Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/170

146 democratic ticket. His term expired in 1855, and in 1856 he removed to Clinton, Iowa, and engaged in the practice of law. lie was elected to the legislature in 1859, and acted with the republicans in the session of 1800 and the extra session of 1861. In July, 1861, he was appointed adjutant-general of Iowa, which office he held until the time of his death. In this capacity he was noted for his efficiency during the war, and was very popular with the soldiers, to whose comfort and welfare he greatly contributed. When grasshoppers devastated large portions of the northwest, and many families were threatened with starvation, Gen. Baker's measures for their relief were energetic and effective.

BAKER, Osmon Cleander, clergyman, b. in Marlow, N. H., 30 July, 1813; d. in Concord, N. H., 20 Dec, 1871. Having received good preliminary training, Mr. Baker, at the age of fifteen, entered the academy at Wilbraham, Mass., and remained there as a student for three years. At that time (1831) the Rev. Wilbur Fisk was principal of the academy, and, as one of the leading educators of the Methodist church, was invited to become president of Wesleyan university, newly chartered, at Middletown, by the state of Connecticut. Mr. Baker entered as one of the first class, and studied for three years, failing, through ill health, to complete the full course. Such was his proficiency, however, that he received the usual degree. In 1834 he accepted an invitation to teach in the seminary at Newbury, Vt., and from 1839 till 1844 was its principal. During this period he became first a local and afterward an itinerant preacher, and, under the conviction that his duty lay in this direction, he resigned the charge of the seminary, and for the next three years was engaged in pastoral work in the neighborhood of Rochester and Manchester, N, H. In 1847 he was appointed presiding elder, and the same year was chosen a professor in the general biblical institute in Concord, N. H., which has since become the school of theology of Boston university. This chair he accepted with great reluctance, such was his devotion to pastoral work, but filled it so acceptably that he was elected president of the school, and remained there until 1852, when he was elected bishop by the quadriennial general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was by nature a scholarly, unassuming man, but an excellent presiding and administrative officer, and proved himself highly efficient. As a preacher he was able, though not impassioned, and was an earnest advocate of thorough theological training for all ministers. He published "Guide-Book in the Administration of discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church" (New York. 1855).

BAKER, Remember, pioneer, b. in Woodbury, Conn., about 1740; d. near Isle aux Noix, Lake Champlain, in August, 1775. He served in the French war of 1757-'9, and was in the bloody attack on Ticonderoga in 1758. He went to Arlington, in the New Hampshire grants, in 1764, settled there, and became one of the leaders of the "Green Mountain Boys," aiding Ethan Allen in his struggles against the claims of New York to that part of the country. He was outlawed by Gov. Tryon, of New York, a price being set upon his head, and on one occasion he was actually captured, but was rescued on the same day, after he had been cruelly maimed. He was with Ethan Allen at the capture of Ticonderoga, 10 May, 1775, and with Seth Warner at Crown Point two days afterward. He met his death at the hands of the Indians when on a scouting expedition on Richelieu river, the outlet of Lake Champlain.

BAKER, William Bliss, artist, b. in New York city in 1859; d. in Hoosic Falls, N. Y., 20 Nov., 1886. He studied art at the national academy of design from 1876 till 1880. He took the first prize in the antique school of the academy in 1879, and was awarded the third Hallgarten prize, of $100, in 1884 for his "Woodland Brook." Among his recent paintings exhibited at the National Academy are "In the Old Pasture"; "Pleasant Day at Lake George" (1883); "October Morning" (1884); "Solitude " (18S5); and "Under the Apple-Trees" (1886).

BAKER, William H., artist, b. in 1825; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y.. 29 May, 1875. He was brought up to mercantile pursuits in New Orleans, afterward studied art, and became a portrait painter there. He removed in 1865 to New York, where he painted portraits and ideal subjects. Mr. Baker exhibited in the national academy "Cupid Disarmed" (1866); "A Floral Offering" (1869); and "Cupid Reprimanded" (1871). In 1869 he removed to Brooklyn and became principal of the free school of design of the Brooklyn art association. He exhibited there "May Flowers" (1870); "Red Riding-Hood" (1871); "Morning Glories," "Home Regatta," and "Cherry Time" (1872) ; "Lilies of the Field" (1873); aiid "Truants from School" (1875). One of his best portraits is that of Bishop Quintard, of Tennessee, painted for the Episcopal general convention. Mr. Baker was a successful art teacher. As a painter he was painstaking, but never achieved greatness.

BAKER, William Mumford, author, b. in Washington, I). C, 27 June, 1825; d. in Soutli Boston, Mass., 20 Aug., 1883. He was graduated at Princeton in 1846, studied theology for two years with his father, the Rev. Daniel Baker, and spent one year in the Princeton seminary. He then joined his father in Texas, and was a pastor in Galveston, and subsequently in Austin, from 1850 to 1865. After fifteen years of service in Texas, Mr. Baker accepted a charge at Zanesville, Ohio, whence he was transferred to Nc\v})uryiiort, Mass. In 1874 he became pastor of a Presbyterian church in South Boston. His most important work was "Inside: A Chronicle of Secession" (New York, 1866), written secretly during the war, while he lived in Austin, and giving a peculiarly vivid picture of southern life and sentiment at that time. It was published under the name of "G. F. Harrington." He also wrote the "Life and Labors " of his father (Philadelphia, 1858), which had a large circulation. His other books are mostly tales, including "Oak Mot" (Philadelphia, 1868); "Mose Evans" (Boston, 1874); "Carter Quarterman " (New York, 1876) ; "A Year worth Living" (Boston, 1878); "Colonel Dunwoodie" (New York, 1878); "The Virginians in Texas" (New York, 1878); "Thirlmore." and "The New Timothy" (New York, 1870); "His Majesty Myself" (Boston, 1879); and "Blessed Saint Certainty" (Boston, 1881). Many of these were published as serials. "The Ten Theophanies; or, The Manifestations of Christ before His Birth in Bethlehem" (New York, 1883), was completed shortly before his death, and is regarded hj those who knew him as in some sort a record of the writer's own religious experiences and struggles. Since his death has appeared "The Making of a Man" (Boston, 1884).

BALBOA, Vasco Núñez de, Spanish discoverer, b. in Xeres (le los Caballeros, Extremadura, Spain, in 1475; d. in Castilla de Oro, Darien, in 1517. He was a bankrupt nobleman who escaped from his creditors to Hispaniola and afterward joined an expedition under Martin Fernandez de Enciso, one of Ojeda's lieutenants, to the latter's