Lived in Winneshiek county for 40 years, all but one of them being on the farm he entered in Bloomfield township. He was born at Cornwall, Vermont, August 6, 1806. His youth was spent in poverty. His father died young and he was "bound out" under the New England system, to Col. Hammond, a notable man of Revolutionary Fame, on whose farm in Vermont he spent his years until arriving at his majority in the family of that worth. When he came to his majority, the sons of Col. Hammond with whom he had grown up, solicited him to stay with them and engage in business as partners. To this he assented, and for five years he was employed in merchandising at Crown Point, N.Y. Mr. Baker married Pamela Clark and he had borne to him six sons. In politics, he was an earnest Republican and a steadfast supporter of the principles of that party, but only once did he hold office. He was elected one of the two representatives in the 9th General Assembly to which the county was entitled to.