Hester Baker

Hester Baker's gravestone is located between that of her husband Benjamin and her granddaughter, "Little Emma." She was born Hester Sarles around 1811. In 1850, she and Benjamin, a farmer, had four children.

1850 US Federal Census

Ten years later, the Bakers had five children, including 25-year-old Phebe, who is inexplicably missing in the 1850 census. Had she been living with another family at the time? Catherine, who was one year old in the 1850 census, isn't present in the 1860 census. Did she die?

1860 US Federal Census

Hester died in 1864, and Benjamin in 1873. Their son Henry T. Baker married a woman named Susan and had three children in 1870.

1870 US Federal CEnsus

Benjamin and Hester's daughter Josephine married William Oliver Mosher, a farmer, in 1865. "Little Emma" is Josephine and William's daughter, who died in 1866 at one year old. A second child of the Moshers, Willie, also died at age one year in 1874 and is buried in the cemetery. Of William and Josephine's ten children, only two were alive in 1900, when the couple was living in Poughkeepsie, and 58-year-old William was working as a day laborer.

Josephine died in 1935 at the age of 89. This is her obituary in the Mount Vernon Daily Argus:

Mount Vernon Daily Argus, 19 March 1935

1. Benjamin Horton Baker (1812-1873) m. Hester Sarles (1811-1864)
1. Phebe H. Baker (1835-)
2. Philo H. Baker (1841-)
3. Henry T. Baker (1844-) m. Susan A. (1845-)
1. Ella M. Baker (1865-)
2. Emma S. Baker (1867-)
3. Charles H. Baker (1869-)
4. Josephine Sarles Baker (1848-1935) m. William Oliver Mosher (1842-before 1920) in 1865
1. Julia Mosher (1864-)
2. Emma Mosher (1865-1866)
3. Edith Mosher (1868-)
4. Willie H. Mosher (1873-1874)
5. William A. Mosher (1879-) m. Jennie C. (1882-)
1. Dorothy L. Mosher (1903-)
5. Catherine A. Baker (1849-) 
6. Seth A. Baker (1850-)
7. Susan A. Baker (1851-)