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BAKER Walter Nolan
Birth:          6 Jan 1892 Race Pond, Ga.
Death:          1944 
Cause of Death: heart attack
Burial:         Bosque Bello Cemetery, Fernandina Beach, Nassau Co., Fla.

Notes
http://www.crossingusa.com/keyword/G2A/1735House.cfm

The Man Who Built the 1735 House: Walter Nolan Baker 
Walter Nolan Baker, wealthy for the times, built the 1735 House as his family 
residence in the late 1930's.  A photograph of Nolan Baker, sitting with his third wife, 
Lucille, on the steps in front of the newly completed house, bears a date of 1938.   
Nolan was born January 6, 1892.  His parents were Walter B. Baker and Barbara 
Jeanette Baker.  He died in 1944 at the age of 52, and is buried in Bosque Bello 
Cemetery in the Baker family plot, here on the Amelia Island.  He was born in Race 
Pond, 12 miles north of Folkston, Georgia on US 29 and grew up in Schlatterville.  
In 1912, he was 20 years old.  He worked rolling turpentine kegs as a young man and 
had a powerful upper body from rolling the kegs.  He must have drawn to the ocean as 
he moved to Fernandina to raise a family.  It is a source of happiness to the Baker 
heirs, that in its present role as bed and breakfast, the house their father built 
continues to draw people to the ocean he loved.  
Nolan had two sisters and one brother, Myrtie Baker Burgress, who husband was H.V. 
Burgess, a longtime Nassau County Judge; Goldie Baker Williams Larrison, and Clinton 
Alva Baker. Myrtie, Goldie and Alva are all buried in Bosque Bello Cemetery. 
Nolan Baker had four children. He lived with his first wife, Sara, in Murfreesboro, TN.  
His son Walter Nolan, Jr. was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Walter worked for Nolan as a 
salesman, at one time.  After Sara and Nolan were divorced, Sara changed Walter's 
name to Patton.  
Nolan's second wife was Burney Steed Sheffield.  Burney was born in Colquitt, 
Georgia, and was a very beautiful woman from an old Southern family.  Her mother 
was Theodosia Dancer (Dantzler) whose father, William Richard Dancer, fought in the 
Civil Was as a volunteer in Company D, 18th Georgia Infantry Regiment, CSA.  His left 
arm was shot off in the battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia, and a family story is that when 
Great Grandfather Dancer returned from the war, he went down back of the woodshed 
and disappeared for about a week.  When he returned, he carved out an arm for 
himself out of wood.  
Burney has a son from her previous marriage, George Lester Derrick. She and Nolan 
had a daughter, Burney Nola on January 6, 1931 and a son, James Alva on January 
22, 1933.  George's father, George Lester Derrick Sr., was a civil engineer and 
architect who worked for the Florida State Road Department.  He designed a lot of 
bridges in Florida, one of which is the bridge over the Apalachicola River and he was 
also a talented artist.  
Nolan married Burney in 1928/  They courted in Jacksonville, and went to dances at 
the Jacksonville Pier.  Burney worked as a secretary at H & WB Drew Company.  They 
lived at 7th and Pearl Street in Jacksonville, boarding with Dr. A.J. Lindsay.  They 
lived in Fernandina in the early 1903's in a house on the corner of 6th and Date.  
Because Nolan was a salesman, the family moved alot.  They also lived in Charlotte, 
NC, Greensboro, NC and Atlanta.   
The house on 6th and Date was purchased for the family to live in by Burney's mother. 
 Grandmother Sheffield used her insurance money from Mr. Sheffield's death to pay for 
the house.  Nolan built a room at the back of the house for her to live in.  Nolan was 
salesman for Skinner Tire and Rubber Company, Akron Ohio.  He had the whole 
southeast as his territory.  
By 1935, Nolan was training a lot of other salesmen who then worked for him -- a 
salesman for each state -- and every time they sold something, Nolan made money.  
One of George's job was to take the sales slips, stack them up and figure up the sales 
and commission to Nolan. In 1938, he made $10,000 a year -- big money in those 
days! 
Nolan and Burney were divorced in 1936.  Grandmother Sheffiel and Johnnie Mar, 
their surrogate mother took care of Jim and Nola.  They also stayed in Jacksonville 
with Grace MacIiwanine, a cousin of Nolan's.   
Nolan and his third wife Lucille Clendenon, were married around 1937. Nolan was 46 
and Lucille was 25.  Lucille was a schoolteacher, a talented pianist.,  She was born in 
Blountstown, Florida.  She graduated from Florida State University.  Her parents were 
Lucille DeLoach and John Clendenon.   
Nolan died of a heart attack while away on a business trip in the summer of 1944.  
Eventually, Lucille was remarried to William A. Veech, an electricalt engineer for G.E. 
who lived in Caracas, Venezuela an she subsequently joined her husband in South 
America.   
The house at 584 South Fletcher was purchased by Mr. Veech.  Upon his return to the 
US some years later, Mr. Veech made the upstairs of the house into several 
apartments and did extensive repairs and improvements, including building a sea wall.  
He and Lucille lived in the house and ran the apartments until Lucille's health (asthma) 
forced them to move away from the beach. 
They bought a fishing camp and cabins on the Santa Fe River near Branford, Florida.  
Lucille lived there until her death in 1961, at which time Mr. Veech moved to Settle, 
Washington.  

Parents
BAKER Walter B. ()
----- Barbara Jeanette ()

Siblings
BAKER Walter Nolan (6 Jan 1892 - 1944)

Marriage To CLENDENON Lucille ("Tootie") (1 Dec 1912 - 1961) m. 1937 Wakulla Co., Fla. Notes Parents CLENDENON John Hudson (or Joseph) (21 Dec 1888 - 9 Aug 1970) DE LOACH Lucille (1 Mar 1894 - 10 Sep 1982)
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