Combined Chronology

Every dated event from both claims, merged into a single timeline. The two tracts were separate legal matters, but they ran through Baker's life — and the territorial land system — at the same time.

1802Little Rock Creek

Proven occupancy of the Little Rock Creek tract begins (800 arpents).

Fall 1803Bellevue

Baker and Walter Crow scout and settle the Bellevue tract on Big River; a cabin is built.

7 Nov 1803Bellevue

Joseph Decelle, syndic at Mine à Breton, grants written permission to settle at Bellevue.

20 Dec 1803Bellevue

Legal cutoff date for the region; Baker's household — wife, eleven children, one enslaved person — already partly on the Bellevue tract.

Jan 1804Bellevue & Little Rock Creek

Baker relocates his whole family to Bellevue; Little Rock Creek continues to be worked but is no longer the family's home.

25 Jan 1806Little Rock Creek

Little Rock Creek tract formally surveyed.

5 Feb 1806Bellevue

Bellevue tract surveyed by John Steuart: 1,426 arpents 89 perches.

27 Feb 1806Bellevue

Bellevue survey recorded at St. Louis by Antoine Soulard.

26 Jun 1806Bellevue

Bellevue claim heard before the Board of Land Commissioners; Walter Crow testifies.

27 Jun 1806Bellevue

Baker testifies as a witness in neighbor John Cooper's Bellevue claim.

6 Jun 1810Bellevue

Bellevue claim rejected outright by the Board of Land Commissioners.

24 Apr 1810Bellevue

Cooper's claim — the one Baker testified in — is rejected by the Board.

1 May 1812Little Rock Creek

Baker quitclaims his Little Rock Creek interest to Jeduthan Kendall for $100.

1815–1818Little Rock Creek

Little Rock Creek claim sits in administrative backlog under Kendall's ownership.

2 Feb 1816Bellevue

Recorder Frederick Bates recommends confirming 640 acres of Bellevue.

29 Apr 1816Bellevue & Little Rock Creek

The same Act of Congress confirms 640 acres on both tracts in a single day — Bellevue in Baker's own name, Little Rock Creek to "Baker's representatives" (by then, Kendall).

5 May 1816Bellevue

Baker and Polly sell the confirmed 640 Bellevue acres to John Hutchings for $1,200.

Jun 1817Bellevue

Resurvey of the confirmed Bellevue 640 acres executed.

7 Aug 1820Little Rock Creek

Kendall quitclaims 213 Little Rock Creek acres to Benjamin Johnston, Jr.

23 Oct 1825Bellevue

Bellevue resurvey formally returned to the Recorder of Land Titles.

26 Mar 1829Bellevue

Federal patent for Bellevue issued to "Elisha Baker's representatives" — Baker had died by this date.

27 Mar 1829Bellevue

Land office letter closes the Bellevue file; Baker's 1816 deed returned to Hutchings.

1838Bellevue

Part of the confirmed Bellevue acreage reaches Jordan W. Jeffress.

1843Bellevue

Sold on to Daniel Boon for $3,300.

1849Bellevue

A separate 400-acre remainder is divided between Hutchings' sons.

Before 1850Little Rock Creek

Austin Byrd, holder of part of the tract, dies; a probate sale petition is filed at Hillsboro.

5 Dec 1850Little Rock Creek

Byrd heirs sue over title to Little Rock Creek land in Jefferson County Circuit Court.

1 May 1854Little Rock Creek

Johnston sells 151 Little Rock Creek acres to George Engelman for $1,800.

1861Bellevue

A 22-acre Bellevue mill site, after a sheriff's sale partitioning the Thorne Byrd heirs, reaches Hanson Wallace and Preston M. Robinson.

Jan 1863Little Rock Creek

Little Rock Creek's Survey No. 2021 is retraced by Isaac S. Baker — the last dated event in either record.