Over the years there has been a debate about Noah’s middle name – Was it Christopher or Christian? On several documents in Missouri (census records, land records, etc.), he was listed either as N.C. Baker or Noah C. Baker. The only time the name “Christopher” showed up was on the 1932 death certificate of Nancy Margaret Baker Titus, Noah’s youngest daughter, who died in Martinez, California. (The author’s great-great-great grandmother). The certificate listed her parents as Christopher Backer (Baker) and Nancy Maho (Mayo). The informant was Joe O’Connor, her grandson, who was born in 1894 and was a resident of California. Recent acquired family stories and histories from Randolph County, Missouri, identified him simply as “Christly” Baker. Also on the 1912 death certificate of Andrew Jackson Baker (Noah’s son), he was listed as “Chrisley” Baker. In the 1800’s the name Christly, or Chrisley, was used as a nickname for Christian, which has been confirmed by Mary B. Kegley, a Historian and Genealogist in Southwest Virginia. The nickname for Christopher (actually a German name) is Stophel, Stuffle (etc.). Furthermore Noah’s uncle, Christian Baker (b. 1776ca Wythe County, Virginia), was listed either as “Christian” (formal name) or “Christly” (nickname) on the tax lists in Wythe County, Virginia (Source: Binns Genealogy, Wythe County, Virginia, Personal Property Tax Lists - 1798 to 1805). The name Christopher has never shown up on any written documents in Missouri, Kentucky or Virginia, where the Baker family resided. In summary, Joe O’Connor and family members in California obviously were unaware that “Christly” was a nickname for Christian. Unfortunately the name Christopher got into many publications beginning in the 1970’s. We now are certain that Noah’s middle name was Christian, which originated from his great-grandfather, Christian Plank. Also the name “Christly” was used extensively as a nickname for “Christian” in several generations in the Plank family.

Bob Schamber
Folsom, CA