East Coker, St Michael, Somerset: parish registers

East Coker, St Michael, Somerset: parish registers · Church of England · East Coker, Somerset, England

For “Born” ABT 1811 of George Baker

County Somerset | Place East Coker | Church name St Michael | Register type Parish Register | Baptism date 09 Jun 1811 | Person forename George | Person sex M | Father forename Malachi | Mother forename Martha | Father surname BAKER | Transcribed by Jeffery Mance | Credit Jeffery Mance | File line number 3840

The 'abt 1811' on this birth event came from his age on the passenger list; this baptism entry would supply the parish and date the birth to shortly before 9 June 1811. CONTESTED, and left at quality 2 for that reason: the same passenger list that gives the age also names his parents as Nicholas and Margaret, not the Malachi and Martha of this entry. The birth year does not depend on which is right - both the list and the baptism give 1811.

East Coker, St Michael, Somerset: parish registers · Church of England · East Coker, Somerset, England

For “Occupation” 1840 of George Baker

Eliza Baker | baptism | 05 Jan 1840 | St Michael | George BAKER | Mary | Weaver

Re-made against the correct source; citation 53636 quoted this East Coker entry but pointed at the Worstead registers of Norfolk. The father's-occupation column of his daughter Eliza's baptism entry. A parish clerk's record of a man's trade at a named date is direct evidence of the occupation, though it says nothing about how long he followed it. East Coker was a sailcloth, webbing and twine parish, and the collapse of handloom weaving is the obvious reason a weaver took an assisted passage in 1854.

East Coker, St Michael, Somerset: parish registers · Church of England · East Coker, Somerset, England

For “Married” 25 DEC 1832 of George Baker & Mary King

County Somerset | Place East Coker | Church name St Michael | Register type Parish Register | Register entry number 189 | Marriage date 25 Dec 1832 | Groom forename George | Groom surname BAKER | Bride forename Mary | Bride surname KING | Witness1 Robert YOUNG | Witness2 Samuel DODGE | Credit Jeffery Mance | File line number 1026

The register is in its pre-1837 form and gives no ages, conditions or fathers. The identification rests on the couple: East Coker's other George Bakers of the period married Temperance Burks (1825) and had wives named Sarah and Edith, and this is the only George-and-Mary pairing. One of the witnesses, Robert Young, shares the surname of George's mother Martha Young.

East Coker, St Michael, Somerset: parish registers · Church of England · East Coker, Somerset, England

For “Baptised” 9 JUN 1811 of George Baker

County Somerset | Place East Coker | Church name St Michael | Register type Parish Register | Baptism date 09 Jun 1811 | Person forename George | Person sex M | Father forename Malachi | Mother forename Martha | Father surname BAKER | Transcribed by Jeffery Mance | Credit Jeffery Mance | File line number 3840

Quality lowered from 3 to 2 on 8 September 2026. The register entry is exact, but tying it to our George is now contested: the Kate's second list, read in a browser, gives his own parents as Nicholas and Margaret rather than Malachi and Martha. What still favours this entry is that it is the only George Baker baptised at East Coker between 1805 and 1818, and our George gave East Coker as his place of origin and an age implying birth about 1811. A George Baker was also baptised there on 3 January 1802 to a Mark Baker and Martha, and a Mark Baker aged 84 was buried in the parish in 1842: Mark may be Malachi under a clerk's shortening, in which case the 1802 George died young and the name was reused.