Nansemond County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Baker, Sarah I. Smith, 1931 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ SARAH IDA SMITH BAKER Mrs. Sarah Ida Smith Baker, born Sept. 21st, 1847, passed away at her home on Wellons street yesterday afternoon at 5 o’clock. She was the daughter of Burwell Riddick Smith and his wife Sarah Maria Cross Smith. She was descended from one of the oldest families in Eastern Virginia, her immediate family having been seated in the vicinity of Somerton for about 200 years. Her ancestors were active in Revolutionary times, one serving with General Washington’s Forces, and some later in 1812, and the family took an active part in the Confederate Army. Born just before the great War of 1861 - 1865, like all young people of this section at that time she was deprived of the advantages of education by the raging conflict, but what she lost in that she made up in her training in economy and frugality, and she was one who helped to bring Virginia out of the terrible conditions following that war. She was married to Mr. Robert W. Baker of the same section on Jan. 16th, 1871, with whom she lived more than fifty years, he having died on June 3rd, 1928, for the past 46 years she had made her home in Suffolk. Her life was an illustration of the wife described by Solomon in the 31st Chapter of Proverbs, for the she made her home her realm, in which she served her family and her neighbors. Her household work went on with almost military precision, she was instant in her exquisite needle work of which she did much. She was reared in a Methodist community, Somerton being one of the oldest Methodist Churches in the county, and she was a lifelong member of that denomination. She was a kind and agreeable neighbor, she reared a family of five children, Mrs. E. Blanche Bunting, Robert N. Baker, Mrs. Susie M. Vanderslice, V. Lynn Baker of Suffolk, and Dr. Harvie S. Baker of Norfolk, all of whom can look back upon her life and say as the inspired writer and call her blessed; in deed and in truth, a mother in Israel has fallen. In addition to the above children she leaves several grandchildren and great grandchildren. The funeral will held at the residence on Wellons Street tomorrow, Friday afternoon at 2:30 and interment will be in Cedar Hill Cemetery. Sarah Ida (SMITH; Mrs. Robert W.) BAKER, b. 21 Sep 1847, Nansemond Co., d. 9 Dec 1931, at home, Suffolk, interred in Cedar Hill Cemetery (Block H, Lot 47), Suffolk, 11 Dec 1931, donated obit- found in AMES Bible, newspaper unknown, Thurs., Dec. 10, 1931 *Cedar Hill list, an extension of the Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS} Cemetery Project: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/cemeteries/cedar_a.txt Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), and re-formatted by File Manager. file at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/obits/b260s1ob.txt