Baker Street: The Baker family settled in the Eastern Townships between 1853 and 1856
Baker Street was opened in 1963 as part of the housing development of Deacon Construction, in Lennoxville. It refers to a pioneer family in the region.
Susan Wayman (1819-1884) and John Baker (1809-1859) immigrated from England to Canada between 1853 and 1856, along with their son William Wayman, who was born on August 12, 1853, at Histon, Cambridgeshire. The family settled in Sand Hill in Eaton Township (Cookshire-eaton since 2002), where two other children were born: Mary A. in 1856 and Frances Jane in 1859. Their father, John, died that year. The family does not appear in the 1861 census, but is found in the 1871 census. William Wayman was then living in Compton Township with his sisters, Mary A. aged 15 and Frances, 12 years old. However, William Wayman was included in the 1881 census. He was employed as a waiter in Lennoxville and was living with his sister Frances Jane, aged 22 at the time. Curiously, their mother, who was still alive, was not mentioned in these last two censuses.
William Wayman married Ida May Thompson (1861-1937) about 1881 in the Anglican Church in Sand Hill. They had eight children, all born in Lennoxville and they are now buried in the Malvern Cemetery: Ida Florence (1882-1952), John Arthur (1884-1963), William Reginald (1891-1966), Wayman Robert (1895-1962), Basil Herbert (18991949), Gerald (1901-1902) and Helen Louise (1902-1987).
In 1882, William Wayman Baker was living on Lot 12 of the range 6 in Ascot Township, which became 20 Belvidere Road and then 3020 College Street in 2006. The property is still occupied in 2024 by his grandson James Richard Jim, son of William Reginald. It is part of the Heritage Pedestrian Walkway in Lennoxville. William Wayman was a telegraph operator for the Grand Trunk Railway, first in South Paris in the State of Maine and then in Lennoxville. On 14 November 1891 he was appointed the Secretary-treasurer of Lennoxville, succeeding Artemas B. Stevens. He retained this post until his death. He was also the Secretary-treasurer of the Lennoxville School Commission, probably from its beginning in 1871, when it was separated from the Ascot School Board, and until his death. In the 1911 sensus, the family was living on Belvidere Road. William Wayman died, while still working, at Lennoxville on the 22 of October, 1926, and he is buried along with his wife in the Malvern Cemetery.
His son, William Reginald, replaced him from 1926 to 1947 in Ascot Township, from 1926 to
1956 for the Municipality of Lennoxville and from 1927 till his death, for the School Board. Beginning in 1911, William Reginald worked as a surveyor for the Canadian Pacific Railway in Regina, Saskatchewan. In 1916 he was a member of the Canadian Expeditionary Corps. He specialized as a signaler in the 37th and 39th Batteries of the Canadian Artillery and served in England and in France from February 1916 to February 1918. He then return to Canada to work for the Canadian Pacific Railway in western Canada. He later returned to work with his father in the 1920s. In 1934, William Reginald married Eileen Nancy Roberts (19031973), a hair dresser from England. They were married in Saint George’s Anglican Church in Lennoxville. They had one son, James Richard, who has helped us enormously with this story.