Ez Baxter

Ez Baxter

 

In GAWP5, Ez Baxter was listed as possibly Ezekiel Baxter of Yarmouth MA, 1767 - 1805. Details of his immediate family were given, but a trade was not indicated.

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Mike Humphrey, did the original research at the Genealogy Society in Boston. In his Ez Baxter investigation, he found only this Ezekiel Baxter of Yarmouth, and no trade was identified. 

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In looking into Ez Baxter (some 30 years later!) only one other period individual was found in period records; Ezekiel Baxter of Spencer, MA. He was recorded as living in Paxton, Worcester Co., MA in the US census from 1800. This Ezekiel was born in 1764 to Robert and Mary Baxter of Scituate, RI and the family details were listed in Pomfret, CT vital records. Robert's trade is unknown but he did buy a mill property in Pomfret, CT in 1780, and built a turning mill some years later. The turning mill later became a wagon factory.

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Importantly, this Spencer Ezekiel had his trade recorded in 1790, 1802 and 1809 deeds from Spencer, MA, that of a housewright. In addition, there exist in local town records, multiple examples of his building court houses and meeting houses in 1798, 1801 and 1802. While the Yarmouth Ezekiel remains an unknown, the Spencer Ezekiel looks to be a strong candidate for the maker of the Ez Baxter planes. The following material is devoted to the Ezekiel Baxter family of Spencer.

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Also of interest, the Historical Sketches Relating to Spencer, vol 2, 1901, records that Ezekiel's wife Lydia, "was with the Shakers intermittently for many years" and noted that "she returned (home) every spring and fall".