Colonel William Preston, by his will, appointed John Preston, Francis Preston, John Breckenridge and John Brown his executors, and on the 2d of May, 1796, John Preston, one of the executors of William Preston, executor of John Buchanan, deceased, executed a deed to Isaac Baker, Jr., for the 973 acres of land contracted to his father, Isaac Baker, deceased, and on the 22d of November, 1798, Francis Preston, one of the executors of William Preston, executor of John Buchanan, deceased, conveyed to Isaac Shelby, as executor of Evan Shelby, deceased, the 973 acres of land contracted to Evan Shelby by John Buchanan. The consideration paid by Isaac Baker was 304 pounds, and by Evan Shelby 304 pounds. This 1,946 acre tract of land was patented to William Preston and William Campbell, executors of John Buchanan, deceased, on the 2d of November, 1779.
Evan Shelby and Isaac Baker were intimate friends before their emigration to the Holston, as evidenced by the fact that Shelby had named one of his sons Isaac for Isaac Baker, while Baker had named one of his sons Evan for Evan Shelby. Isaac Shelby won distinction at King's mountain and was several times Governor of Kentucky, while Evan Baker took an active part in the cause of the Colonies and served during the Revolutionary war as deputy commissary on the waters of the Holston.
Isaac Baker by his will devised his moiety in the Sapling Grove tract of land to his sons, Isaac Baker, Jr., and William Baker.
Evan Shelby and Isaac Baker, in their lifetime, conveyed small portions of their respective properties to Henry Harkleroad, William Bolton and John O'Brian.
It is worthy of mention at this point that Evan Shelby and Isaac Baker, in their old age, were bereft of their wives, and subsequently remarried—the former, Isabella Elliott; the latter, Mary Head, a young widow—and each was required by his prospective wife to make a settlement upon her before marriage, Evan Shelby conferring upon his second wife a considerable interest in his personal property, which was large, and of which a considerable number of slaves formed a part, and in his real estate at Sapling Grove, while Isaac Baker made a similar provision for his second wife, and inaddition thereto conveyed to the two sons of Mary Head by her former marriage one hundred acres of land each.
Stirring scenes were often witnessed in the Sapling Grove community from the date of the settlement made by Shelby and Baker until the year 1800. The armies of the State and large delegations of Indians were many times visitors to this community.. .
Isaac Baker was buried in this same graveyard [in Bristol, Tennessee].
Isaac Baker, Sr., at the time of his death, left six sons, to-wit: William Baker, Isaac Baker, Joshua Baker, Evan Baker, John Baker and Thomas Baker and several daughters, to-wit: Hatchy Baker, Susannah, who married Thomas Worley, Mary, who married Thomas Van Swearingen and Catharine, who married Ephraim Smith.
William Baker, who obtained an interest in the Sapling Grove by the will of his father, removed to Knox county, Tennessee, and on the 10th of September, 1799, conveyed his interest in said land, being three hundred and forty-eight acres, to John Goodson, for the sum of $3,000, and this tract of land afterwards became the property of Colonel Samuel E. Goodson, and the location of a large part of East Bristol. . .
