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This page of Oakwood Folks & Families is dedicated to the Justus Baker and Daniel Lawrence Bellinger Families who are buried at Oakwood. The William E Spencer is found near the end of the page. The information and family photographs were donated by a descendant "NHH" who is doing research on the families. Unless indicated, all text and photos are courtesy of NHH.
If you would like to submit information for a similar page for your family, please see the instructions on the main page.
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Justus Baker, 1819-1886. Justus was born in Henrietta, New York. He and Elmina married in October 1843. At one point they had a farm in Mt Morris, near the Genesee River.
RIght: Family Stone of the Baker Family, Section H, Lot 23, Oakwood Cemetery ( Photograph by Douglas Morgan). Below: Justus Baker stone (Photograph by Tom Cook )
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Elmina Holden Baker, 1824-1901, She was born in Hadley, New York , north of Albany. She died in Chattannooga Tn, while staying with her daughter Mina. She does not have a separate stone. |
Mina Annette Baker Mitchell, 1852 – 1925, Justus and Elmina’s younger daughter. Mina was a physician, graduating from the University of Michigan in 1876 with an M.D. degree in 1876. It was very unusual for a woman to become a physician at that time. She practiced medicine until the time of her marriage to Capt. C.D.Mitchell in 1890. They lived in Chattanooga, Tenn. In the picture, she is wearing a jade necklace she bought in Europe. She was an avid bird watcher, who contributed to at least one ornithological journal.
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Daniel Lawrence Bellinger Sr. was born in Genesee Falls. His first wife, Sarah Ann Spencer, died in about 1872, and he married Phoebe in 1875, when he was 63, and she was 29. At that time he had been living in Hudson, Michigan, where some of his brothers had moved. He returned and married Phoebe in Mt. Morris, where her family lived. They bought a farm in Nunda, known as the old Clough place, at what is now 27 Creek Road, Nunda. He was an orchardist, winning prizes for his fruit at local fairs. Earlier in his life, he had a business in Pike, called the Temperance House. An article in the American Citizen, of Perry, N.Y., is interesting. Dated Sept. 9, 1836: "The Temperance House, Pike, burned: owned by D.L.Bellinger (Sr.) was destroyed Sept.6th at a loss of about $1,500. A subscription is being circulated to help him rebuild." This was rebuilt, was called “Bellinger House. It is still standing at the foot of Emery Hill.” I believe it is not still standing today, in 2011. |
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Phoebe Baker Bellinger, 1845 – 1900, Justus and Elmina’s daughter. No headstone. Phoebe was the 2nd wife of Daniel Lawrence Bellinger. She was born in Henrietta, New York, and died of Bright’s disease at the age of 54, in Nunda.
(Photo of Bellinger name on Baker/Bellinger stone by Tom Cook) |
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Rosabel Bellinger, 1875 – 1885, their daughter. Footstone only. Rosabel died at the age of 9, after a very short illness. Copied from Nunda News, May 19, 1885: "The only daughter of Mr. & Mrs. D.L.Bellinger died very suddenly last Saturday, after an illness of only twelve hours. She was taken sick at 3 A.M. and died at 3 P.M. It was a strange case, and so regarded by the physicians. She went to bed in apparent good health but woke feeling ill and was taken with vomiting. She was nearly pulseless when Dr. Sabin saw her at 8 A.M. Dr. Alley saw her about 2 P.M. and regards it a remarkable case. She suffered but very little pain but was uneasy and constantly changing her position. She was an unusually bright and intelligent girl, and at school was a forward scholar. Her age was about nine years. The sudden death of their only daughter Rose, is a severe affliction for her parents who have the heartfelt sympathy of all their friends and neighbors.” |
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Above, Inscription of Roderick and Huldah Spencer on Spencer Monument, Section C
(Photo by Tom Cook) |
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Roderick Peabody Spencer, 1821 – 1894 Roderick had a farm in Pennycook, a part of Portage. He and his wife, Huldah, lost several of their young children to an early death, including the twins, C.L.G. and G.L.C., who were girls. What the initials stood for is unknown. They eventually adopted William, known as Willie. His mother had died shortly after his birth, and Huldah was able to wet nurse him. The baby’s father, who later on died in the Civil War, must have felt unable to care for Willie, so Roderick and Huldah adopted him. According to the Nunda Centennial book by Captain Hand, "Rhoderick married, first, Miss Robinson and, second, Mrs. Ann Mosher Clark. He was one of the finest looking men the town produced and as good as he looked.” The Spencer farm was not far from the Erie Railroad trestle bridge over the Genesee River, and on May 6, 1875, a farm hand alerted Roderick to the fact that the wooden trestle was burning. They rushed over to see the fire, which must have been quite a spectacle. |
(Right) Huldah Maria Robinson Spencer, 1821 – 1880 I didn’t know much at all about Huldah, except for the story of their losing several children while they were young.
Hard to read stone on the Spencer lot. This may be the marker of the three Spencer Children whose remains were removed from Portage to Oakwood. They were C. Jerome Spencer, 1859, C.L.G. Spencer, 1861-1865, and G.L.C. Spencer, 1861-1862. (Comments and photo by Tom Cook) |
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William Eugene Spencer, 1851 – 1927 (Adopted)
Marian Louise Emerson Spencer, 1853 – 1932, William’s wife
William, or Willie E. Spencer was a successful farmer, owning two farms in Pennycook, part of Portage. He married Marian Emerson, and they lived at the Pennycook farm until their only child, Louise, was well into grammar school, when they moved first to Dalton and then to Nunda to provide her with better schooling. They lived at 27 Church Street at first, and then moved to 9 Mill Street, next to the school. Willie visited his farms each day. The family were Presbyterians, and Willie was an elder in the Nunda church for several years up to his death. Marian had scarlet fever as a child, and it left reddish scars on her neck, so she always wore high collars, supported by boning, no matter how hot the weather. She died of liver cancer.
The picture (left) shows Willie and Marian Spencer, and their only child, Louise, who was my (NHH) maternal grandmother.
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Monuments to William "Willie" Spencer and his wife Marian Louise Emerson Spencer (Photos by Tom Cook)
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