Eber Baker (April 27, 1780 – October 6, 1864),

Marion, Ohio Marion is a city in Marion County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located in north-central Ohio, approximately north of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. The population was 35,999 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down slig ...

can be credited as being the co-founder of Marion, Ohio. Baker was born in either Litchfield or Bowdoin,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

(both in the area that became Maine in 1820). Baker and his first wife, Lydia Smith Baker, came to the vicinity of what is now Marion settling in two squatters' log cabins near the south side of the plat. Eber Baker is a man of means and buys 160 acres (a Land Grant) for $310 from Hezekiah Kilbourn, on April 3, 1822, as found in an affidavit where the site of Marion was to be founded. Alexander Holmes, DS (Deputy Surveyor), is contacted by Mr. Baker, and makes the first plat for Marion. Alexander Holmes DS draws up the plat and is signed by himself and Eber Baker on April 3, 1822, as it was witnessed. The plat was then received and recorded in the Delaware County Land Office on April 18, 1822. Samuel Holmes DS a practical surveyor, was employed by Mr. Baker to survey and stake out each lot of the village plat. Samuel was a brother of Alexander Holmes. Eber Baker became an agent (Proprietor) for selling off the village lots from the first town plat of Marion. The squatters' log cabin was about 1/4 mile north of Jacobs Well, a natural spring well that had been dug during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

by Jacob Foos, a surveyor for General

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was the ninth president of the United States, serving from March 4 to April 4, 1841, the shortest presidency in U.S. history. He was also the first U.S. president to die in office, causin ...

. The town plat was named Marion after its newly formed county of the same name, which itself was named for Revolutionary War General Francis Marion. The village of Marion was then chosen as the county seat of government, beating out nearby Claridon, Ohio to the east. A local middle school was named after Baker, serving in two Buildings until a school district realignment in the 2000s. Baker would go on to serve in the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

. He also constructed and operated the Mansion House, in downtown Marion.

External sources

Genealogy of Eber Baker compiled by Marge McGrew
*An abstract of 25 pages dated December 11, 1906, Marion, Ohio records Eber Baker's purchase of the 160 acres. 1780 births 1864 deaths Members of the Ohio House of Representatives People from Litchfield, Maine People from Marion, Ohio People from Sagadahoc County, Maine 19th-century members of the Ohio General Assembly {{Ohio-OHRepresentative-stub