Related Records

1. 2005.083.057 - Photograph of Mercy Etta Baker in 3/4 pose, with watercolor wash and additional coloring on hair, eyes and face. Image mounted on board. Written on back: "2 column cut Xmas No" Stored with Baker paintings.

   Record Type: Photo

   
2. 2006.042.149 - Westport Point, 1998 Main Road. House View: Modified Greek Revival residence showing right and front side, one level with picket fence and sidewalk in front. Charles Ball original owner Jehiel Baker House Mercy Etta Baker lived here

   Westport Point

   Record Type: Photo

   
3. 2008.034.004 - Mercy Etta Baker and NY column writer

   Record Type: Archive

   
4. 2008.071.002 - Patents of Westporters from US patent office: can labelling machine, propagating boxes, tightening tires of carriage wheels, wrenched and oilers, resilient wheel, bowling game board. Patents issued to the following: Taylor, John C. Manchester, Albert D. Sanford, Peleg S. Gifford, Edwin Wescott, Harvey Baker, Mercy Etta Baker, John H.

   Record Type: Archive

   
5. 2009.004.001 - 2 photographs of Mercy Etta Baker. One of which was submitted to the newspaper when she won a story contest. Growing up at Westport Point and Horseneck Born in 1876, Mercy was the daughter of Jehiel and Abby L. (Gifford) Baker and lived during her early years at the Point (1998 Main Road). Both her father Jehiel and her grandfather John Hopkins Baker owned many acres of land on Horseneck, on which they grew cranberries. This was a sizeable business employing many local residents. Mercy undoubtedly grew up exploring Horseneck Beach and in her adulthood she inherited many acres of West Beach. In 1915 she subdivided her land into 97 lots, most of which were 50 feet in width, for the purposes of sale. She aimed to encourage the growth of a summer cottage settlement and actively discouraged commercial development by including a restriction against the sale of alcohol in the deed of every lot sold. Much of her property eventually under the control of the state and today is known as Horseneck Beach State Reservation. came Poet She published two volumes of poetry The White Elephant Sale and Bird Logic and Other Verses. Many of these poems had been previously published in periodicals such as the Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, Cat's Magazine, and Yankee. Her 1924 sonnet " New Bedford " won second prize in an international contest sponsored by Poetry Review and was also published in An Anthology of Cities. It is a tender evocation of New Bedford's glory days, the whaling days. The New Bedford Standard Times published many of her poems and short stories. Her words paint a vivid, literal, sometimes humorous, but more often contemplative portrait of her experiences in Westport and New Bedford. Once again, themes of Horseneck, its dunes and natural beauty dominate her work. Philanthropist Although she had no children, Ms Baker acted upon her concern for young people. Her adoption of an Italian war orphan named Lucia Stocutto through the Foster Parents Plan for War Children was reported in the newspaper. Her will also provided for the education of Shakuntala Joshi, whom she had supported for years through the Christian Children's Fund. She left money to a long list of organizations such as several Monthly Meetings of Friends and the Seeing Eye, Inc. of New York. Another act of unusual generosity was her gift in 1940 of a piece of waterfront property at West Beach to New York newspaper columnist, Charles B. Driscoll who had loved New Bedford's beaches She simply sent him the deed.

   Record Type: Photo

   
6. 2009.004.002 - 2009.004.002a is Nathaniel Gifford, Mercy's Grandfather. 2009.004.002b is Mercy Gifford, Mercy's grandmother

   Record Type: Photo

   
7. 2009.004.003 - 2009.004. 003a is Mercy Etta's grandfather Baker. 2009.004.003b Mercy Etta's grandmother Baker (nee Hopkins)

   Record Type: Photo

   
8. 2009.004.005 - photograph of cranberry bog given to Mercy Etta Baker

   Cranberries Horseneck Beach

   Record Type: Photo

   
9. 2009.004.006 - photograph of Cranberry house and grove

   Cranberries Horseneck Beach

   Record Type: Photo

   
10. 2009.004.007 - the dunes

    Cranberries Horseneck Beach

    Record Type: Photo

    
11. 2009.004.007 - the dunes

    Cranberries Horseneck Beach

    Record Type: Photo

    
12. 2009.004.008 - photograph "a puzzle " Find Miss Baker. Horse, Buggy , Barn

    Cranberries Horseneck Beach

    Record Type: Photo

    
13. 2021.021.001 - Photo of 1998 Main Road, home of Mercy Etta Baker. Originally home of Captain Charles Ball. See file on Mercy Etta Baker.

    Westport Point

    Record Type: Photo

    
14. 2023.020.001 - Patent for mold by Mercy Etta Baker, 1917

    Record Type: Archive