Roane County, West Virginia Biography of JOHN M. BAKER This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: ********************************************** ***The submitter does not have a connection*** ********to the subject of this sketch.******** ********************************************** This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 628 Roane JOHN M. BAKER, member of the law firm of Harper & Baker at Spencer, has been practicing law in Jackson and Roane counties for a quarter of a century, and his reputa- tion as an able lawyer, successful business man and high minded citizen is widely extended throughout that section of the state. He represents an old family of West Virginia. His grand- father, Elijah Baker, was born at Horseshoe Bend, Ran- dolph County. West Virginia, October 4, 1815, was reared in Wirt County, and from there moved to Jackson County, where for many years he was a farmer and merchant, served in the State Guards during the Civil war and was active in all matters of community welfare. His wife was Nancy Wolfe, who was born in 1819, and was a life long resident of Jackson County. Both were interred in the family bury- ing ground at LeRoy. Their son Dallas M. Baker, father of the Spencer attorney, was born at LeRoy September 19, 1846, and lived all his life in Jackson County, where he was a farmer and merchant, and he died at Sandyville November 12, 1911. He served as a school trustee, was a republican and a mem- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Dallas M. Baker married Mary E. Johnson, who was born in the town of Chesterfield, in the Adirondack Mountains of New York state, September 17, 1846, and is still living at Sandyville. Her father, John Johnson, was born in England in 1814, came to America at the age of seventeen and after a brief residence in Canada moved to New York state, where he married and about 1854 brought his family to Jackson County, West Virginia. He was a farmer, justice of the peace, member of the State Legislature and a captain in the Home Guards during the Civil war. Captain Johnson died at Ravenswood in Jackson County in 1884. John M. Baker was the oldest child of Dallas M. Baker and wife. Delia, the second in age, is the wife of Lee C. Knotts, whose home is at Sparrow Point, Maryland, Mr. Knotts being a captain in the United States Army and had a year of service in Prance during the World war. Nan, living at Marietta, Ohio, Is the widow of Robert H. LeBlanc, who was a non-commissioned officer in the army and had a record of service in the Philippines. Mary Greek is the wife of Rev. Holmes A. Spencer a minister of the Methodist Episco- pal Church. South, at Jacksonville, Florida. James E. is interested in a corrugated box factory at Parkersburg. Ida B. lived for several years near Denver, Colorado, and died while visiting at Sandwille, at the age of thirty-five, her husband, Addison D. Johnson, being now employed in a store at Sandyville. Charles E., the youngest of the family, is a merchant and farm owner at Sandyville. John M. Baker was bora near LeRoy in Jackson County. November 22, 1872, and as a youth was educated in rural schools and select schools in his native county and up to 1892 pursued advanced courses in the Fairmont State Normal School. He had taught two terms in Jackson County, and taught another term after leaving normal school. He studied law privately, and in 1895 entered the University of West Virginia, being graduated LL. B. in 1896. From the year of his graduation until 1909, Mr. Baker practiced at Ripley in Jackson County, and since December, 1909. has had his home and office at Spencer, where he is member of the firm Harper & Baker. His partner is J. M. Harper. They have a substantial law practice and are also owners of the business building in which they have their offices, at the corner of Church and Main streets, and have considerable other real estate and oil royalties. Mr. Baker served as prosecuting attorney of Jackson County four years, 1905-08, and for five years was a member of the Board of Education of the Spencer Independent School District, a period marked by the construction of the new high school. He is a republican, is affiliated with Moriah Lodge No. 38. A. F. and A. M., at Spencer, Spencer Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and is a past chancellor of Ripley Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and a representative in the Grand Lodge. He is a member of the Roane County, West Virginia State and American Bar Associations, the Spencer Country Club, is a stockholder in the Ravenswood Wholesale Grocery Company, and was one of the organizers and for a time vice president of the First National Bank of Spencer. During the World war Mr. Baker was a member and the secretary of the Legal Advisory Board of Roane County, and a worker in behalf of the success of all local drives. He has an interest in his father's old homestead at Sandy- ville, is owner of oil royalties and has a fine, comfortable home on Spring Street in Spencer. On December 19, 1899, at Pomeroy, Ohio, he married Jessie Riley, daughter of Benjamin F. and Virginia (Tay- lor) Riley, now residents of Detroit, Michigan. Her father lived in Jackson County, West Virginia, for a number of years, was deputy sheriff and jailer there, later owned and operated an automobile and repair shop in Detroit, and is a retired painter by trade. Mr. and Mrs. Baker have two children: Clary R., born July 26, 1900, graduated from the Spencer High School in 1919, attended West Virginia Uni- versity one year and is at home. Mary V., born October 27, 1902, is now a teacher in the Spencer grade schools. She completed the regular four year high school course in Spencer in three years, with an average grade in her studies of over 95 per cent. She took the normal course in the Spencer High School before beginning work as teacher.