Nicholas Baker settled in Hingham where he received a share in the first division of house lots 11/18/1635. He was a Deputy to the May session of the Massachusetts Colony Court in 1636, and the first court in which Hingham was represented, and again in 1638. He became a large landholder in Hull, wehre he resided before 1660. Rev. Baker, of the First Parish Church of Scituate, was ordained 1660. By the consent of the First Church, he signed �an instrument of reconciliation with the Second Church,� 1 Apr 1675. At this time the First Church had returned to the practice of infant sprinkling from which �they had been lead away by President Chauncey.�
Nicholas was in Hingham in 1635, removed to Hull about 1644, then Scituate in 1660. Mather said Baker �had but a private education,� but there was a Nicholas Baker who graduated St John�s College, Cambridge, with a B.A. in 1631/2, and an M.A. in 1635.
(It has been suggested that Nicholas Baker also had a son, Thomas, who married Christian Beal, daughter of Nathaniel Beal, but that�s probably Nicholas Bacor.)
NICHOLAS, Hingham 1635, br. of the first Nathaniel, freem. 3 Mar. 1636, rep. 1636 and 8, rem. to Scituate, there was ord. 1660, third min. of the first ch. and was of such good temper as to reconcile the two chs. wh. had quarrel. for thirty yrs. He had Samuel, bapt. 7 Oct. 1638; John, 6 Nov. 1642; Elizabeth Nov. 1644; and Deborah, 6 June 1652. Mather, with his habitual carelessness, cays, in the Magn. III. 219, "he had but a private educat." taking occasion to utter one of his brilliant clauses; yet I found at St. John's Coll. Cambr. that he had his A. B. 1631-2, and A. M. 1635. A short time he stopped at Roxbury. His w. that prob. was mo. of all his ch. d. 4 Apr. 1661, and he next yr. took ano. of wh. the bapt. name Grace only is kn. and d. 22 Aug. 1678, aged 67. Her he made Extrix. of his will, in wh. he names six ch. Samuel, Nicholas, Elizabeth Sarah, Deborah, and Mary. The wid. Grace d. 22 Jan. 1697. All the ds. were m. Mary, 26 Feb. 1662, to Stephen Vinal; Elizabeth m. 1664 to John Vinal; Sarah m. 1671, Josiah Litchfield; and Deborah m. 1678, Israel Chittenden. Deane, 181-3. [2, 3, 4]
probably educated St. John's College Cambridge A.B.1632, A.M.1635 (per Savage). Roxbury then Hingham, freeman 1636 deputy to MBC Court 1636, land at Hull. Influential in church.
He became a large landholder in Hull, where he resided before 1660. Rev. Baker, of the First Parish Church of Scituate, was ordained 1660 and became the third minister of that church. On April 23, 1661, Rev. Baker's first wife passed away. On April 29, 1662, he remarried to Grace Dipple.
By the consent of the First Church of Scituate, he signed �an instrument of reconciliation with the Second Church of Scituate,' on April 1, 1675. At this time the First Church had returned to the practice of infant sprinkling from which �they had been lead away by President Chauncey.'
Rev. Baker is, then, credited with reconciling the First Church of Scituate with the Second Church of Scituate, who had been quarrelling over this practice for thirty years.
