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I am searching for the Irish roots of my ancestor Robert Jeanes, whose daughter Frances Jeanes married widower William Baker in Dec. 1755 in Marsh Creek, York County, Pennsylvania colony. At that time Robert Jeanes was identified as "formerly of Derry, Ireland." I have identified no other member of the family in Pennsylvania nor have I found any other trace of Robert. In other places I have found that the surname Jeanes is used interchangeably with "Janes."

William Baker was born in St. Andrew's Parish, Holborn, London, England, in 1714 and was previously married to Susannah Rice in the Virginia colony in 1737. I speculate that Frances (being married for the first time in 1755) was probably born about 1735 to 1740 and that her father was a contemporary of her husband, probably born 1715 or earlier. I do not know if Frances was born in Ireland or Pennsylvania and I know nothing about her mother.

William Baker and Frances Jeanes had children John, Susannah, Hance, Catherine, Thomas, Joseph, Sarah, Edward and Margaret, from 1757 to 1772.

In 1783, during the American Revolutionary War, their son Hance Baker, a member of the militia, applied for permission to go to Nova Scotia, Canada to visit his older half-brother Charles Baker on family business. A Joseph Jeanes applied separately at about the same time to go to the same place, and I presume that this Joseph was a relative of Hance's mother. Jeanes' application was denied but Hance Baker's was granted, and Hance spent several years in Nova Scotia before moving to Virginia and later to North Carolina and Alabama.

Friday 5th Jul 2013, 05:36PM

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