Colin Baker’s home: The photo shows the Forbes Baker home across the street.

Colin Campbell Baker’s House (1830-1896)

Colin’s grandfather, Lemuel Baker, was one of the early Steuben settlers who received one of the 100-acre land grants from proprietor Samuel Freeman in 1794. Lemuel received lot 19, which covered the area starting at the current Route 1 down to the shoreline. Lemuel’s youngest son was born in Massachusetts in 1790, and it was likely that they moved up shortly after.

There is no separate deed for the house that I can find, which isn’t uncommon if a property stays within a family. However, the 1861 map shows a home with his name on it (he would have been 30 at the time), so the house was probably built sometime between 1855-60. Colin was a house carpenter, and I guess he would have built his own home.

The family carriage shop would be right across the road from his farmhouse. In 1867, the Baker brothers (George, Forbes, Henry, and Colin) purchased 40 acres from Lemuel Sawyer near the town landing, where they built two blacksmith shops close to Dutton’s sawmill.

Totally an (educated) guess (as it would be really difficult to chase the property deed for a house that didn’t start with one and is no longer there), Colin’s son Colin Jr. stayed in the house after his father passed away. Colin Jr. married, but didn’t have any children. So…what I saw a lot of in Steuben (and this part of Maine) properties overall is that once the original families faded away, no one wanted the houses, and they either fell into foreclosure and/or ruined post-1950s.