22 January 1879 Brooklyn Union Argus FISHERMAN' LUCK. A Family Claiming to be Heirs to $315,000,000. , town trustee of Patchogue, L. I., and a well-known fisherman, claims to be a lineal descendant of Colonel Jacob BAKER, whose heirs were inquired for. The "Advance" publishes the following: "Quite recently an advertisement appeared in a number of papers through the country asking for information of the heirs of Colonel Jacob BAKER, a Revolutionary soldier, who died intestate at the residence of his brother, in Canada, in the year 1801. He was an odd, eccentric character, and had been visiting his relative some time. He always appeared to have sufficient means to meet his wants, but was quite reticent about his financial affairs, and it was not known that he had anything more than a pension from the United States Government for his service during the war. His health was very good, but taking a severe cold he grew very ill, and died unexpectedly to his relatives, leaving with them his discharge from the army, his uniform, cocked hat and sword, all of which are still in their possession. It now appears that the old colonel owned a large tract of nearly 1,500 acres, then in the suburbs, now in the centre and most valuable portion of Philadelphia. The value of the estate is enormous, being rated as high as $315,000,000. Only of late years the fact has been elicited, and efforts have been made to discover the old colonel's relatives. He was a bachelor, but at the time of his death had several brothers living. A son of one of these brothers, and a nephew of the old colonel, is Benjamin BAKER, living in Brookville, a small town several miles form Dayton. A large number of the family are living in the neighborhood of Ohio, and a meeting was called in Brookville the early part of the week, at which fifty-seven representatives of the family were present. Funds were raised and subscribed to for sending Mr. Benjamin BAKER to make any necessary investigations into the old family records for proving their claim to the property, and the family are determined on ascertaining their claim." Transcribed for the Brooklyn Info Pages by Carole Dilley http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~blkyn/Bklyn.Info.Page.html