Hello,

I am in need of someone living in the greater Philadelphia area to conduct some research on my behalf at the Philadelphia City Hall.

I have already obtained a copy of Lafayette Curry Baker's will who lived and died in Philadelphia on July 3, 1868. Upon receiving it, although there was a checklist of items that shows an inventory was present, I did not receive it. Also, I found a historical reference that Lafayette C. Baker filed a codicil to his will 3 days before he died. This was not found either. Thus, I need someone to examine the files to find these 2 items: Inventory List and Codicil. The master file is W-400-1868. I am hoping that these 2 items were miss-filed in a folder or envelope before or after the folder/envelope that Lafayette C. Baker's will was found in.

Thanks in advance.

Rick Brown
HistoryBuff.com
A Nonprofit Organization

(04-22-2013 01:54 PM)historybuff22 Wrote:  Hello,

I am in need of someone living in the greater Philadelphia area to conduct some research on my behalf at the Philadelphia City Hall.

I have already obtained a copy of Lafayette Curry Baker's will who lived and died in Philadelphia on July 3, 1868. Upon receiving it, although there was a checklist of items that shows an inventory was present, I did not receive it. Also, I found a historical reference that Lafayette C. Baker filed a codicil to his will 3 days before he died. This was not found either. Thus, I need someone to examine the files to find these 2 items: Inventory List and Codicil. The master file is W-400-1868. I am hoping that these 2 items were miss-filed in a folder or envelope before or after the folder/envelope that Lafayette C. Baker's will was found in.

Thanks in advance.

Rick Brown
HistoryBuff.com
A Nonprofit Organization

Rick,

Several years ago I contacted them about Lafe's will and they never found anything. I've got some material that James O. Hall got from a researcher in Michigan, but I don't think there was anything relating to his will. Everton Conger supposedly sued Baker's heirs for the money he invested in Baker''s hotel venture but I never found evidence of a lawsuit outside of media reports. I would suggest trying to find a grad student at Temple or somewhere and hiring them to go through the files.

Have you seen this?

http://www.phila.gov/records//Archives/Archives.html

Best
Rob

Rob,

I have a list of over a dozen people that were investors in Lafayette Baker's luxury hotel here in Lansing. While almost all were local people, I did find O. F. Winchester (firearms guy) and Hiram Sibley (largest agriculturalist at the time) as investors. I also found the court documents for Winchester and Sibley suing Lafayette and later his wife for "foreclosure." Winchester dropped the suit after Lafayette died. Sibley kept it active and finally won a settlement of $14,000 3 years later. I also found the deed that Lafayette sold the hotel to a local person for $60,000 - 6 months after it opened for business!

Rick Brown
HistoryBuff.com
A Nonprofit Organization

Does anyone know what city and state Everton Conger resided in between July 1865 and October 1866? If so, perhaps I can track down the court documents re: Lafayette C Baker.

Rick Brown
HistoryBuff.com
A Nonprofit Organization

Rick,

He lived in Richland County, Ohio. There is mention in his testimony during the impeachment investigation that he met with Baker over some financial matters, but the suit was supposedly filed in Michigan after Lafe's death. By that time he was preparing to move to Carmi and there is no suit filed there in the case. Unfortunately I can't get into my Conger files as the doctor has put a 5 pound weight restriction on me for at least a month (which is sad, because the cheesburgers I eat weigh over 5 pounds....oh, wait,...am I supposed to give those up now?)

Best
Rob

(04-23-2013 05:23 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  Unfortunately I can't get into my Conger files as the doctor has put a 5 pound weight restriction on me for at least a month (which is sad, because the cheesburgers I eat weigh over 5 pounds....oh, wait,...am I supposed to give those up now?)

Best
Rob

Just cut it in half.

Yep, folks - Rob is back!!!!