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Baker, William H., was born in Lenox, Madison county, N. Y., January 17, 1827. Samuel P. Baker, his father,
a native of Marcellus, N. Y., was a son of Joseph Baker, who was born in Massachusetts, and whose wife was Phoebe
Elliott, of Pompey Hill, Onondaga county. In 1821 he married Mary H., daughter off Samuel Atherton and Betsey Benny,
natives of Massachusetts and Chesterfield, N. H., respectively. In 1829 he settled permanently in West Monroe,
where he lived at the time of his marriage and where all but their second and third children were born. Of the
family seven attained maturity and six are now living: Mary M. (Mrs. John Rill) deceased; Olivia L. (widow of James
Armstrong, of New Hartford, N. Y.); William H.; George O. (first), who died aged four; S. Park, a lawyer of Youngstown,
Niagara county; George O., a lawyer of Clyde; Alonzo E., a manufacturer of New Hartford; and Ashley Delos, a lawyer
(and ex county judge), of Gloversville. Samuel P. Baker died in Gloversville, April 21, 1888. His wife's death
occurred in West Monroe, October 4, 1882. William H. Baker, the eldest of the sons, was educated in the common
schools and at the academies of Red Creek and Mexico, attending one term at Red Creek and one half a term at Mexico.
He was at first a salt barrel cooper, and then a carpenter and joiner. He also taught school four winters, his
last term being at Pulaski. He studied law with Judge Cyrus Whitney of Mexico, and finished with Seth Burton of
Fulton, being admitted to the bar at Syracuse in November, 1851, The following January he began practice in Cleveland,
N. Y., but in August, 1852, removed to Constantia where he has since resided. He continued the active practice
of law until 1874, since which time he has devoted his attention mainly to his farm of 400 acres on the west side
of the village, and bordering on the north shore of Oneida Lake. In a political capacity Mr. Baker has been specially
prominent. " Sired by a Whig and nursed by a Whig mother," he naturally became a Republican upon the
organization of that party. He was elected district attorney of Oswego county in 1862, appointed to a vacancy by
Gov. Reuben E. Fenton in 1866, and reelected in the fall of that year, serving until December 31, 1869. In 1874
and again in 1876 he was elected to Congress from the 24th Congressional district, comprising the counties of Oswego
and Madison and served in the 44th and 45th Congresses. In 1893 he was elected a delegate from the 22d Senatorial
District to the Constitutional Convention, which met in Albany in May, 1894. October 27, 1859, Mr. Baker married
Sarah, daughter of William and Sarah (Boots) Barnes, natives of England. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes settled in Constantia
in 1830 where the former still resides. Mrs. Barnes died October 25, 1893. Mrs. Baker was born in Constantia December
15, 1834. The children of Mr. Baker are as follows Sarah C., wife of Selah W. Hallenbeck, of Gloversville, born
February 22, 1864; William Barnes, born January;30, 1860, admitted to the bar at Syracuse in April, 1894, now a
practicing lawyer in Oswego; and Mary Adeline, born May 21, 1873, now a student at Syracuse University.
FROM:
Landmarks of Oswego County
New York
Edited by: John C. Churchill, LL.D.
Assisted by: H, Perry Smith and W. Stanley Child
Syracuse, N. Y.
D. Mason & Co., Publishers 1895
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