Santa Clara County
Biographies
ORLANDO
L. BAKER
ORLANDO L. BAKER has been an
important factor in the upbuilding of the locality of his home ranch on Senter road, where he owns thirty-seven acres of fertile
land. He has twenty acres planted in
tomatoes and ten acres in onions, and he also raises hay and grain to some
extent. Here in 1891 he built a fine
residence upon the place which he otherwise improved and beautified. He was born in Steuben county,
N.Y., January 19, 1838, a son of James and Ana (McEntyre)
Baker, the former born in New York in 1798.
The grandfather, Jeremiah Baker, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary
war, died in New York. In 1839 James
Baker moved to Michigan, locating on a farm in St. Joseph county,
and there he spent the balance of his life in agricultural pursuits. He died in 1848, and four years later his
widow contracted a second matrimonial alliance.
She was born in New York in 1801 and lived to be eighty-one years old,
passing away in 1882. She was the mother
of sixteen children, ten of whom grew to maturity, six being sons, and four
daughters.
Mr. Baker attended the public
schools of Michigan until 1852 and that year he accompanied his mother to La
Grange county, Ind.
Four years later he went to Miami county, of
the same state, and followed farm pursuits until 1859, starting that year for
Pike’s Peak. After crossing the Missouri
river the party of which he was a member changed its course and went to
California instead, making the trip in the usual way, behind ox teams. The train was in charge of Captain
Adams. At Gravelly Fork the party broke
up, five men and two wagons proceeding on to Plumas county, Cal., among them
Mr. Baker, who in the same fall went to Virginia City, Nev., afterwards
to Long Valley, and still later to Washoe valley. Returning in 1860 to Plumas county he engaged in farming, and the following year was
employed as a clerk at Taylorville. In
the Indian valley of the same county he later became interested with his
brother Simeon in raising potatoes for the market. From fourteen acres of land they sold $5,600
worth of potatoes, realizing a handsome profit.
It was in 1862 that Mr. Baker first
came to Santa Clara county, Cal., and for several
seasons thereafter he rented one hundred and sixteen acres of land in the Evergreen
district. In 1864, in company with two
others he rented four hundred and fifty acres of the Barnell
ranch and the following year went to Indiana on a vacation. Upon his return to California he again rented
land for one year, prior to purchasing a place of his own, but about 1867 he
bought eighty-one acres on the Monterey road.
In 1873 he made an additional purchase of one hundred and twenty-two
acres on McLaughlin avenue, which he farmed until
1888, purchasing at that time the fruit and grain ranch on Senter
road, where he now resides.
Mr. Baker’s first marriage occurred
in San Jose and united him with Miss Mara Pruett. One child blessed this union, Lillian A., now
the wife of F.H. Buck, residing near San Jose.
Mrs. Mara Baker died in 1893. Some
years later Mr. Baker married Miss Paulina F. Cottle, who was born in Santa
Clara county, Cal.
In his political view Mr. Baker is an independent Democrat, and his deep
interest in educational matters is evinced by his several years of service as a
member of the Jackson school district.
Transcribed by
Doralisa Palomares.
Source: History of the State of California &
Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M.,
Pages 1415-1416. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2017 Doralisa Palomares.