Brave Orpha Baker

I searched in old census records last night for any and all women named Orpha in Columbiana County, Ohio, and adjoining counties. As I was browsing,  I came across the 1840 census record for Orphie Baker and her family. That poor woman -- God rest her soul --was alone that year with eight children under the age of 20 in her home. I can only imagine the challenges she was facing when the census taker recorded this snapshot of her family.

Orphie Baker
Home in 1840:  Elkrun, Columbiana, Ohio
Free White Persons - Males - 5 thru 9:   2
Free White Persons - Males - 15 thru 19:   2
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5:   1
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9:   1
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 14:   2
Free White Persons - Females - 40 thru 49:   1 (Orphie Baker)
Persons Employed in Agriculture:   2  (probably the two oldest boys)
Free White Persons - Under 20:  8
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49: 1
Total Free White Persons: 9
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves: 9

"Winter Afternoon" by Claude Howell

Orpha's husband, Richard Baker, died in November of 1836, according to family trees that I viewed on Ancestry. What an awful time of the year to be left a widow.

Tax records for 1837 show that Orpha owned 50 acres valued at $101. Other Bakers lived in the same township, so I hope they were her husband's brothers and cousins and that they gave her the support of an extended family. She must have been thankful for her two oldest sons who could do the heaviest work on the farm.

Pondering this lady's situation, I wondered if she might have remarried before long. But I saw in the 1850 census that Orpha Baker was still on the farm alone and still raising her family. Of the eight children, seven were still with her. And in 1860, Orpha Baker was still on her farm with three unmarried adult children and a young child with a different surname. (I'm guessing that the child might have been an orphaned relative or a motherless grandchild.)

On FindAGrave, I learned that Orpha Chamberlain Baker died in 1865. Her tombstone is in rough shape, but I am glad that her family made sure she had one. May she rest in peace. May her descendants respect and honor her. And may she be an inspiration to all of us who think we're entitled to whine every time little things happen.

Published in the Cadiz Sentinel (Cadiz, Ohio), 14 Mar 1834

Vaguely related:
The Sudden Freeze of 1836