William Baker (April 14, 1795 – November 6, 1871) was an American lawyer and politician.
Life
Baker was born April 14, 1795, in
Minden
Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detm ...
,
Montgomery County, New York
Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 49,532. The county seat is Fonda. The county was named in honor of Richard Montgomery, an American Revolutionary War general killed in 17 ...
, the son of Thomas and Mary Baker. At the age of 22, he moved to
Springfield,
Otsego County, New York
Otsego County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,524. The county seat is Cooperstown. The name ''Otsego'' is from a Mohawk or Oneida word meaning "place of the rock."
History
In 178 ...
, to study law. In January 1826, he married Delia Bianca Crain of
Warren
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...
,
Herkimer County, New York
Herkimer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 60,139. Its county seat is Herkimer. The county was created in 1791 north of the Mohawk River out of part of Montgomery County. It is named ...
. Her father was Rufus Crain, a prominent local physician, and her brother,
William C. Crain, was Assembly
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
in
1846
Events
January–March
* January 5 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Country with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom.
* January 13 – The Milan–Venice railway' ...
.
Baker was a member of the
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits.
The Assem ...
(Otsego Co.) in
1830,
1833
Events January–March
* January 3 – Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (1833), Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
* February 6 – His Royal Highness Prince Otto ...
and
1834, and was
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
in 1834.
On May 25, 1836, he was appointed a
Canal Commissioner
The Commission to Explore a Route for a Canal to Lake Erie and Report, known as the Erie Canal Commission, was a body created by the New York State Legislature in 1810 to plan the Erie Canal. In 1817 a ''Canal Fund'' led by ''Commissioners of the C ...
, and served until the removal of all
Democratic commissioners by the newly elected
Whig majority in the State Legislature in February 1840.
After his time in politics, he moved to Utica, where in 1845 he was chosen the first Recorder of the City (i.e. Deputy Mayor and City Judge). He was well known for his expertise in patent law.
Baker died on November 6, 1871, at his home in
Utica,
Oneida County, New York
Oneida County is a county in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 232,125. The county seat is Utica. The name is in honor of the Oneida, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois League or ''Haudenos ...
, and was interred in
Forest Hill Cemetery in Utica.
Sources
''History of Political Parties in the State of New-York''by John Stilwell Jenkins (Alden & Markham, Auburn NY, 1846)
{{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
''The New York Civil List'' compiled by Franklin B. Hough (pages 42 and 256; Weed, Parsons & Co., Albany NY, 1858)
*Obituary published in the ''Utica Weekly Herald'' on November 14, 1871
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