Ada Baker
Previous post: Fontabelle Baker Snodgrass
You see, Ada lied.
The 1920 census lists Ada as widowed, as was written in the post on her daughter, Fontabelle. In that year, Ada and her two children, Fontabelle and Robert, were living in a sizable home with a live-in maid in Columbus, OH. This lead me to believe Lyman had died young: what else would compel a mother to move to a big city, far away from the comforts of a small-town farmer community?
But Ada wasn't widowed - she was divorced.
Okay, let's back up.
First, take a look at this beautiful portrait found at Miss Pixies:
Diagonally framed, with jagged beveled edges in pristine condition. I jumped for joy when I found this and instantly posted it to the Forgotten Faces Project Instagram account which, if you aren't following already, you should be! Never-before-seen pictures will be posted, along with fun stories and other finds!
Unfortunately, all that was written on the back of the portrait was 'Ada'; and, without a surname, it wasn't fit for purchase.
Until...
I began researching Fontabelle and realized her mother's name was Ada - too similar to be just a coincidence. So I immediately went back to the shop to buy it and simultaneously came across a handful of other photos of Ada... and well, here is Ada's story.
---
Ada Baker was born Ada Taylor on October 15, 1874 to John Robinson Taylor and Emma (or Emily) J. Bowen in Leesburg, Ohio. Her father John was the son of William Hendricks Taylor and Eliza Ellen Robinson. The earliest photo I found of Ada was this gem of a CDV, of baby Ada perched on a chair. It informs us that at this early point in her life, she lived in or around Marysville Ohio.
In the 1880 census, six-year-old Ada lives with her parents and two younger siblings Lulu and Harry in Leesburg. Father John works as a farmer. Amazingly, we know what Ada looked like at this point in her life as well, as the next photo I found at Miss Pixies was conveniently labeled "Ada Taylor, age 5" (right). That bow!
Of course, we lack the 1890 census to tell us anything about the next 10 years of Ada's life, but we do know she was married to Lyman Baker at age 22 in 1895. Ada and Lyman had their first child, Fontabelle, two years later. In 1900, the family lived in Goshen Township (Mechanicsburg), where Lyman worked as a doctor. Lyman was "one of the most promising and popular of the exponents of homeopathic science in Mechanicsburg" according to A Centennial Biographical History of Champaign County, Ohio - not that a homeopathic M.D. practicing in Mechanicsburg at the turn of the century would have had much competition.
For all her husband's apparent successes, Ada's life was lived mostly in the shadows.
We do know that Ada was a practitioner of Christian Science in Springfield, OH, as evidenced by the Christian Science Journal. She was also a charter member of the Mechanicsburg Daughters of Rebekah, a branch of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
As was written in her daughter Fontabelle's post (if you haven't read that yet, go check it out - Fontabelle was a VERY impressive young woman!), by the 1920 census Ada and her children Fontabelle and Robert mysteriously show up living in Columbus, Ohio. I had assumed Lyman had died - what else would compel a mother to move to a big city with her two children, alone? And after all, Ada had stated her marital status to be widowed.
Well, one of the best things about being in a genealogy Facebook group is the wealth of research assistance you garner from other genealogists, one of whom knocked me out of my socks upon finding this damning news report. Lyman wasn't dead, after all.
After their divorce, Lyman goes on to marry Emma Jane Williams on November 7, 1916. By this time, Fontabelle was already immersed in her studies and extracurriculars at Ohio State University.
I remain awe-struck at Fontabelle's involvement in university, and I can't help but wonder if perhaps her endurance and drive had anything to do with her growing up to be a young woman witnessing her father's abuse towards her mother; witnessing the devastating effects of a wife's financial dependence upon an emotionally absent husband.
But despite this, Ada persevered and as noted, she moved her young family to Columbus, Ohio where they lived during the 1920 census: the census in which she said she was widowed. Or, perhaps her neighbors gave that account: maybe it wasn't the census-taker she was being dishonest with, but rather her closest acquaintances.
Ada sort of, well, disappears after this. I cannot find her in the 1930 or 1940 censuses (can you?) despite her death not occurring until 1957.
I did, however, find the below portrait of her: the most recent piece out of all of them, probably taken in the 1930s.
You see, Ada lied.
The 1920 census lists Ada as widowed, as was written in the post on her daughter, Fontabelle. In that year, Ada and her two children, Fontabelle and Robert, were living in a sizable home with a live-in maid in Columbus, OH. This lead me to believe Lyman had died young: what else would compel a mother to move to a big city, far away from the comforts of a small-town farmer community?
But Ada wasn't widowed - she was divorced.
Okay, let's back up.
First, take a look at this beautiful portrait found at Miss Pixies:
Diagonally framed, with jagged beveled edges in pristine condition. I jumped for joy when I found this and instantly posted it to the Forgotten Faces Project Instagram account which, if you aren't following already, you should be! Never-before-seen pictures will be posted, along with fun stories and other finds!
Unfortunately, all that was written on the back of the portrait was 'Ada'; and, without a surname, it wasn't fit for purchase.
Until...
I began researching Fontabelle and realized her mother's name was Ada - too similar to be just a coincidence. So I immediately went back to the shop to buy it and simultaneously came across a handful of other photos of Ada... and well, here is Ada's story.
---
Ada Baker was born Ada Taylor on October 15, 1874 to John Robinson Taylor and Emma (or Emily) J. Bowen in Leesburg, Ohio. Her father John was the son of William Hendricks Taylor and Eliza Ellen Robinson. The earliest photo I found of Ada was this gem of a CDV, of baby Ada perched on a chair. It informs us that at this early point in her life, she lived in or around Marysville Ohio.
 |
| Ada Taylor, age 5 |
Of course, we lack the 1890 census to tell us anything about the next 10 years of Ada's life, but we do know she was married to Lyman Baker at age 22 in 1895. Ada and Lyman had their first child, Fontabelle, two years later. In 1900, the family lived in Goshen Township (Mechanicsburg), where Lyman worked as a doctor. Lyman was "one of the most promising and popular of the exponents of homeopathic science in Mechanicsburg" according to A Centennial Biographical History of Champaign County, Ohio - not that a homeopathic M.D. practicing in Mechanicsburg at the turn of the century would have had much competition.
For all her husband's apparent successes, Ada's life was lived mostly in the shadows.
We do know that Ada was a practitioner of Christian Science in Springfield, OH, as evidenced by the Christian Science Journal. She was also a charter member of the Mechanicsburg Daughters of Rebekah, a branch of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
As was written in her daughter Fontabelle's post (if you haven't read that yet, go check it out - Fontabelle was a VERY impressive young woman!), by the 1920 census Ada and her children Fontabelle and Robert mysteriously show up living in Columbus, Ohio. I had assumed Lyman had died - what else would compel a mother to move to a big city with her two children, alone? And after all, Ada had stated her marital status to be widowed.
Well, one of the best things about being in a genealogy Facebook group is the wealth of research assistance you garner from other genealogists, one of whom knocked me out of my socks upon finding this damning news report. Lyman wasn't dead, after all.
After their divorce, Lyman goes on to marry Emma Jane Williams on November 7, 1916. By this time, Fontabelle was already immersed in her studies and extracurriculars at Ohio State University.
I remain awe-struck at Fontabelle's involvement in university, and I can't help but wonder if perhaps her endurance and drive had anything to do with her growing up to be a young woman witnessing her father's abuse towards her mother; witnessing the devastating effects of a wife's financial dependence upon an emotionally absent husband.
But despite this, Ada persevered and as noted, she moved her young family to Columbus, Ohio where they lived during the 1920 census: the census in which she said she was widowed. Or, perhaps her neighbors gave that account: maybe it wasn't the census-taker she was being dishonest with, but rather her closest acquaintances.
Ada sort of, well, disappears after this. I cannot find her in the 1930 or 1940 censuses (can you?) despite her death not occurring until 1957.
I did, however, find the below portrait of her: the most recent piece out of all of them, probably taken in the 1930s.
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