This collection contains Thomas Baker's three surveying books which document land and property ownership in southern Lancaster County, primarily Colerain Township from 1856-1902. Octorara Creek, Kirkwood, Christiana and Upper Oxford Twp. are among the place names.
Admin/Biographical History
Thomas Baker traces his ancestry back to Sir Richard Baker (1568), born in the county of Kent, England. In 1685, seven generations before Thomas Baker was born, Joseph Baker immigrated to Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Born in Chatham, Chester County to Lewis and Diana Baker, Thomas was well-educated; a teacher until 1840, when he commenced the study of surveying. Land surveying is the location of points on, above and below the surface of the earth and the relation of those points to a common reference system. Employed at Jonathon Goss, at Unionville Academy in Chester, he surveyed over 650 farms in Lancaster County's Colerain Township. He married in 1855; his family adhering to his Quaker faith. The Biographical Annals in Lancaster, published in 1903, describes Baker as "…a man esteemed by his neighbors for his many good qualities and excellent character, and in disposition he is a man of warm heart and kindly feeling."
Bobst (1884 -1978) was born in Lititz, Pennsylvania. He aspired to become a doctor, but instead, he taught himself pharmacology. He became manager and treasurer of the Hoffman-LaRoche Chemical Works by 1920. In 1945 he took charge of the ailing William Warner Company (later Warner-Lambert) where he remained board chairman.
