My mother's 3rd great grandfather on her mother's side of her family was a man named
David Ferree (1772-1832) who in the year 1794 married a woman by the name of
Mary Baker (1775-1858), my 4th great grandmother. Knowing, obviously, that my mother married a man with the surname of Baker, it made me immediately wonder if perhaps my parents were actually distant cousins. After a brief research however, I soon discovered that my mother's Baker ancestors were of German descent and that they came to America landing in Philadelphia sometime in the early 1700s. Their surname at the time was spelled or pronounced as "Becker" which quickly was changed to the more English surname of "Baker". My father's Baker ancestors on the other hand, immigrated from England into the Boston area in the early 1630s so obviously the Beckers and the Bakers were not related.
My Ferree family ancestry is told in Chapter 6 of this blog and it is here in this story that we noted that our early Ferree ancestors settled in what is now known as Lancaster County, Pennsylvania back in the year 1712. They were among the earliest European settlers in this area which at the time was inhabited almost entirely by Native American Indians. The David Ferree who married Mary Baker was in fact the great, great grandson of
Marie Warenbuer Ferree (1653-1716), my 8th great grandmother, who first
brought her family to what would eventually be named Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. This current chapter will cover what is known about the ancestors of my 4th great grandmother, Mary Baker. Her parents were
Frederick Baker (abt. 1749-1814) and
Margaretta Diller (1755-?). We shall begin our family history story with our Diller ancestors.
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| Alsace, France/Germany in lower left corner |
Margaretta Diller's grandfather was a man by the name of
Casper Elias Diller (1696-1789) and he is my 7th great grandfather. Quite surprisingly a great deal is written about the life of this man especially in a detailed book titled
The Diller Family published back in November of 1877. Unfortunately, there are many contradictions in the various biographies about his life and thus the actual facts cannot be determined for certain. Casper Elias Diller is believed to have been born in Alsace, France located on the border of what is now Germany. In the 1600s, the residents of Alsace were mostly German speaking people and in fact the region had passed between French and German control several times following the Edict of Fontainebleau that was issued by the French King in 1685. The Edict of Fontainebleau in effect had outlawed the Protestant or Huguenot faith in France. The Diller family, as were most of the residents of Alsace at the time, were Protestants as opposed to French Roman Catholics and therefore following the issuance of the Edict of Fontainebleau it is written that the population of the Alsace area decreased dramatically as the residents were forced if they wished to survive as Protestants, to leave France and escape to Holland, Germany, or England. It would seem logical that based on Casper's 1696 birthdate that his parents must have already departed from the French controlled area of Alsace prior to his birth and in fact we believe that Casper was likely born in Germany located just east of France and not in Alsace.
The Diller Family book that we previously mentioned, reports that the Diller family with Casper and their other children initially escaped France and moved to Holland and then later moved to England. It is then written that in England following Casper's parents deaths, that he married an English woman and subsequently he moved with his new wife back to Germany. We do not believe that any of this is factually accurate. What does seem to be known for certain is that Casper married a German girl by the name of
Anna Barbara Dornis (1703-1766), my 7th great grandmother, on the 23rd day of October in the year 1719. Their marriage is well documented as having taken place in the Village of Gauangelloch in Germany located about 100 miles northeast of Alsace in France. She was therefore not an English woman as claimed in
The Diller Family biography.
Anna Barbara and Casper Elias Diller soon moved following their marriage to the nearby town of Heidelberg, Germany where Casper operated a farm and allegedly was a cobbler who made wooded shoes while his wife raised their children including their oldest son,
Philip Adam Diller (1723-1777), my 6th great grandfather. Why Casper elected to move to America in the year 1733 is unknown. He was by that point 37 years old, fairly successful as a farmer and merchant, married for almost 14 years, and had four surviving children. Obviously by the year 1733, America was no longer a mystery and the fact that many Germans had already immigrated to America and settled in Pennsylvania was well known. Also word had already gotten back to Germany that religious freedoms in America were promised and good farm land was readily available. Casper took his wife and by then four children ages 2 to 10 years old, on a long trip from their home up to Rotterdam in the Netherland, a distance of around 330 miles, where they then boarded a ship named the "Samuel" and headed for America. On board the ship were around two hundred and ninety-one persons including men, women, and children, almost all of whom were Germans. The ship departed from Rotterdam on 4 April 1733 and finally landed in Philadelphia on 17 August 1733 after a little over four awful months at sea.
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Counties in Eastern Pennsylvania
including both Lebanon and Lancaster Counties
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There is a little confusion as to where Casper Elias Diller and his family first lived after their arrival in Philadelphia but it is clear that they ended up owning land and building a home located just west of what is now the Village of Lebanon, in what is now Lebanon County, Pennsylvania located around 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia. There are records that show that in 1743 Casper actually had a claim on 268 acres of land in what would later become the city of New Holland in Lancaster County, however it is stated that he never actually purchased the land in New Holland. Family trees that show that many of his children were born in New Holland appear to be incorrect. Lebanon on the other hand, was first settled almost entirely by Germans beginning around 1720 so it is not at all surprising that this is where our Diller family eventually settled.
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| Casper Elias Diller's gravestone |
Records show that Casper was among the early members of the Hill Lutheran Church that is located just west of Lebanon. The church was first established in 1733 which pretty much confirms that our Diller family members were early settlers in this area and the fact that Casper Elias Diller is buried in the Hill Church Cemetery located in what is now the Town of Cleona totally confirms where they lived for most of their lives in America. There are some historical records that state that Casper and his family first lived in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania rather than in Lebanon County. While this is a little misleading, it is technically correct since at the time of their arrival in 1733, Lebanon County did not exist and the land where the family lived at the time was a part of Lancaster County. It was however, separated from part of Lancaster County and made into a new and separate county in the year 1813. Anyway, Casper Elias Diller according to most historical writings became a fairly large and financially successful farmer. There are no records however, that show that he was in any way involved in the political, social, or religious leadership in his area. Casper and my great grandmother Anna Barbara had around four to maybe six more children born in America following their arrival. Unfortunately Anna Barbara died fairly young although we do not know the exact year of her death. We believe that her death possibly following the death of a daughter born in 1746 as her name does not appear as being present at her daughter's baptism. If true, she would have been around 43 years old when she died, a far to common occurrence back in the early days when women had many, many children and doctors and hospitals did not exist and an early death following a child birth was not that uncommon. Casper is recorded as having a second marriage to a woman named Eva Magdelena Meyer in the year 1766. Casper died in the year 1787 at the age of 91, almost 22 years after his second marriage and later than the death of many of his children including his son
Philip Adam Diller, my 6th great grandfather, who died in the year 1777, ten years before his father.
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| Add caption |
Philip Adam Diller was around ten years old when he arrived in America and the voyage, and the ruralness, and the lack of a home for the first several years following their arrival must have been quite confusing for such a young boy. In the year 1745 when Philip was around 22 years old he married my 6th great grandmother,
Maria Magdalena Ellmaker (1727-1807). Maria's parents and my 7th great grandparents,
John Leonard Ellmaker (1697-1782) and
Anna Margaretta Hornberger (1703-1779) were married in Germany on the 6th day of May in 1726 and then six days following their marriage they boarded a ship headed for America and Philadelphia. Soon after their arrival, they, like so many other Germans, moved to Lancaster County eventually settling in what would later be called Earl Township located about 2 miles north of New Holland and about 30 miles southeast of Cleona, home of Maria's future husband, Philip Adam Diller. Maria Magdalena Ellmaker was born on 9 August 1727 about a year following her parents arrival in America. Here again, we find it interesting to read where some of the history stories about our Ellmaker family report that their daughter Maria married a "close neighbor" by the name of Philip Adam Diller, again suggesting that our Diller family at the time might have been living in the nearby town of New Holland or perhaps even in Earltown. We do not believe that this is accurate and considering the rather scarce population at the time and the many large landholders including both the Diller and the Ellmaker families, finding a wife that lives 30 miles away would not be that unusual even in the year 1745.
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| Gravestone of Phillip Adam Diller |
It does appear on the other hand, that following their marriage, Philip and Maria remained in the New Holland area for the remainder of their lives. They had at least eight children during their marriage including my 5th great grandmother and their fifth child,
Margaretta Diller (1755-?) who was born in the year 1755. The area where Philip and Maria lived was originally founded back around 1728 when the first settlers arrived and at the time the land was largely covered by a forest of ash, oak, walnut, and chestnut trees. We have to believe that when Philip first acquired his land that a lot of work would have been necessary to create the large farm that he eventually owned that allowed him to become a fairly prosperous individual. Undoubtedly his sons and maybe even his daughters helped on the farm. Unfortunately we do not know a lot about his life other than that he was a farmer, a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church in New Holland, and shortly before his death in 1777 he served in the Lancaster County militia along with two of his sons during the American Revolution. It would seem unlikely however, that at his age he actually was engaged in any battles against the British especially considering their rather remote location in Pennsylvania. Philip Adam Diller died in September 1777 at the fairly young age of only 54 years old and he is buried in the cemetery by the Trinity Lutheran Church in New Holland. My 6th great grandmother, Maria Magdalena Ellmaker, outlived her husband by around 30 years. Unfortunately we know nothing about her life following Philip's death although she most likely lived with one of her children up to the time of her death.
Their daughter Margaretta Diller was around 18 years old when she married
Frederick Baker. Unfortunately the history of our Baker, or perhaps more accurately our Becker ancestry, is not well known. Frederick's father was a man also named
Frederick Becker (abt. 1721-abt 1755) who was from Germany and who is reported to have arrived in Philadelphia on board the ship "Loyal Judith" in November of 1740. The ship records reported that he was 19 years old at the time and traveled with a number of other men named Becker including a man named Peter Becker, age 22, who was most likely his brother or as some family historians report, his step-brother. Unfortunately the women and children onboard the "Loyal Judith" are not named although based on the number of children listed in his will that was written only 15 years later, it would seem likely that he was traveling with his wife and perhaps two or three children. All that we know about Frederick Becker's wife is that her name was
Christina and she was likely my 6th great grandmother. We know that Frederick and Christina Becker left Philadelphia and eventually settled in what is today named Exeter Township in Berks County, Pennsylvania located about 24 miles north of New Holland in Lancaster County.
One of the things that we probably should have mentioned earlier is that much of the land originally settled by the Germans in Pennsylvania including the land of our Diller and Baker/Becker ancestors, was originally owned by William Penn. William Penn was granted land in the area in the year 1681 by the English King Charles II in exchange for money that had been loaned to the king by William Penn's father. At the time no one in all of America owned as much land as did William Penn and it is no wonder that they named the State of Pennsylvania after him. It is believed that he originally owned as much as 40,000 acres. Anyway, William Penn soon began encouraging settlement on his land and it is believed that he even encouraged as many as 30,000 or more Germans to immigrate to America beginning around the year 1683 and continuing until around the mid-1700s. All of the new immigrants as they arrived in Philadelphia were required to take an oath of allegiance to the British crown and to agree to obey the laws of the province.
We unfortunately know almost nothing about the life of my 6th great grandfather, Frederick Becker other than based on his will he was a fairly successful farmer, and that he and his wife Christina had seven children at the time that his will was written in the early 1750s including my 5th great grandfather and their only son,
Frederick Baker (Jr) (Abt. 1749-1814) who was granted his father's land and most of his possessions obviously to be granted to him when he reached his adulthood. Frederick's mother also unfortunately died only a few years later than his father and records show that Frederick Jr. was then placed under the guardianship of a man named Peter Baker, who we learned earlier was likely his father's older brother. One really fascinating thing that we learned about our great uncle Peter Baker is that he married a girl named Leah Ferree who was the granddaughter of my 8th great grandparents,
Daniel Ferree and Marie Warenbuer Ferree (see Chapter 6)
both of whom came to America in 1708. While Leah Ferree is obviously not one of my great grandmothers, her marriage to Frederick Baker's brother Peter shows what a small world it was back during this time period.
When young Frederick Baker who had just lost his father and mother, was sent to live with his Uncle Peter Baker, he was one of the youngest within his new family and his closest new "
brother" or really his closest cousin with respect to age, was a boy named Peter Baker who was around seven or eight years older than Frederick. Whether or not they were close friends we can not determine, but quite interesting was the fact that they married sisters: Peter's wife was Christina Diller and
Frederick Baker married her younger sister,
Margaretta Diller, my fifth great grandmother,
around the year 1773. It would appear that Frederick Baker must have inherited money from his father for soon after his marriage to my grandmother, he purchased around 225 acres (one source says 300 acres) of land in Pequea in Salisbury Township, Lancaster County located about seven miles south of New Holland and around two miles north of the Village of Gap. His land was apparently along the banks of the Pequea Creek for it is reported that in order to water the land on his large farm he damned the Pequea Creek at a considerable expense. In the book
"The Diller Family" it is written that our Frederick Baker "
had some capital, was intelligent and energetic, and quite a scientific farmer." The book further reports that he was an early and active member of the Saint John's Church in the nearby village of Compass and that he died in Philadelphia in 1814 after undergoing a painful and dangerous surgery. It is also noted that he is buried in the Christ Church Graveyard in Philadelphia following his failed surgery. We could not verify his burial location but it was interesting to learn that also buried in the Christ Church Graveyard is Benjamin Franklin who died in the year 1790. Incidentally, there was a least one other family historian who wrote that Frederick Baker was buried in the Christ Church Cemetery in Compass in Lancaster County and not in Philadelphia, so who knows where he was actually buried. One other historical story about the life of Frederick Baker notes that he was a soldier during the American Revolution. While this claim would seem highly likely considering his fairly young age at the time of the war, there are no records that we could uncover that list his name or for that matter show that any militia troops in the rather remote Lancaster County were engaged in any major battles outside of their area. What we did find interesting however, while searching for any military records, was that when the British troops occupied Philadelphia in the early part of the Revolutionary War, the village of Lancaster was declared the "capital" of the country for a short period apparently because it was the largest inland town in America at the time. The population of Lancaster was around 4,200 residents and was located less than twenty miles from the home of our great Baker grandparents.
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| Diller Baker Ferree gravestone |
Frederick and Margaret Diller Baker had at least six children during their marriage including their second child and my 4th great grandmother,
Mary Baker (1775-1858) who was born around the beginning of the Revolutionary War on 12 May 1775. Considering that at least four of Frederick's and Margaret's children were born during the war would lead us to conclude that our Frederick Baker did not spend a lot of time away from his home and family defending his county against the British army. As previously mentioned, Frederick died at the fairly young age of 63 years old. When my grandmother Margaretta Diller Baker died we do not know, but hopefully they both attended the marriage of their daughter Mary and her new husband,
David Ferree (1772-1832) which took place on 21 August 1784. We are going to end our story of our Baker and Diller ancestors at this point although it is worth stating that the first child of Mary Baker and David Ferree who was also my 3rd great grandfather was a boy named
Diller Baker Ferree (1796-1865) who was obviously named in honor of both of his great grandparents. A really nice way to honor his grandparents.
From our Diller/Baker ancestors to the present time our ancestral tree is as follows:
4th Great Grandparents: David Ferree m Mary Baker
(1772-1832) (1775-1858)
3rd Great Grandparents: Diller Baker Ferree m Elizabeth Dewees
(1796-1865) (1799-1844)
2nd Great Grandparents: David D. Ferree m Mary R. Hutchinson
(1826-1869) (1825-1901)
Great Grandparents: Eugene H. Ferree m Marian E. Coapman
(1866-1952) (1867-1895)
Grandparents: Douglas Patterson m Florence Ferree
(1888-1979) (1891-1938)
Parents: Charles A. Baker m Marian C. Patterson
(1916-2000) (1916-1973)
Living Generation: Charles A. Baker Jr
Anne Rappleye Baker
Joan Patterson Baker
And so ends another story. . . .
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