Monroe Baker (born 1821 or 1823) is an American politician who served as mayor of

St. Martinville, Louisiana St. Martinville (french: Saint-Martin)Jack A. Reynolds. "St. Martinville" entry i"Louisiana Placenames of Romance Origin."LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses #7852. 1942. p. 480. is a city in and the parish seat of St. Martin Parish, Louisiana ...

, one of the earliest if not the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

mayor in the United States.

Biography

Baker was born in either 1821 (per the 1870 U.S. Census) or 1823 (per the 1850 U.S. Census) in

St. Mary Parish, Louisiana St. Mary Parish (french: Paroisse de Sainte-Marie) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 54,650. The parish seat is Franklin. The parish was created in 1811. St. Mary Parish comprises th ...

and moved to

. He is listed as a free black of mixed race descent and farmer was listed as his occupation. In 1867, he was appointed mayor of St. Martinville by Governor

Benjamin Flanders Benjamin Franklin Flanders (January 26, 1816 – March 13, 1896) was a teacher, politician and planter in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1867, he was appointed by the military commander as the 21st Governor of Louisiana during Reconstruction, a ...

after the death of mayor Pierre Gary. He served for approximately one year. In the 1870 Census, he was listed as a "livery stable keeper" and by 1891, he was listed as "an enterprising citizen and successful planter". In 1845, he married Mary L. Barrier and they had 12 children. Sources indicate that he had a second wife named Clotide with whom he had five children and it is surmised that he had twelve children between his two wives.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Monroe 1820s births African-American mayors in Louisiana 19th-century African-American politicians