Chatham County GaArchives Biographies.....Baker, Marcus Stephen 1849 - living in 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 13, 2004, 5:48 pm

Author: William Harden
p. 616-618

   MARCUS STEPHEN BAKER. One of the most conspicuous figures in the affairs of
this section of the state is Marcus Stephen Baker, receiver of tax returns of
Chatham county. He has held this responsible office since 1901 and is
exceedingly popular and efficient. He was previously engaged in mercantile
business and in general collecting and real estate.

Mr. Baker is a native Georgian, his birth having occurred at Hinesville, Liberty
county, September 16, 1849. He is the son of Richard Fuller and Elizabeth G.
(Dowsey) Baker. The father was born in Liberty county and died there in 1852,
when Mr. Baker was an infant. Richard P. Baker was a son of Stephen Baker, also
a life-long citizen of Liberty county. The former, at the age of eighteen, was
orderly sergeant of Liberty Independent Troop, one of the oldest military
organizations in Georgia. He was a planter by occupation. The Baker family, in
truth, is one of the oldest in historic Liberty county, having been established
there in 1752 by the subject's great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Baker, of
Dorchester, South Carolina, who settled in Midway, Liberty county, in that year.
The great-grandfather, John Baker, who died in 1792, was a member of the
committee appointed by the convention at Savannah, Georgia, July 20, 1774, to
prepare resolutions expressive of the sentiments and determination of the people
of the province in regard to the Boston Port Bill. He was also a member of the
provincial congress of Georgia from 1775 to 1777; he was a member of the Georgia
council of safety in 1776; he was colonel commanding a regiment of militia of
Liberty county from 1775 to 1783; he was wounded in the skirmish at Bulltown
Swamp November 19, 1778; he defeated Captain Goldsmith at White House, Georgia,
June 28, 1779, and participated in the capture of Augusta, Georgia, in May and
June, 1781. He was lieutenant in the colonial wars. It will be seen that few
citizens took a more active and useful part in the patriotic history of that
stirring period.

   The subject's mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth G. Dowsey, removed to
Savannah from Liberty county in 1854 and her demise occurred in this city in
1882. The children of this brave and admirable lady were reared in this city.
One son, Richard P., is now a resident of the Forest city, and another, William
E. Q. Baker, lives at Atlanta. Another brother, Robert Wilson Baker, was a
Confederate soldier and was killed in the second day's fighting in the battle of
Chickamauga. Another brother, M. M. Baker, served in the army of the Confederacy
throughout the war and died December 23, 1909.

  It has been seen that the early childhood of Mr. Baker was passed in Savannah.
In 1859, when a lad of ten years, he returned to Liberty county to attend school
under the tutelage of Prof. Moses Way at Taylor's creek, Professor Way being a
well-known educator of that day. Afterward Mr. Baker studied under the direction
of Prof. S. D. Bradwell, at Hinesville. That gentleman was also prominent in the
educational world and had served as school commissioner of Georgia. In the first
year of the war the subject went to Walthourville to attend school, and in 1863
he returned to his home in Savannah and finished his education in the public
schools. The Baker family have for many generations been advocates of good
education and have given their sons the best advantages possible, and it was
only through the unsettled conditions of the war that Mr. Baker's education was
terminated when' it was. In 1866 he went to work as clerk in a wholesale grocery
house in Savannah and later became outside salesman for a local hardware firm.
Still later he engaged successfully in the general collecting and real estate
business. In 1900 he was elected to the office of receiver of the tax returns of
Chatham county, and assumed the duties of this office on January 1, 1901. He has
been elected at each successive biennial election and is now (1913) serving on
his seventh consecutive term in this office, which he has filled with remarkable
efficiency and to the entire satisfaction of the public.

   Mr. Baker holds the welfare of the city closely at heart and his influence
and support are given to all beneficent measures. He is a member of Trinity
Methodist church. He belongs to the Sons of the American Revolution, to -which
the patriotic services of his forbears make him eligible. Their even earlier
patriotic activities entitle him to membership in the Society of the Colonial
Wars. He stands high in Masonry, belonging to Landrum Lodge, No. 48, F. & A. M.;
to Palestine Commandery, No. 7, Knights Templars; Alee Temple, A. A. 0. N. M.
S., of Savannah; Savannah Lodge, No. 183, B. P. 0. Elks; Calanthe Lodge, No. 28,
Knights of Pythias.

   On the 5th day of January, 1S74, Mr. Baker was married in Savannah, his
chosen lady being Miss Fanny A. Krenson, a daughter of this city. Mrs. Baker's
parents were Frederick and Sarah E. (Dean) Krenson, the latter descended from
the Scotch family of MacDonalds, who were among the early settlers of McIntosh
county, Georgia. To Mr. and Mrs. Baker have been born three children. Louise
Elizabeth is the wife of Capt. Henry Blun, ex-postmaster of Savannah, and
president of the Germania Bank; Laura Spencer is the wife of Irvin S. Cobb,
formerly of Paducah, Kentucky, now of New York City, the famous feature writer
and humorist for the New York Sun, New York World, Saturday Evening Post and
various other publications; the third child, Marcus Stephen Baker, Jr., is
postmaster at Savannah and one of the city's best known young citizens.

   The Bakers are loyal Georgians and are prominent in a praiseworthy manner in
the many-sided life of the city, enjoying general confidence and respect in a
community of whose best traits they are typical.


Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME I
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913


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