The Miami Valley is in southwest Ohio. It includes parts of Montgomery, Greene, Preble, Clark, Miami, Darke, Champaign, Shelby, Logan, Butler, and Warren counties.
He married Sophia Vickers (Vikers, Vikors) on August 24, 1845 in, Ohio. Sophia was born on March 27, 1827 in Shelby County, Ohio.
Jacob and Sophia's children included:
Harriet Baker (1846, married Asahel Walker),
Philip Baker (1848),
Mary Baker (1849, married George Pomeroy Gibson),
Elizabeth Baker (1855),
William Baker (1857),
Orra Baker (1864, married Cortes B. Allen),
Sherman C. Baker (1865, married Isabelle Christian),
Lemuel V. Baker (1870, married Clara May and Daisy Lillian Mulvaney), and
Ephriam L. Baker (1874, married Lillie Jane Wilson).
The family appeared in the 1850 census of German Township. The family consisted of Jacob age 27 who was a farmer, Sophia age 23, Harriet age 4, Philip age 2, and Mary who was two months. Jacob Branstitter age 11 also lived with the family.
In 1860 they were in Lincoln, Logan County, Illinois.
In 1870 and 1880 the family was in Goose Creek, Piatt County, Illinois. In 1880 the family consisted of Jacob age 57, who was a farmer, Sofiah age 23, William age 23, Orra age 16, Sherman age 14, Lemuel age 10 and Ephram age 5.
In 1881 they set out for Oregon in a wagon trai,.
Jacob died on December 31, 1899 in Independence, Polk County, Oregon and Sophia died on February 1, 1910. They are buried together at Hilltop Cemetery.
Mrs. Sophia Baker. (Special Dispatch to The Journal, Independence, Or.) Mrs.Sophia Baker, who died in this city Tuesday morning, had been a resident of Oregon for 29 years, having come to this state by emigrant train in1881 from Illinois. She was born in Shelby county, Ohio, March 17, 1827, and was the mother of 12 children, eight of whom survive.
They are:
Mrs. Harriet Walker of Ludington, Mich.;
William Baker of Portland, Or.;
Phillip Baker of Leadville, Colo.;
Mrs. Mary Gibson of Allegan, Mich.;
Mrs. Orra Allen of Bend, Or.; S. C. Portland, Or.;
L. W. and E. L. Baker of Independence, Or.
(from The Oregon Daily Journal, February 3, 1910, Page 3)
Clark County, Ohio was formed March 1, 1817, from Champaign, Madison and Greene Counties. The first settlement was in 1796. The inhabitants of German Township were German Lutherans who came from Virginia.
