, south of
the town of Harrison.) The Bakers had a total of 3 (known) wagons and over
260 head of cattle when they assembled, and approximately seven drovers,
or hired hands.
Jack Baker's daughter,
Sarah C. (Baker), her husband, Charles Roark Mitchell, and Mitchell's
brother, Joel Dyer Mitchell, planned to start a cattle ranch in
California. "The Mitchell Train" departed from Sugar Loaf Township, Marion
County, Arkansas, in conjunction with "The Dunlap Train" (relatives of the
Mitchell brothers), and probably met up with "The Baker Train" along
route. "The Mitchell Train" had approximately 100 head of cattle,
while "The Dunlap Train" had about 42.
After signing his will
on 1 April 1857, Jack Baker departed from Carroll County, Arkansas with
$98 in cash, 1 large ox wagon, 6 yoke of work oxen (12), 2 mules, a mare,
and approximately 138 head of "fine stock-cattle", along with a "fine
rifle gun, a Colt Repeater, clothing, provisions, tents, and camp
equipage. Depositions regarding Jack Baker's property when he started for
California were given by his widow, Mary A. (Ashby) Baker, son John Henry
Baker, employee Hugh A. Torrence, and neighbor John Crabtree.
According to Mountain
Meadows Massacre survivor Nancy Sophronia Huff,
Captain John Twitty Baker "had me in his arms when he was shot down, and
fell dead" on 11 September 1857. He was 52 years old when he died. Jack
Baker's son Abel Baker, son
George Washington Baker, daughter-in-law,
Minerva Ann (Beller) Baker,
granddaughter Mary Lovina Baker,
daughter Sarah C. (Baker) Mitchell,
son-in-law, Charles Roark Mitchell, and
infant grandson John Mitchell, all died in
the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Three of his grandchildren, Martha Elizabeth Baker, Sarah
Frances Baker, and William Twitty Baker, survived the Massacre and were returned to
Jack Baker's widow, Mary A. (Ashby) Baker, in Carroll County, Arkansas in 1859.
DEPOSITIONS
On behalf of John Twitty Baker:
Mary
Baker (22 October 1860)
John H. Baker (22 October 1860)
John Crabtree (22 October
1860)
Hugh A. Torrence (23 October
1860)
© 2008 A.C. Wallner for the
Mountain Meadows Association. All rights reserved
Inscription:
IN MEMORIAM
IN THE VALLEY
BELOW BETWEEN SEPTEMBER 7 AND 11, 1857, A COMPANY OF MORE THAN 120
ARKANSAS EMIGRANTS LED BY CAPT. JOHN T. BAKER AND CAPT. ALEXANDER
FANCHER WAS ATTACKED WHILE EN ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA. THIS EVENT IS
KNOWN IN HISTORY AS THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE
JOHN T. BAKER, 52
*Please note that the names of the victims of the 1857 Mountain Meadows
Massacre that appear here are those who we have personally researched and
verified as actual victims. In some cases this list will differ from the
names that were inscribed on the 1990 Monument on Dan Sill Hill.
Leave
virtual flowers - MMA FIND A GRAVE
MEMORIAL
FOR
JOHN TWITTY BAKER
