Baber History featuring JAMES BABER

Baber History featuring JAMES BABER,
second article

This is an old English surname, dating back to the Hundred Rolls of the year 1273, wherein is to be found the name of one Henry Babre. There is in Cornwall a town of Baber; and the name is said to be most prevalent in Cornwall and Devon. Two branches of the Baber family have coats-of-arms, according to Burke’s The General Armory.

The name, Baber is often met with in books on English genealogy. One early mention of the name is that of the Right Worshipful Francis Baber, Doctor of Laws, who obtained a marriage license in London, April 9, l604. The will of Throckmorton Trotman of London, merchant, made October 13, 1663, names "Mr. James Baber, my father at Hamberoe". (This will also names "Cosin Anna Haynes" indicating, possibly, some connection between the Haynes and Baber families in England.)

The Babers came to Virginia in early Colonial times. The records show that Thomas Baber with his wife, Elizabeth, was living in the Colony prior to 1722, Robert Baber in 1738 and Francis Baber in 1754.

The earliest ancestor of this line of whom we have definite knowledge was Robert Baber, who on July 20, 1738, obtained a grant of land in Caroline County. (See Va. County Records, Vol. 7, p. 31.)

In the year 1762, Robert Baber was living in Bedford County, which had been formed from Lunenburg County in l753. In 1781 Campbe1l County was formed out of a part of Bedford, and evident1y Robert Baber lived in the part which became Campbell; for when he died in 1786, his will was probated in Campbell County. (see Va. Wills Before 1799 by Clemens.) It may be remarked in passing, that according to the genealogists, the better families of Bedford County lived mostly in the part which became Campbell County. It may also be remarked that up to the time of the Civil War the better families of the South usually (but by no means always) lived on p1antations rather than in the towns.

Robert Baber's name appears on a "List of Citizens furnishing Supplies, Arms, Teams and/or rendering other Service to the Continental Army, who received certificates calling for payments a/c thereof, at various sessions of the County Court of Campbell Co. between 7 March. 1782 and 4th April 1783". (Va.Hlist.Mag.,Vol.36,p.261.)

Robert Baber seems to have been a man of property and standing. He must have been held in great esteem by his children, for there were several grandchildren and great-grandchildren named for him. Those mentioned in his will, which was filed for probate December 6, 1786, were: His wife, Jane; his sons William, John and James; his daughters, Mrs. Jane Farmer and Mrs. Mary Perrin; and three grandsons, Charles Perrin, Robert Perrin and Robert Haynes. (She died November 29, 1779, and therefore her name does not appear in the will; but the Robert Haynes mentioned therein was her son. We are descended from Robert Baber both through this daughter and through his son, James Baber.)

James Baber, son of Robert and Jane Baber, was born June 2, 1762, in Bedford County, Va. The following facts regarding him were furnished by the Veterans Administration at Washington:

Late in the summer of 1779, at the age of 17, James Baber enlisted for service in the Revolutionary War and served as a private three months; early in 1700 he enlisted again and served three months; and in 1781 he enlisted a third time and served two months; each tour of service being in Captain James Adams's Company, Colonel Charles Lynch's Virginia Regiment.

After the Revolution he resided in Bedford County, Va. for seven or eight year's; then (about 1789) moved to Rutherford County, N.C. (his home being in the Sunshine section about twelve miles east of Rutherfordton and six miles north of Bostic); thence (about 1821) to (then) Gwinnett County, Ga. His death occurred July 17, 1836, according to the pension papers; but the record in his son’s, George Baber, family Bible gives the date as June 16, 1836.

James Baber married, in 1785, Mildred Arthur, daughter (or granddaughter) of William and Ann Arthur, of Campbell County, Va. Mildred Arthur was born June 13, 1762 and died December 10, 1846. She is buried in the Northcutt lot in the Marietta, Ga. cemetery.

Children of James and Mildred (Arthur) Baber:

Anna (b. Sept 25, 1785, m. Kinchen Carpenter)
William (b. Mar l4, 1787)
Sally (or Sarah)
Robert (b. Apr 13, l791)
Jane (b. Mar 10, 1793, m. Wm. Green and lived at Marietta, Ga.)
John (b. Sept 9, 1797, d. Rutherford County, N. C.)
Barnabas Arthur (b. Dec., 25, 1799)
George (b. Mar 31, 1802, d. 1848 m. Nancy Ann, dau. of Richard Abi Ragan Haynes; said to have been first Sheriff of Cobb County, Ga.).

It is said (Rev. J. B, Carpenter) that one of James Baber’s sons was accidentally killed by someone shooting wild turkeys.

There is a tradition to the effect that when James Baber and his family left Virginia, Thomas Jefferson sent Mrs. Baber a doe which she took with her to North Carolina. We, have part of a counter pane made from cloth worn as an improvised petticoat out of Philadelphia by one of the Arthur ladies when the inhabitants of that city were expelled with only their personal effects by the British, in 1777. It was a, specially fine piece of cloth and, had been imported from England. The counterpane has several "Bs" embroidered on it.

Sarah (or Sally Baber, daughter of James and Mildred (Arthur) Baber, was born in Bedford County, Va., Nov. 30, 1788 and died at Fingerville, S. C. Aug. l5, 1871. She married (1st)

Andrew Crooks; (2nd) Rev. James Arthur, a Baptist Minister. The only child of Andrew and Sarah (Baber) Crooks, (was)

Mildred Arthur Creighton Crooks (1810-1883), married (lst) Robert Baber Haynes; (2nd) General Ira R. Foster. Her daughter by her first husband, Sarah Elizabeth Lumpkin Haynes, (l826-1916) married Dr. Benjamin Franklin Bomar (1816-1868). Their daughter,

Amaryllis Bomar (l846-l9l9) married Charles Henry Killian (1846-1891).

NOTE - James Baber's Bedford County home was probably in the vicinity of Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest estate, now owned by Mr. C. S. Hutter, and located about nine miles southwest of Lynchburg on the Roanoke road. James Baber's land is said to have adjoined that of Jefferson - who, however, owned two other large tracts in the county.

NOTE - The Colonel Charles Lynch in whose regiment James Baber served was the Colonel Lynch from whom the "Lynch Code" takes its name. As originated and practiced by him, "Lynch law" seems to have been just and effective. Mrs. Caball, in her book "Sketches and recollections of Lynchburg", says: "Colonel Charles Lynch organized a regiment of riflemen after he had officiated as judge in relieving the country of Tories, theives and murderers. He was present at the battle of Guilford Courthouse, where he behaved with great gallantry. He died soon after the war. Charles Lynch, Esq., Governor of Mississippi was his son."

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