The eldest child of Obed and Sarah Outten was named Esther, as she was called Hester. She was born on a farm that was known as Outtens Discovery, situated near Deep Creek, and not far from Concord, but the farm afterwards received the name of Partnership. Esther was born in 1781, and she was bout twelve years old when her father died, intestate, or without making a Will.
She had a brother named Abraham, and a sister named Rachel, both younger than herself. On September 26, 1797, these three children made application to the State of Delaware, and paid $30.95 to the State Treasurer for their rights to Partnership, the title by which the farm was then known. Subject, of course, to the widows third, for Sarah their mother, was still living, and she was the widow of Obed Outten.
On July 9, 1800, Esther Outten was married to the Rev. Daniel Baker, who as at that time an elderly man, and a Local Preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was probably ordained a Local Deacon by Bishop Francis Asbury in 1798, and a Local Elder by Bishop Richard Whatcoat in 1804. The writer has seen his credentials. They bear the above dates, and were written and signed by the said Bishops. Those papers were well written, and at that time they were in the hands of Henry White Baker.
The first wife of Rev. Daniel Baker was Magdalene Magee and they were the parents of two or three children. Isaac Baker was born in 1787 and died February 26, 1823, in the 36th year of his age, but the writer does not know anything else about him.
Their daughter, Sarah Baker, was born March 21, 1789, and she married John Outten, son of Abraham and Sallie Outten. He was born November 8, 1787, and they were married July 17, 1808. He was a shipcarpenter, and they were the parents of six children. James was born August 29, 1809; Wilson was born August 4, 1812; Sallie R. was born October 6, 1817; Daniel was born March 6, 1822; John was born September 23, 1824; and Elizabeth, who was married to Seth Lingo Outten, August 8, 1848.
The father of these children died October 16, 1824, in the 37th year of his age. After John died, Sarah Baker Outten married Ezekiel Jones, August 31, 1836, and she died May 1, 1842, aged 53 years.
Rev. Baker also had a daughter named Margaret. She was a Sunday School teacher, and she married Isaac M. Adams, father of Joseph Thomas Adams, but as the writer could not find the date of her birth or marriage, he does not know whether she was of the first or second marriage.
Rev. Daniel Baker and Esther Outten, his second wife, were the parents of four or five children. Daniel A. was born in 1804, and died August 7, 1827 in the 23rd year of his age.
Obed Outten Baker was born March 7, 1807. He married Mary Ann Rawlins, eldest daughter of Lot Rawlins, February 9, 1837, and they were the parents of two children, a son and a daughter. The son was Henry White Baker, and he was born December 29, 1837. He married Sarah E. Cottingham, sister to Tom Cottingham of Seaford. She was born September 13, 1839, and they were the parents of four children, two sons and two daughters. Halbert C. Baker was born March 15, 1867, and died April 3, 1869. Harry Rawlins Baker married Emily Greene, and she was killed in an automobile accident at Odessa, Delaware, September 25, 1929, as they were returning to their home from the funeral of Henry White Baker, and she was buried in the Baker lot in the Odd Fellows Cemetery at Seaford.
Harry Rawlins Baker died July 8, 1944, in the Milford Memorial Hospital, and he was buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Seaford on July 11, 1944. In early life he attended the Conference Academy in Dover, and continued his musical studied in New York City, and in Vienna, Austria. He was a critic whose services were sought by advanced Pianists. For may years he had a studio in Carnagie Hall, and in Barbason Plaza. He returned to Seaford in 1943, where he resided at the time of his death at the age of 69 years. He is survived by two sons: Corp. Leeds Baker of Fort Sheridan, Ill., and Corp. Norman Baker now stationed in New Guinea.
Nettie Baker married James Crawford, a business man of Mr. Vernon, N.Y., and they were the parents of three children: Coulter, Harry W., and Frances Crawford. Josephine Baker married William H. Miller, a telegraph operator at Seaford, and they were the parents of two children: William and Josephine. The parents of these children died about the year 1920.
Henry White Baker was a prominent man in Seaford. He was cashier of the First National Bank for about half a century, and a valuable official of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The writer consulted him about this family record, and received letters from him that were greatly appreciated. He retired from business several years before his death, and his home was the old bank building. His wife died January 19. 1918, and he died September 21, 1929, in the 93rd year of his age.
The daughter of Obed Outten Baker was born October 15, 1839, but he writer does not know what her name was nor anything of her.
Obed Outten Baker kept a diary for many years, which the writer once saw in the home of Henry White Baker, and from which he copied some valuable data concerning the Outten family. The following entry was made: On Thursday evening, October 30, 1834, there was a meeting held in the school house at Concord to form a Temperance Society, and it was called to order by Obed Outten Baker. The following Outtens joined the Society: Sarah R., Nancy, Daniel, and Sophia. He was then 27 years old.
His death occurred on September 10, 1842, and he was buried in what has always been called the Obed Outten Baker graveyard. The writer has visited his grave. It was a family graveyard, and it is probable that his father and mother, brothers and sisters were all buried there. It is about one mile east of Concord, and was in sight of the home of James Outten. But it has long since been abandoned, and as there is no one in that section to are for it, it has grown up in weeds and bushes.
After Obed died Mary Ann his widow, married Martin Morgan. She was his second wife, and they were the parents of five children: James, Robert, Eunice, John, and the Rev. Steven Martindale Morgan, D. D., of the Wilmington Conference. The latter was born in 1854, near concord. He began his career by keeping a small store, but considering himself called to preach, he sold his store, and went to Dickinson College, where he graduated, and he joined the Conference in 1887, at the age of thirty-three. He married Minnie Speare of Chambersburg, Pa., but they had no children. He retired in 1914, and died on pneumonia at the Delaware Hospital in Wilmington, January 6, 1917, and was buried at Chambersburg, Pa.
The daughters of Daniel and Esther were Polly Dunn and Hester, and they may have been the parents of Margaret, but it is not certain whether she was the child of the first or second wife. We know that Daniel and Esther were married July 9, 1800, but he first birth that is recorded is that of Daniel A., in 1804. The second is that of Obed in 1807, and the third is that of Polly Dunn in 1809. So it seems probable that there was a child born between 1800 and 1804, and if they were the parents of Margaret, she was probably born about 1802, but his is uncertain. And it may be that Hester was the youngest child, and she was probably born about the year 1812, but all we know about her is the fact that she never married.
The write regrets exceedingly that he does not know more about the family of Daniel and Esther Baker. He was a man of great prominence in that section, and his descendants were well known for several generations. But since the death of Henry White Baker, there is no one living who can give any forther information. We do not know when he was born, nor when he died, but his eldest child was born in 1787, and the last birth that is recorded was in 1809. He was probably born during the 60s, and he may have lived to be sixty.
After Daniel died Esther lived a widow until her death which occurred May 6, 1824, and died at the age of forty-three years.