Jarvis E. Baker, Bienville Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller
Date: Nov 2001

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Jarvis E. Baker.  The responsibilities of managing a corporation
operating a chain of general mercantile stores are a premium and
reward for some exceptional talents and aptitudes for
merchandising, and in the case of Jarvis E. Baker, of Shreveport,
have been bestowed upon a comparatively young man who has in
fifteen years promoted himself from a bookkeeper and clerk to a
high salaried position as manager and financial partner in the
Dixie Stores.

Mr. Baker was born in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, in 1889, son of
William T. and Carrie (White) Baker.  An excellent education
prepared him for a career of usefulness.  He had the advantage of
attending Mount Lebanon College in Bienville Parish, one of the
best and most thorough educational institutions of the state at the
time.  At the age of twenty years Mr. Baker came to Shreveport, in
1909 and his first employment was as bookkeeper for Bernstein
Brothers.  In 1910 he was made book keeper for the mercantile
interests that had been founded by Mr. C. W. Lane at Shreveport.
His first position with Mr. Lane was as bookkeeper for the store at
Oil City.  Subsequently he was made general manager of that store,
remaining in charge there until 1920.  In the meantime he had risen
to other positions in the Lane organization of chain stores, being
made vice president and general manager of the entire business.
The Dixie Stores comprise six large and flourishing places of
business in as many towns and cities in North Louisiana and
Southern Arkansas.  The controlling interest in the Dixie Stores is
owned by Mr. C. W. Lane, Mr. C. H. Thurmond and Mr. Baker.  Mr.
Baker is individually president of three of the store
organizations, the Dixie Company at Haynesville, the Dixie Company
at Smackover, Arkansas, and the Caddo Grain and Commission Company
at Oil City.

Early in 1924 Mr. Baker also organized, in association with Mr. J.
M. Lee and Mr. C. H. Thurmond, the Lee-Baker Dry Goods Company, a
wholesale house at Shreveport.  It started business March 1, 1924,
and marked another step in the growing power of Mr. Baker in the
mercantile world.

On May 31, 1914, Mr. Baker married Miss Grace McPherson, a
daughter of A. W. McPherson, a prominent and well known citizen of
Longview, Texas.  They have two children, Willoughby and Lloyd.
Mr. Baker is a Mason, a member of the Rotary Club, and a director
of the First Baptist Church of Shreveport.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 154, by Henry E. Chambers.
Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New
York, 1925.