Benjamin Wesley Baker, also known as "Ben" or "B.W.", was born on October 26,
1844, near China Grove, in Pike County, Alabama. Ben was the eldest child of
Milton Baker and Mary Lucinda Sheppard. Lucinda was the granddaughter of
Andrew Sheppard, Sr., a Revolutionary War veteran of the North Carolina Line,
who was born in Scotland, in 1757. Ben' father, Milton Baker, was a farmer,
land speculator, and business partner and overseer for Colonel Eli Townsend,
of China Grove. From later writings of theirs, Ben and his siblings were well
educated, probably attending the Orian School at China Grove.
The 1860's were sad and trying times for Ben Baker and his family. Being a
strongly loyal Southerner, and the son of a slave holder, Ben enlisted, in
1861, at Pensacola, Florida, into the Perote Guards of the 1st Alabama Infantry Regiment, Confederate States of America. Ben Baker's unit was
captured while bravely defending Island No. 10 in the Mississippi River, in
the Spring of 1862. Ben spent the next several months as a prisoner of war at
Camp Douglas, Illinois, until his exchange. Ben Baker's unit was then sent to
help defend Port Hudson, in Louisiana. Luckily, Ben and a couple of his comrades were sent home to gather clothing and supplies, just before Port
Hudson fell to the Yankees. Ben, along with other elements of the 1st Alabama,
were consolidated into other units, at Mobile, Alabama, and sent to Atlanta,
Georgia. Ben's unit then evacuated Atlanta, and went upon General John Bell
Hood's ill-fated Tennessee expedition. Ben later wrote, that he was charging
next to Confederate General Patrick Cleburne, when the General was killed
attacking Franklin, Tennessee, in November 1864. Ben stated that, after the
Franklin, Tennessee battle, his company surrendered in April 1865, in Georgia.
While Ben Baker was off to war, his youngest sister, Mary Elizabeth Baker,
died on October 15, 1862. Tragedy further befell the Baker family, when, on
December 1, 1862, Ben's father, Milton Baker, was murdered by a slave he was
supervising on constructing a road. Col. Townsend apprehended the slave,
chained him in his smokehouse overnight, and then burned the slave at the
stake the next day, before a crowd estimated to have been over 1,000 people.
Fear spread throughout the area, as it was believed that the slave had acted
at the incitement of Northern abolitionists. Looking forward to happier times,
upon returning from the War, Ben married Harriat E. "Hattie" Bickerstaff,
daughter of Pollard and Mary Bickerstaff of Pike County, Alabama, on October
26, 1865, in Pike County. On August 26, 1866, they had a son, Pollard Milton
Baker. Sadly, both Hattie and young Pollard died about 1868. Losing their
money and land during the Yankee Reconstruction, the entire Baker family
decided to leave Pike County, Alabama. Ben, his mother, Lucinda, and his three
brothers, William Andrew "Buck" Baker; John Franklin Baker; and Alexander
Stephen Baker; moved to Louisiana. Ben's sister, Joanna Frances Baker Stewart,
moved with her Confederate veteran husband, Normal Russell Stewart, to Biloxi,
Mississippi, where Norman subsequently died in the Jefferson Davis Soldiers'
Home at Beauvoir. Ben's other sister, Elizabeth R. Baker, married James Williams, and they too eventually made their way to Louisiana.
Ben Baker, his mother, and three brothers, possibly went first to the Ouachita
Parish, Louisiana home of Ben's maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Talley Sheppard, where Ben probably discussed his wartime exploits with several of
his Confederate veteran uncles. His uncle, Hardy Sheppard, had died of wounds
he received while serving in the Confederate cause. Another uncle, Captain
William Fuller (Ben's aunt Kizziah Sheppard's husband) had been killed at the
Battle of Mansfield, Louisiana. Eventually, by 1870, the four Baker boys and
their mother moved to Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, where they operated the
"Experiment Plantation." Once in Central Louisiana, Ben Baker remarried. On
January 29, 1873, in Rapides Parish, Ben married Theodoscia Ernest Slay, the
daughter of Southern Baptist minister, Rev. Daniel Slay. William Andrew ("Buck") Baker married Mary Ellen Hanes, on June 7, 1870, at Center Point, in
Avoyelles Parish. Brother John Franklin Baker married Martha Elizabeth Clark,
in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, on February 24, 1881 (Elizabeth was a great-granddaughter of John Holloway, one of the earliest settlers of the area
known as Holloway Prairie, in Rapides Parish). Alexander Stephen Baker married
Mary Emma Simmons, in Avoyelles Parish, on December 16, 1885.
No doubt due to his marriage into a staunch Southern Baptist family, Ben Baker
became active in church life. His father-in-law Rev. Daniel Slay, had been the
pastor at the Philadelphia Baptist Church, in Rapides Parish, and at Simmons
Chapel in Avoyelles, Parish. Ben served as church clerk at Corinth Baptist
Church, in Alexandria, Louisiana, in 1878, and at Hopewell Baptist Church in
Center Point, from 1886-1892. Ben was then one of the founding members of Pine
Grove Baptist Church, in Ruby, Louisiana.
In 1900, Ben Baker obtained a U.S. Post Office for his general store, located
near Pine Grove Church. He named the post office after his daughter, Ruby.
This is the origin of the name of the Rapides Parish community known as Ruby,
Louisiana. Ben and Theodoscia's children were: Mattie Lucinda (married Moses
Gates); Joanna Frances (married Isham T. Corley); William Daniel (married 1st
to Lessie Hargis and next to Maude Smith); John Russell (married Olive
Guynes); Carney A. (married Ada Williams); Emma (married Albert B. Guynes and
2nd to J.L. McGrew); Benjamin Wesley, Jr. (married Clarice O. Creed) Ruby;
Stella Gertrude (married I.A. Hargis); and Tollie D. (married Wtissia
Ryland). Benjamin Wesley Baker died on October 8, 1914, and is buried in the Pine Grove
Baptist Church Cemetery, in Ruby, Louisiana. Ben's descendants became productive and highly respected citizens of Central Louisiana, including his
grandson, James R. Baker, the founder of Baker Manufacturing, in Pineville,
Louisiana.
Sources: Census Records for Pike County, AL. (1850-1860); A History of Pine
Grove Baptist Church; Providence House Publ.; Franklin, TN. (1996); Research
of: Gregory R. Aymond; Quincy L. Hargis; James O. Mathis; Michael Wynne; Susie
K. Senn and Homer Jones; court records of Catahoula; Avoyelles and Rapides
Parishes; LA. |