A Collection in the Library of Virginia
Accession Number 50152
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia 800 East Broad Street Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000 USA Phone: (804) 692-3888 (Archives Reference) Fax: (804) 692-3556 (Archives Reference) Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives) URL: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/
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.
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.