Page:Edward Dickinson Baker Alien Senator.djvu/1



HE NAME BAKER is a highly honorable name. It is the name that a city and a county of Oregon proudly bear.

Since my school boy days I have read nearly everything con cerning Abraham Lincoln that I could place my hands on. In reading the full account of the story of Lincoln, I found much about one of his dearest friends, Colonel Edward Dickinson Baker. I knew something of Baker, the man, before I knew any thing of Baker, the city.

Edward Dickinson Baker was born in London, February 24, 1811, and was a son of a school teacher. His father's family emigrated from England, settling in Philadelphia when Edward was five years old.

In 1825 the family moved to New Harmony, Indiana. One year later they moved to Bellville, St. Clair County, Illinois. Ed ward preceded the family on foot, walking the entire distance. Shortly after coming to Bellville he went to St. Louis in search of employment. There he secured a job driving a dray which he performed for one season.

Returning to Illinois, he entered the office of Judge Caverly of Carrollton, Greene County, to study law in the old-fashioned way. He was admitted to the bar when 19 years of age.

When 20 years of age he married Mary Lee, a widow, mother of two children. To this union were born four children, two sons and two daughters.

Baker had very little schooling, no systematic education. He was entirely self-educated, yet in many ways he was far more learned than the average college graduate of his day, or of the present time. His great powers were not the result of laborious years. They were not acquired attributes. They were gifts—God given.