Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Ephraim Baker Records, 1857-1910. Accession 50152. Business records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Purchased.

Biographical Information

Ephraim Baker was born on 13 December 1836 in Topnot, Shenandoah County, Virginia. He was the son of Lewis Baker (1808-1889) and Anna Dellinger (1811-1879). Baker operated a general store in Mount Olive, Shenandoah County, Virginia for most of his life. The store was used as a hospital during the Civil War. Baker married 1) Rebecca Eberly (1830-1880) on 13 January 1859 and 2) Joanna V. Funkhouser (1850-1927) on 16 October 1883. Ephraim Baker died on 19 June 1919 and is buried in Saint Stephens Cemetery in Strasburg, Virginia.

Scope and Content

Records, 1857-1910, of Ephraim Baker (1836-1919) of Mount Olive, Shenandoah County, Virginia, relating to his operation of a general store, and his partnership in the firm Baker, Eberly and Company. The bulk of the records date from 1867 to 1883.

The majority of the collection consists of correspondence, accounts, and accounts of sales from commission merchants in Alexandria and Baltimore. The correspondence includes information on market conditions and current prices of goods being sold. There are also circulars, advertisements, and price lists from various merchants. Baker was an agent for the Davis Sewing Machine Company of Watertown, New York, and the collection contains correspondence and invoices from the company's headquarters. Also included are customer orders from local residents requesting goods from Baker's store.

In addition to the business records, there is also personal correspondence from Baker's family, including his brother Henry W. Baker (1839-1934) of Keyser, West Virginia, father Lewis Baker (1808-1889), daughter Ellen O. Baker (1860-1939) while she was attending the Virginia Normal Music School in New Market, Virginia, and from his brother-in-law Rev. John Haney (1807-1904) of Olmsted County, Minnesota and Johnson County, Iowa. Finally, there are numerous photographs, mostly of the Frye family of Woodstock, Virginia.