My Genealogy Hound

HARTWELL G. BAKER was born September 25, 1804, in Davidson County, Tenn., where he was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. At the age of twenty-four he left home and began clerking in a store, and at the end of five years bought out his employer’s stock, valued at $9,000, on credit, and by close attention to business succeeded in paying his debt. He sold goods for about twelve years and made a snug little fortune, but the war breaking out about this time, swept away about $25,000 worth of property. He has redeemed his fortunes somewhat and owns 225 acres of excellent farming land. In 1837 he was married to Narcissa J. Haynes, born October 9, 1817, in Cornersville, and eight children have been born to them, six of whom are living. Mr. Baker was a Whig, but is now a Democrat. About 1845 he quit the mercantile business and turned his attention to farming. He has been a resident of the county forty-three years and belongs to the Masonic fraternity. His parents, Humphrey and Sallie (Hyde) Baker, were born in Virginia and North Carolina, respectively. The father moved to Kentucky when a boy and finally located in Davidson County, Tenn., where he was married. He was a blacksmith by trade and a Democrat in politics, and became the father of ten children. The mother died in 1834, and the father afterward wedded Mrs. Furr, by whom he had two children. Shortly after their marriage they moved to Kentucky, where the father died during the war.