John Baker (January 17, 1796 – March 10, 1868) is the namesake of the towns of
Baker Lake (Lac Baker) and
Baker-Brook, New Brunswick, Canada, just west of
Edmundston
Edmundston is a city in Madawaska County, New Brunswick, Canada.
On 1 January 2023, Edmundston will expanded, annexing the village of Rivière-Verte and parts of the local service districts of the parish of Saint-Jacques and the parish of Sai ...
. He was a successful sawmill and gristmill businessman who became a well-known pro-American activist in New Brunswick and Maine during the 19th century and was nicknamed "the
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
of the
Republic of Madawaska
The Republic of Madawaska (french: République du Madawaska, link=no) was a putative republic in the northwest corner of Madawaska County, New Brunswick (also known as the "New Brunswick Panhandle") and adjacent areas of Aroostook County in ...
", which he had declared in response to the unwillingness of the
Van Buren Administration in Washington to support Maine's claim to sizable areas of territory covering adjacent parts of the British colonies of Lower-Canada and New Brunswick, part of
British North America
British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestow ...
. At least 22 years earlier, the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
had ended in a draw and had seriously depleted the US Treasury, demonstrating the will of Britain to engage in full warfare to guard British North America against US encroachment, including invasion of US territories and punitive raids. This had resulted in Washington adopting a policy of appeasement towards states with claims to British territories, which clashed with Maine's expansionist intentions that continued to simmer during the 1830s.
John Baker, often referred to in local lore as "Colonel" John Baker (a rank given him by a Maine militia) operated a gristmill and a sawmill on the north bank of the
Saint John River, and was the leading American in the disputed territory. He was dissatisfied with the official borders, and in 1827 proclaimed an independent "
Republic of Madawaska
The Republic of Madawaska (french: République du Madawaska, link=no) was a putative republic in the northwest corner of Madawaska County, New Brunswick (also known as the "New Brunswick Panhandle") and adjacent areas of Aroostook County in ...
". John Baker was a native of Kennebec, Massachusetts. Kennebec was located within the area that became the state of Maine in 1820 and during his early adulthood Baker was a staunch promoter of the state's expansion toward the St.Lawrence. His confidence was such that he had established most of his mills (and himself) in an area that Washington had recognized as being under legitimate British control. The region was nonetheless claimed by Maine. Baker also had several facilities in the actual state of Maine but these were less substantial. Baker's "Republic" only included his New Brunswick properties and may have been a ploy to avoid paying taxes on either side, but the concept was popular with many of the local French speaking population who had no particular sympathies for the British or the Americans but felt a strong attachment to the area, as would Baker himself throughout his life.
Baker was instrumental in the
Aroostook War
The Aroostook War (sometimes called the Pork and Beans WarLe Duc, Thomas (1947). The Maine Frontier and the Northeastern Boundary Controversy. ''The American Historical Review'' Vol. 53, No. 1 (Oct., 1947), pp. 30–41), or the Madawaska War, wa ...
, a boundary dispute that led to resolution of the imprecise 1783 international border between
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
and the state of
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...
. Initiated by Maine, handling of the incident was quickly taken over by the US Government and settled with the
Webster-Ashburton Treaty, which left Baker's main residence and most of his mills firmly and definitively planted on British soil. Baker's name is interwoven with the boundary controversy that had led to the treaty. He had homes on both sides of the disputed territory, defied the officers of New Brunswick in many ways and was twice arrested and imprisoned in the
Fredericton jail, where a statue and plaque today recognize his imprisonments and his contributions to the boundary settlement, as involuntary as they may have been. The last time that he was incarcerated was when he was indicted, tried and fined £25 for
high misdemeanor
High misdemeanor is an archaic term in English Law for a number of positive misprisions, neglects and contempts. A good example of this is treason. The most important example may be that of maladministration in high office.
Examples in English l ...
s against King
George IV
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...
on May 8, 1828, many years prior to the settlement of the dispute.
By 1840 John Baker was in his mid-forties and his expanding business had become his main concern. His devotion to the cause of Maine was superseded by his own economic interests, and he remained in New Brunswick after the boundary settlement, grudgingly tolerating British sovereignty but never ceasing to consider himself nothing but an American. This put him at odds with the local British economic elite, and he associated mostly with like-minded French speaking and Irish settlers, providing financial support for local business ventures that would otherwise not have been possible and helping in the establishment of a mostly French speaking commercial class that rose much earlier than in other areas. He had also further endeared himself to French Canadians by supporting the establishment of a Roman Catholic mission in Baker Brook, which had never had as much as a chapel of any faith prior. Although Baker himself was nominally Protestant but not a religious man, he supported the mission as a welcome addition of community resources to "his" village. Most of his descendants married into Catholic French Canadian families, adopting both faith and language. Several hundred of his descendants still live in the "Republic" although very few bear his name. The millworks founded by Baker nearly two centuries ago is still in existence, supplying lumber to contractors in both New Brunswick and Quebec.
John Baker has the distinction of being considered a hero to two causes. "Brayons" as French Canadians of the area are colloquially called, honor him as the founder of the "Republic of Madawaska", the strongest symbol of their unique identity. The state of Maine considers him a champion of American values. Ironically neither epithet is historically accurate. The Republic was not founded to cement regional identity, and Baker's support of Maine was not strong enough to keep him there.
Baker's cultural legacy in northwestern New Brunswick was largely obscured in the century following his death. The steady rise of the Catholic Church's control over French Canadian educational and cultural institutions after 1840 had reached the area and found no reason to perpetuate the memory of a Protestant as a positive asset in local French Canadian history. Outside of Baker Brook, few heard bout him and the origins of the Republic were relegated to vague local legends. His memory would only be rekindled after the Catholic Church's demise among French Canadians in the 1960s and 70's.
John Baker died at his country home on
Chaleur Bay in 1868, shortly after New Brunswick had become part of the new sovereign country of
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. He was buried in
Baker Brook
Baker-Brook (2016 population: 564) is a former village in Madawaska County, New Brunswick, Canada.
Geography
It is located on the Saint John River 20 kilometres west of Edmundston.
History
The village takes its name from 19th-century sawm ...
but would not be allowed to rest for all eternity. In 1895, his remains were transported to Fort Fairfield, Maine where a memorial to him as a "Maine Hero" had been established, owing to the efforts of his daughter.
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, John
1796 births
1868 deaths
Heads of state of former countries
Heads of state in North America
19th-century rulers in North America
People from Gloucester County, New Brunswick