JAMES W. BAKER

JAMES W. BAKER

There is probably no business man at Hollyrood, Ellsworth county, Kansas, who has exerted a more potent influence upon the upbuilding of the town then the gentleman whose name is above. James W. Baker, who is a dealer in grain, coal, flour, feed, and live-stock, was born in De Witt county, Illinois, August 22, 1845, a son of Daniel and Polly (McCord) Baker. His father was a native of Indiana and his mother was born in Tennessee. Daniel Baker went to De Witt county, Illinois, and was a pioneer there. He bought new land and improved it and was familiar with every phase of the life of early settlers in that part of the country, at a time when the nearest
market was at Chicago, to which town he often took wheat, making the journey with teams. Henbecame a citizen of wealth and prominence and owned eight hundred or nine hundred acres of land. After the death of his wife, which occurred in 1846, he moved to Indiana and thence back to Illinois, locating in Vermillion county, where he again purchased land and improved it and prospered as a farmer. Now, eighty-seven years old, he lives at Potomac, Illinois, and owns land which he purchased upon his arrival in Vermillion county.

James W. Baker had not completed the first year of his life and his sister was not yet two years old when their mother died. He became a member of the family of his uncle, J. W. McCord, and his sister was taken into the family of his grandfather McCord. Daniel Baker's second wife was a Miss Hall, whom he married in Indiana and who bore him the following children, named in the order of their nativity: Robert, Dayton, Ann, America, Hattie, Amanda, Ada, Emma and Eva.

Mr. Baker grew up as a member of his uncle's household and was reared to the laborious life of a farmer boy of all work, in which his school days were limited to such time as he could be spared from labor and altogether would not have made up a year.

In February, 1863, when he was seventeen years old, he enlisted in Company I, Thirty-ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry. His company commander was Captain Philips and his regimental commander was Colonel Osburn. He fought under Grant in the campaign against Richmond and participated in many famous engagements round about the federal capital and before Petersburg. He was in the charge at Fort Gregg, and at Cold Harbor a shell which exploded almost in his face gave him serious wounds in his head, face and on the back of his head, which are visible evidences of the close call he received that day. He lay unconscious on the
ground until he was picked up and cared for, but he did not leave his company and in time recovered sufficiently to again take up active duty, and he was present at Appomattox when General Lee surrendered. Later he was on police patrol duty at Norfolk, Virginia, and he was mustered out of the service at Norfolk, Virginia, December 5, 1865.

After the war Mr. Baker returned to De Witt county, Illinois, where for a time he was employed as a farm hand. After that he farmed rented land until 1886, when he sold his stock, utensils and all other personal belongings except clothing and some other small portable property and went to Ellsworth, Kansas, where for six months he was engaged in buying and shipping stock. In October, that year, he went to Hollrood, Kansas, where he was a pioneer in his line. He built a small warehouse, the first in the town. In 1890, he erected an elevator, the pioneer structure of its kind at Hollyrood, which had a capacity of eight thousand bushels. He shipped from Hollyrood the first carload of stock ever sent out of the town and bought the first load of wheat ever sold there. In 1896 he built another elevator at Lorraine, of which he was sole proprietor until, in 1897, the firm of Baker & Edmunds was organized. Mr. Baker's shipments from Hollyrood have been large, sometimes aggregating eight hundred carloads per year, his principal shipments having been to New York city, Galveston, Texas, Kansas City, Missouri, Topeka and Arkansas City. He is the owner of a farm of one thousand and one hundred acres, which he rents to tenant farmers. He has erected a fine residence at Hollyrood.

Mr. Baker was married April 21, 1870, at Farmer City, Illinois, to Hattie Weedman, daughter of George and Catherine (Danner) Weedman, and they have three children. Their son, Bilbert L., is associated with his father in business. Their daughter, Mary K. is the wife of F. W. Thomas, cashier of the bank at Hollyrood. Georgia is a member of her father's household. Mr. Baker gave each of his children a thoroughly practical education with a view of fitting them properly for the responsibilities of life. Politically Mr. Baker is a Republican though he was
reared under Democratic influence. He is a high Mason, having been made a Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret, Ineffable degrees of the Scottish rite. He is a member of Hollyrood Lodge, No. 343, A. F. & A. M.

Mr. Baker's mother, who was Polly McCord, was born March 30, 1812, and died June 7, 1846. She was the daughter of James and Mary (Moore) McCord, and her birthplace was in Overton county, Tennessee. Charles Moore, of English and Welsh extraction, married Sarah Smith, the daughter of a French woman in North Carolina, and they were the parents of Mary Moore, who married James McCord. Mary (Moore) McCord, who was the youngesst of her family, often stated that her grandparents were Scotch. She died at the home of her daughter Martha at Point Isabelle, De Witt county, Illinois, May 23, 1858, having been for forty-one years
a member of the Protestant Episcopal church. Charles Moore, her father, who was a cooper by trade, served the cause of the colonies in the cause of the Revolutionary war and made canteens for the use in the Continental army. James Mc Cord was born in Ireland of Scotch parents, in 1739, and died at Spring Creek, Overton county, Tennessee, November 4, 1824. He came to America with his father, Captain Robert McCord, when he was four years old, and for a time lived in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and afterward in Wilkes and Iredell counties, North Carolina, and in Overton county, Tennessee. He was a wagon-master in the continental army during the Revolutionary war, and his great-grandson, J. S. McCord, of Eagle Creek, Oregon, writes that he was under the immediated command of General Washington, and held the office of wagon-master-general. He was married in Wilkes county, North Carolina, to Jane Scroggs or Scruggs, a scotch woman, who, when ordered to milk her cow to supply milk for the British troops, did so, but poured the milk on the ground and defied them. She died Noveber 12, 1789.

James and Jane (Scruggs or Scroggs) McCord were the parents of ten children. James McCord, son of James and Mary McCord, was born in Wilkes county, North Carolina, February 22, 1779, and died in De Witt county, Illinois, December 3, 1852. He was married March 29, 1824, in Overton county, Tennessee, to Mary Moore, daughter of Charles Moore, who was born in Granville county, North Carolina, and died in DeWitt county, Illinois, May 23, 1858. They settled on Peterman's Bend on the Ohio river, and afterwards lived in Overton county, Tennessee, where all their children were born and whence they removed in 1817 to Spring Creek. In 1832 they went to De Witt county, Illinois. Mr. McCord was a member of the Protestant Episcopal church for thirty-six years. The first James McCord of whom any record is extant, was a highland chieftain in Scotland, who lived in the seventeenth century and was killed in battle in 1689 at Killecrankie Pass, while engaged in a revolutionary movement in behalf of his native land. His son, John McCord, took part in different wars and died about 1715-17. His sons were John, David, William, Benjamin, Robert, Samuel and James, who after the death of their father went to
Stewarton, County Tyrone, Ireland, whence about 1720, John, David and William came to America and located in Pennsylvania. David and William were killed by the Indians and John went to North Carolina. John McCord, father of these McCords, was born at Argyle, Skye, Scotland, and his coat of arms consisted of a shield, gold and black, with three hearts and three lance heads surmounted by a closed helmet. A family of the same name still lives at Tyrone and its members are known as strict Presbyterians.

George Weedman, father of Mrs. James W. Baker, was a prominent citizen of eastern Illinois. The American ancestors of the family came from Holland to Pennsylvania before the Revolution. There George Weedman, the great-grandfather of Mrs. Baker, was born and married. He moved to Perry county, Ohio, and thence, in 1830, to McLean county, Illinois. It is said that at that time only one log house stood on the present site of Bloomington. A second child of those pioneers was John Weedman, grandfather of Mrs. Baker. John Weedman was born in Pennsylvania and was married in Ohio, to Rachel Wilson, a native of Maryland. In 1830, with his wife and five children, he went to McLean county, Illinois, whence he removed, in 1836, to DeWitt county, same state. In 1850 he removed to Webster City, Iowa, where he died in 1866. George Weedman, father of Mrs. Baker, was born in Perry county, Ohio, March 28, 1824, and was taken to Illinois by his parents when he was six years old. He grew up there and was identified with pioneer life in eastern Illinois. In 1850, in company with four of his brothers and others, he crossed the plains to California and came back as far as Missouri, by way of the
Isthmus of Panama, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. He made his way back to Illinois and became a very prosperous and successful man, the owner of four hundred acres of land, which was one of the model farms of the county. He was married April 17, 1845, to Catherine Danner, who was born in Montgomery county, Indiana, August 19, 1827. They had ten children, of whom Mrs. Baker, born April 17, 1852, was the fifth in order of birth.

Mr. Baker is one of Ellsworth county's most enterprising and successful citizens. His success has been won by industry and good management and he has had to overcome many obstacles. While living in Illinois he rented a large tract of low land and a succession of bad seasons left him two thousand dollars in debt, but he set himself resolutely to retrieve his fortune and came to Ellsworth county, Kansas, with four thousand five hundred dollars in cash. Since then he has met with almost uninterrupted success.