Tunis Hood 5 x Great Grandfather of Elvis Presley

On a sunny day we ventured to the nearby town of Mint Hill, North Carolina. We first stopped by the Mint Hill Historical Society where were three different boy scout troupes working on preserving the Carl J. McEwen Historical Village.

The village will open to the public in the springtime. Afterwards, we went to Daphne's bakery next door. While there we perused the brochures we'd picked up from the historical village. It said Elvis Presley's 5 x great grandfather was buried only half a mile away, in an old cemetery. So off we went to find it.

The memorial grave of Tunis Hood, erected in 1989 at the Rocky Spring Meeting House Burial Ground, first site of the Philadelphia Presbyterian Church cemetery.

Elvis Presley's Genealogy

to his 29th Great Grandfather William the Conqueror, King of England.

William the Conqueror King of England
Henry I King of England
Empress Matilda of England m. Geoffry V Plantagenet Count of Anjou
Henry II King of England
John King of England
Richard 1st Earl of Cornwall,
Richard de Cornwall
Joan de Cornwall m. John Howard
John Howard
Robert Howard
John Howard
Margaret Howard m. Constantine
Robert Clifton
Margery Clifton m. John Hastings Wyndham
Isabell Wyndham m. Simon Wyseman
John Wyseman
Margery Wyseman m. Edmund Beaupre
Annie Beaupre m. Nicholas Wright
Nicholas Wright
Nicholas Wright
Peter Wright
Gideon Wright
Elizabeth Wright m. Isaiah Harrison
John Harrison
Elizabeth Harrison m. Tunis Hood
John Hood
William Hood
Joshua Hood
William Hood
Minnie Mae Hood m. Jesse D. McClowell Presley
Vernon Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley b. January 8, 1935 d. August 16, 1977

Tunis Hood

Tunis Hood was one of Mecklenburg County's most prominent citizens.  He was county commissioner for ten years, and third largest plantation owner, owning 2,000 acres of land along the McAlpine Creek. He provided supplies for the patriots during the American Revolution. He was a Dutch farmer, born in New York, and raised in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. 

Tunis followed his sons to Mecklenburg County, NC, in 1775 where he died in 1797. A sixth cousin of Elvis, and great, great granddaughter of Tunis Hood, Rustee Lane, President of the Mint Hill NC Elvis Fan Club, took the last full measure of honoring our history and heritage by insuring that Tunis Hood, progenitor of the Hood clan, received  a special plaque and dedication, attended by many of his descendants still living in Mint Hill, North Carolina. This was the Hood family tribute to Tunis, whose burial place in an unkempt 200-year  old cemetery was marked only by a fieldstone with the initials  “T.H.”  etched on it.

The Hood family became associated with the Harrison family through Tunis Hood's marriage to Elizabeth Harrison, daughter of Samuel  Harrison and Abigail Smith. The Harrison line gave us three Presidents:  Benjamin Harrison, William Henry Harrison, who died while only one month in office, and Abraham Lincoln, a great grandson of Isaiah Harrison. source

Sometimes, on a sunny day it's good to get out, and see where the day will take you. Today, was one of those days, and look where it led us, to Elvis Presley's 5 x great grandfather's grave. What ventures have you done lately, that have led to a discovery?

Kiki Nakita

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A Glimpse At Our Week And Kelsie Merrily's Surgery

A glimpse at our week.

Tuesday

We made reservations at one of our favorites, The Gallery Restaurant inside the Ballantyne Hotel for a three course dinner.

The menu for me: shrimp and grits, roasted salmon with chilled risotto and crème pudding ala mode served with house brewed coffee. What a delicious dinner, and a wonderful evening.

The lobby has fresh floral arrangements, and serves high tea in the afternoons. It's where we're going for our 2nd annual St. Valentine's Day tea. If you gaze upwards, you'll notice the symmetrically placed wall sconces are like acorns hanging on oak stained paneling. The interior designer in me appreciates the attention to detail. 

Thursday

Our ten month old puppy, Kelsie Merrily was rescued last summer - a day before she was scheduled to be euthanized. I was in a puddle of tears, and praying we could have her. She has become another member of our family.

Well she went into surgery to get spayed. She was so excited on her way in, greeting Angela, her vet behind the counter and very sore and groggy on her way out. She has to relax for the next ten days, which for her personality is not her favorite. Bless her heart.

Friday

Earlier in the week, I advertised for a housekeeper. I met a lady whose going to come help me clean my home weekly. My weekly cleaning routine will have to change a little. On Monday's, the day before I'll do the household laundry (sheets, bathmats, towels, hand towels etc.) and tidy up a little.

On Tuesday's the housekeeper will come and help with the bathrooms, hallway, kitchen  and the floors in the living, dining and bedrooms while I dust and fluff those rooms. That will free up the rest of my week, and weekend.

How was your week?

Kiki Nakita

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The Baker Family (7 generations)

When we started our genealogy about three years ago, we traced our lines back to over a thousand years ago. Most of my lines, however, go back about four centuries, and one of those lines is the Bakers - my maternal great-grandmother's line.

~ The Baker Family (7 generations) ~

  

Baker is a famous surname of Old English (Anglo-Saxon) origin. From England the surname has spread to neighbouring countries such as Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and also to the English speaking areas of the Americas and Oceania where it is also common. An occupational name, which originated before the 8th century CE, from the name of the trade, baker. From the Middle English bakere and Old English bæcere, a derivation of bacan, meaning "to dry by heat." The bearer of this name may not only have been a baker of bread. [source]

    

Our line of the Baker's goes back to the year 1732. 

 Introducing:

William Baker

b.1732 d. December, 1766

 married for twenty-two years on July 28th, 1745

in Tredington, Warwickshire, England to 

Sarah Tombes

 b.1725 d.1767 

(7th great-grandparents)

Places lived: Newbold-On-Stour, Tredington

Warwickshire, England.

Sarah Tombes baptism April 4th, 1725



William Baker and Sarah Tombes marriage July 28th, 1745

St. Gregory Church of England, Tredington



William Baker burial December 6th, 1766



George Baker

b. June 24th, 1750 d.September 1827 

married for forty-seven years on November 19th, 1780

 in Tredington, Warwickshire, England to

Deborah Parker

b. July 3rd 1749 d. December, 1832. 

(6th great-grandparents)

Places lived: Alderminster, Tredington
Warwickshire, England



George Baker baptism June 24th, 1750

George Baker and Deborah Parker marriage November 19th, 1780



George Baker burial September 11th, 1827.

Deborah Baker burial December 11th, 1832.

George Baker

b. September 23rd, 1781 d.July, 1860

married for fifty-three years on May 19th, 1807

Sarah Powell

b. August 1787 d. January, 1865

(5th great-grandparents)

Places lived: Tredington, Morton Morrell, Wootton Wawen,
Warwickshire, England 



George Baker baptism September 23rd, 1781

Sarah Powell baptism September 20th, 1788

Sarah Powell record 1802

1841 Census



1851 Census



George Baker burial July 29th, 1860

Sarah Baker burial January 31st, 1865

SARAH POWELL was indicted for feloniously, stealing, on the 7th of July, twenty-eight yards of calico, value 28s. two remnants of Irish cloth, value 2s. seven pair of stockings, value 5s. and two handkerchiefs, value 1s. the property of   James Little.

JAMES LITTLE sworn. - I am an upholsterer, in  Mortimer-street, Cavendish-square; I know nothing of the loss.

MARY GARDENER sworn. - Mr. Little left home on the 29th of June; I was to sleep in the house during his absence; the prisoner was servant; she was to go away on the 7th of July, and on that day I asked her for a pair of sheets from her bed in the front garret to send to wash with three other pair; as she was giving me the sheets, I saw between the sacking and the seather-bed some cloth; I asked her if she was going to make some shirts; she said, yes; I laid hold of the corner, and said, this is cotton, this is not for shirts; she said her mother had sent her seven yards to make some bedgown; I said, I was sure that was a great seven yards, and she said, her mother had sent seven yards for her, and seven for her sister; I then went down, and told Mr. Lee, the foreman of it, and he went up stairs.

 

JOSEPH LEE sworn. - I went up with the porter, and found the prisoner in the cutting-room, up there pair of stairs, measuring some cotton; I examined the marks, but did not know it to be Mr. Little's; I then came down stairs, and sent Marthe Mosely up to question her about it.

 

MARTHA MOSELY sworn. - I am servant to a lodger of Mr. Little's; I went up stairs at Mr. Lee's desire; I found the prisoner in the cuttingout room, rolling up the calico very carefully; I asked her what calico she had got there, and she said it was her own.

 

MICHAEL MADAN sworn. - I went up with Mr. Lee, and examined the cotton, but I did not know it; it measure twenty-two yards and a half, I marked it. (William Norris , a pawnbroker, produced a piece of calico, but could not say from whom he received it.)(Joseph Avery, a pawnbroker, produced a pair of stockings, and a neck handkerchief, which he received from the prisoner on the 13th of July, and a piece of calico, which he did not take in.)(The property was identified by Mr. Little.)

The prisoner did not say any thing in her defense. GUILTY , aged 15.

Confined six months in the House of Correction .

First Middlesex Jury, before Mr. Justice Chambre.

When I first read Sarah's story, my heart broke. The poor fifteen year old didn't know how many yards of fabric she had, and wanted to make bedgowns. She got six months as sentencing was much stricter back then. Bless her heart.

John Baker

b.1814 d. May 13th, 1896  

married for thirty-six years on May 11th, 1835

Esther Bayliss

b.1816 d. December 9th, 1871

(4th great-grandparents)

Places lived: North Newington, Oxfordshire, England

Wellesbourne, Halford, Shipston-On-Stour, Warwickshire, England



John Baker baptism April 16th, 1820



John Baker and Esther Bayliss wedding  May 11th, 1835



St Martin, Birmingham where they married



1841 Census



1851 Census

~Confirming 1861 census~



1871 Census



1881 Census



1891 Census



Esther Baker burial December 9th, 1871

Grave of John Baker and Esther Baker

James Frederick Baker

b. abt. 1847 d.1914

married for forty-five years on  November 13th, 1869

Ann Maria Brookes

b.1850 d. July, 1914 

(3rd Great Grandparents)
Places lived: Halford, Aston Warwickshire, England.
Alderton, Gloucestershire, England.
Fazeley, Staffordshire, England.



James Frederick Baker baptism May 30th, 1847

James Frederick Baker and Anna Maria Brookes marriage November 7th, 1870



1881 Census



1891 Census



1901 Census

1911 Census

John Baker

b. November, 1886 d. WWI 1919

married for ten years in October, 1909 

Priscilla Coombes

b. March 22nd 1887 d. March 1951

(2nd great-grandparents)

Places lived in: Fazeley, Tamworth

Priscilla Coombes baptism April 6th, 1887

Born just a year apart, in 1886 and 1887 respectively, John and Priscilla had different childhoods. John was born in  Fazeley, Staffordshire, was one of thirteen children to parents married for forty-four years.

Priscilla was born in Foleshill, Warwickshire. She was one of ten children and her parents were married for twenty years before Priscilla's father died as a barge master.

At the age of fourteen, in 1901 Priscilla left school to be a cotton mill worker, whereas at the age of nineteen, in 1909 John signed up for the Royal Regiment Artillery.

At the age of nineteen, in 1909 John Baker signed up for the Royal Regiment Artillery

1911 Census

My maternal great grandmother, Daisy was born this year.

Sadly, John was killed in WWI in 1915 when Lily May was five and Daisy was four. In 1919, Priscilla married Harry Silverster Hill. They were married for over thirty-five years until Priscilla passed away aged sixty-four in 1951.

William Thawley

b. December 27th, 1905 d. October 7th, 1980

married for fifty years on December 27th, 1930 to 

Daisy Baker

b. August 22nd, 1911 d. August 11th, 1984

(my maternal great-grandparents parents)

Places lived: Wilnecote, Belgrave, Kettering, Tamworth, Staffordshire, England.

To William, Daisy was the girl-next-door. They were married after Daisy graduated high-school. 

My Nana Mabel, Great-Grandma Daisy, Uncle John

William was a creative, and a potter for the Staffordshire Pottery. Daisy was a homemaker, and took in tailoring as an extra income. Together, they had two daughters, my Nana Mabel in 1931, and Barbara in 1934. After my maternal great-grandmother's passing in the early 1980's it ended eight generations of Bakers in my family tree.

Great-Grandpa William

Previous posts on the Bakers [1] [2] [3]

All the best,

Kiki Nakita

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