Baker Family Fonds, 1848-1850

This fonds contains two travel journals belonging to silversmith Stephens Baker of Beverly, Massachusetts.  The first journal is a "Tour to Cincinnati in August and September 1848."  Baker describes the cities he visited on the trip, including Niagara Falls.  He also visits Sandusky, Steubenville, Pittsburgh, several towns in Kentucky and Virginia, Baltimore, and New York. He describes the factories, churches and public buildings he visited in Cincinnati, as well as his visit with Nicholas Longworth at his mansion. Baker was a Mason, and describes the Masonic temples he visited on his journey.

The second travel journal is “Ten days tour to Vermont, Canada, the Lakes & c." It describes his journey through Vermont to Montreal, Niagara Falls, and cities along the Genesee and Mohawk Rivers, to Albany.  He concludes the journal by making a reference to the famous Parkman-Webster murder case, delaying his entry into Boston in order to avoid the crowds attending the hanging of Professor Webster.   A more detailed description of this journey can be found in exhibit tracing the cities Baker visited during this journey.  

Material from this fonds has been digitized and is available in the Digital Repository.

A page from Stephens Baker's 1848 travel journal describing his trip to Niagara Falls.

Stephens describes his trip to Niagara Falls in 1848 writing that he “went on board the steamer ‘Maid of the Mist’ and passed within two nods [knots] of the highest Falls, the boat trembled exceedingly from the effect of the fall of water, and the spray was thrown over us so as very much to alarm some of the female passengers. It is impossible to describe the effect produced on the mind by this greatest of natural curiousities. It was truly magnificent. The suspension Bridge from the deck of the Steamer looked like fine network and a man passing over it at the time like a Lilliputian. It rained most of the time, making mortar of the soil which clung closely to our boots making it very difficult to get along, the clay adhering closely and being slippery withal.”

A page from Stephens Baker's 1850 travel journal making reference to the Parkman-Webster murder case

Baker travelled through Niagara again in 1850.  On his return home he makes a reference to the famous Parkman-Webster murder case, delaying his entry into Boston in order to avoid the crowds attending the hanging of Professor Webster. He writes on August 30 that he “…arrived at Boston 245 miles from Albany, 12 ¼ o’clock. This being the day set apart for the hanging of Professor Webster did not wish to get into Boston until this awful tragedy was over…”