John Baker arrived in this country c1755/57. He married Elizabeth Ann Adams Sullivan in Philadelphia about 1760. They were the parents of 11 children, 7 sons and 4 daughters.
John Baker served during the Rev. War in the Virginia Militia in western Virginia under Col. Silas Hedges from c1776 to c1782. May have enlisted near ‘Redstone Old Fort‘, now Pennsylvania, exact dates unknown. His war service is not well documented. Some researchers have him as ’Captain’ John Baker, but all evidence indicates that he served with this militia unit as a Private. It is believed that he may have been known as ’Captain’ John Baker in later years when he was the owner of Baker’s Fort or Baker’s Station which he built sometime between c1775/1777 in Cresaps Bottom, which is now in Marshall County West Virginia. Believe his family probably did not live there until c1784. John Baker died in 1787 during a skirmish with Indians near his ‘station’ or ‘fort’, and is buried near there along what was known as Grave Yard Run. Actual grave site has never been located. A memorial headstone has been placed in the Veterans Section of Riverview Cemetery on the hill at the south end of Moundsville WV.
((Military service information from Rev Soldiers of Virginia, Vol. 1, page 29, by Hamilton J. Echenrode. Frontier Retreat on the Upper Ohio, edited by Louise P. Kellogg, pages 111 & 425. Rev. War Records, Vol. 1, Virginia, by Gaius M. Brumbaugh, page 25.

Additional biography submitted 25 Dec 2017 by Dr. Phillip Leonard Baker, #157860, KS Society, Thomas Jefferson Chapter:
John Baker was born in Germany in the Palatinate region. On September 24, 1754 he immigrated to America on the ship Brothers. Reportedly he entered non-qualified or indentured. About 1760 he married Elizabeth Ann Sullivan, the daughter of a Revolutionary War physician. In 1765 the couple traveled west on the Old Warrior Trail later called the Great Wagon Road and south to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. In 1767 the family moved west along the Nemacolin Road, the western portion of the Old Warrior Trail that was later called Braddock’s Road and settled on Dunkard Creek in Greene County, Pennsylvania. At the time of Dunmore’s War in 1774 the family moved for protection to Redstone Old Fort at Brownsville, Pennsylvania.

On July 31, 1777 the Ohio County, Virginia militia was established. Captain John Baker was in the service of the militia for much of the time during the War. His service was listed in the Patriot Index as a “Captain, 11th VA Regiment at Redstone Fort under Colonel Silas Hedges, Reg. Militia.” After the end of the Revolutionary War the family moved to Catfish Camp, Washington County, Pennsylvania.

In 1784 Captain John Baker established Baker’s Station on Cresap Bottom just south of Wheeling. This area had originally been surveyed by George Washington and George Rogers Clark. This region was called Cresap Bottom and named for Thomas Cresap the famous frontiersman and trader. Baker’s Station was established for the protection of the local settlers during the time of Indian attacks and did not have regular military garrison. The Station was located on the Old Warriors trail that led into Ohio at one of the crossings of the Ohio River to Powhattan Point where Indian raids into Virginia often began.

The location of Baker’s Station is marked by the State of West Virginia as an historical site. The sign along Route # 2 states: “BAKER’S STATION. Site of blockhouse built by Captain John Baker in 1784. Rendezvous of scouts along Indian path from Muskingum Valley into Virginia. Near by are buried Captain John Baker, John Wetzel, and others killed by Indians in 1787.”

In 1787 Captain John Baker crossed the Ohio River following an Indian party. Captain Baker was shot but not killed by the Indians and his eyes were gouged and left for dead. Captain Baker was brought back to Baker’s Station where he died and was buried along a stream called Grave Yard Run. This area was later covered by slag heaps of an industrial site but his grave marker was moved to the Military Section of the Riverview Cemetery, Moundsville, West Virginia. His wife, Elizabeth, moved with children to Ohio where she died on May 22, 1836 at the age of 92 and was buried in the Stead Cemetery, Woodsfield, Monroe County, Ohio. Elizabeth Baker is established as a Patriot of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the First Families of Ohio, and the First Families of Monroe County, Ohio.