Santa Clara County
Biographies
REUBEN
JOSEPH BAKER
REUBEN JOSEPH BAKER. An encouraging example of self-made
success is found in Reuben Joseph Baker, who arrived in California in August,
1858, with $1.50 in his pocket, and who now owns three hundred and seventeen
acres of as fine ranch land as is to be found in the Pioneer district
of Almaden township. Born in Hampshire county, W. Va., February 2, 1835, Mr.
Baker is of German parentage on the paternal side, his father, Richard, and his
grandfather, Michael, having been born in Germany, the latter being the founder
of the family in America. Michael Baker
brought to his adopted country the zeal and patriotism ever associated with the
sons of the Fatherland, and when the colonists arose in might to repel the
unjust taxation of the British, donned his musket, and won through bravery the
rank of major in the Revolutionary war.
He became a large land owner in West Virginia, and reaped the material
reward due his energy and far-sightedness.
Richard Baker married Mary Morton, who was born in West Virginia, and
eventually came to the coast and died at the home of her son, Reuben, the
fourth of her six sons and two daughters.
During the youth of Reuben Baker the
educational facilities in Hampshire county, W. Va., were decidedly meagre
(sic), and he was obliged to walk three miles to the nearest school house,
constructed of logs, and maintained only during the winter season. At the age of twenty he removed from West
Virginia to Saline county, Mo., where he worked for
Robert Wilson for two years and two months, his object being to acquire
sufficient capital to take him to California.
In the spring of 1858 he set forth via Panama, reaching San Jose in
August of that year, and for one year he lived with
his brother Richard, a fortunate circumstance, as his funds were deplorably
low. In 1859 he made arrangements to
take up a squatters’ right to one hundred and sixty acres of land, owned by two
negroes, which he paid for in time, and added to as success came his way. Of his large farm of three hundred and
seventeen acres, fifty are under orchard, and the balance under hay and
grain. He makes a specialty of prunes,
but has about one hundred trees of peaches and some assorted fruits. His improvements have been dictated by an
observing and practical mind, and his beautiful modern residence, constructed
in 1885, and having two stories, is but one of the many advances which tend to
an ideal country existence.
While amassing his comfortable
fortune Mr. Baker has stepped aside into other grooves of activity, none of
which have come up to his expectations as far as practical and congenial work
is concerned. In 1863 he went to Mexico
and experimented in cotton-raising, returning the next year a wiser and more
enthusiastic Californian. In 1872 he
rented his farm and took up his residence in Hollister, where he engaged in a
butchering business until 1884. Since
then he has lived uninterruptedly on his farm, at the same time taking an
active part in local affairs. In
politics he is independent, voting always for the candidate possessing the
greatest claims to the confidence and support of his constituents. Fraternally he is identified with the Ancient
Order of United Workmen and the Masons of San Jose, and was formerly a member
of the Grange. In San Jose he married
Winnifred Louise Hart, who was born in Massachusetts, and is of Irish
extraction. Eight children are the
result of this union, two sons and six daughters. The sons, Reuben Francis and Walter Richard,
are their father’s right-hand assistants, and the daughters, Mary L., Winnifred
Josephine, Emily Ann, Helen, Irene, and Theresa, are acquiring their education
in the public schools. Mr. Baker is an
active member of the Roman Catholic Church.
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 1416-1417. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2017 Doralisa Palomares.