Colusa County
Biographies
STEPHEN BAKER
The Baker family, represented in
Colusa county by Stephen Baker, a successful farmer,
is of southern origin, the name having flourished in Virginia for generations.
Leaving Powells Valley, of that state, John B. Baker,
with his wife, Keziah Burns, located in Kentucky,
where, in Clay county, a son Alfred Baker was born. In
later years they followed their descendants to California and made their home
in Colusa county until their death. Alfred Baker removed to Missouri in
manhood, settling near Keytesville, Chariton county, and later followed a mercantile employment in both
New Boston and North Salem. In 1864 he located in Harrisburg, Ore., where he
engaged in farming for two years, after which he spent a like period at Walla Walla, Wash., in the same occupation. Coming to Colusa county, Cal., in 1868 he engaged as a farmer until his
death. His wife, formerly Stacy McCollum, a native of Missouri, survives him,
making her home in Colusa. Her father, David McCollum, a native of Powells Valley, Va., was a pioneer settler of Missouri,
where his death occurred, while his wife, formerly Elizabeth Saudland, died in Colusa, Cal.
Of the thirteen children born to his
parents the first nine were sons, then three daughters and the last a son.
Eight of these children are still living, and Stephen Baker is the oldest. His
birth occurred in Keytesville, Chariton county, Mo., March 6, 1851. Until he was thirteen years old
his home remained in his native state, when, in company with his parents he
came to the Pacific coast, becoming a resident of Harrisburg, Ore. They crossed
the plains with the slow plodding oxen in a train of one hundred and eighty
wagons, under Capt. B. Edsall, averaging seven men to
the wagon all well armed and ready to protect themselves from any danger which
the plains might hold for them. On account of their frequent changes of
residences he received but a limited education, being forced to glean his
knowledge from contact with people and observation. After his father’s location
in California he helped on the home place until attaining the age of twenty-two
years, when he found employment on contract levee and road work. He continued
this occupation until his marriage in 1875, when he rented a farm of four
hundred acres on Grand Island, Colusa county, where he
raised grain for a period of ten years. In August of 1885 he rented the old
Myers home, consisting of three hundred and twenty acres on Dry Slough. He has
since remained in this occupation, cultivating to grain about two hundred and
seventy-five acres each year.
Mr. Baker’s wife was formerly Mary
Ann Myers, a native of Dry Slough, Grand Island, Colusa county, and born on the
property now occupied by herself and husband. Her
father, Jacob Myers, was a native of Germany, who came to America with his
parents and located in Kenosha, Wis. He married Ann Smith, also a native of
Germany and with her parents an early settler of Kenosha, Wis. In 1852 Mr.
Myers came across the plains to California, where he located one hundred and
sixty acres of the farm upon which he made his home until his death, which
occurred in 1892. His wife joined him in 1855 and bore with him the toil and
privations of the early days. She survives him and now makes her home in
Colusa. Of her five children four are living. To Mr. and Mrs. Baker were born
the following children: Burris A., of Grand Island; Thomas Franklin, of
Marysville; Stephen Bert; Lucy A., the wife of J. E. Perry, of Grand Island;
Grover Bernard; Thaddeus Alfred; Mary Theresa; and Harry Vincent. Politically
Mr. Baker is a stanch Democrat.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: "History of the State of
California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento
Valley, Cal.," J. M. Guinn, Pages
578-581.
The Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, 1906.
© 2017 Cecelia M. Setty.
Golden Nugget Library's Colusa County Biographies