My friend, Andrew Stewart, recently sent me a wonderful photo of Nancy Eberts-Waddell and six of her children.
The photo certainly tells a wonderful story of the family of Capt. William Baker who founded Chatham.
Andrew saw a biography I had written regarding the life of Nancy, in which I lamented the fact that I did not have a photo and he was more than happy to send this one to me. I am grateful.
Given the appearance of the individuals in the photo, I am thinking the picture dates from the late 1880s or early 1890s
Nancy Almira Eberts-Waddell is the elderly woman seated to the right of centre.
She was the maternal granddaughter of William Baker of the Royal Engineers who founded Chatham as a military and boat production installation; this would be in the mid 1790s.
Nancy was born at Chatham in 1820, shortly after her parents, Joseph Eberts and Ann Baker, claimed a land grant awarded to Baker, which was known as Orchard Place. That property is located on Grand Avenue East and is, for the most part, now occupied by the Water Commission grounds.
Nancy died at Chatham on Dec. 31, 1900, and reposes........