Baker Community

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Baker Community, out in Parker County. Now, settlement in this part of Parker County began in earnest in the 1850s, and when folks say earnest, they mean it. The county itself was formally established in 1855, but a family had already put roots down the year before.

In 1854, Josiah and Nancy Catherine Baker, Kate, to everyone who knew her, arrived with their four children, Josiah's parents in tow, and Kate's mother alongside. That's three generations crossing into new country at once. Whatever Josiah Baker was, he wasn't a man who traveled light.

And the community that grew up around their homestead? It came to be called Baker. General store, cotton gin; the early commercial bones of a place finding its shape.

But 1854 was not a gentle year for that family. Josiah's mother, Elizabeth, died that very same year and was buried in what would become the Baker Cemetery. Hers is the first documented burial there.

The cemetery would go on to hold Josiah's father, Martin, who passed in 1858, and Kate herself, who died in 1895. A piece of that family remains on that land to this day. Also in 1854, Josiah and Kate gave the land for a church.

It was organized as Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church by a man the marker calls a prominent pioneer Baptist minister: Noah T. Byars. That congregation took root the same year the Bakers arrived, the same year Elizabeth Baker was laid to rest.

The church and the cemetery, born together out of the same hard season. The community kept building. The Bakers donated land for a school as well.

It began in 1872, and by 1884 it carried an official designation: Baker School District No. 60. For decades it served the children of that area, right up until the 1950s, when it consolidated with Weatherford Schools. Eighty-some years of educating a community, then folded quietly into something larger; the way rural schools so often go.

As for Josiah himself, a Civil War veteran, he moved away from the community in 1895, the same year Kate died. He was buried in Crystal Falls, in nearby Stephens County, when he passed in 1907. The man whose family had anchored an entire community, whose name still sits on the school and the church and the cemetery and the land itself, died somewhere else, a dozen years after leaving.

The marker puts it plainly: Baker is a part of the rural heritage of Parker County and of Texas, a reminder of early settlement patterns, of pioneers who came to this region and made their homes. Three generations arrived together in 1854. What they built lasted the better part of a century.

That's not nothing. That's a community.

What the marker says

Baker Community 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. (2002)