D. R. Baker

As printed in 1910

D. R. BAKER.

The gentleman to a brief review of whose life the following paragraphs are devoted is prominently identified with the journalism of Nod away county and at this time is editor and publisher of the New Era, at Skidmore, one of the most popular papers of the county, comparing favorably with the best local sheets in this section of the state in news, editorial ability and mechanical execution. The county recognizes in Mr. Baker not only a keen newspaper man, but also a representative citizen, whose interest in all that affects the general welfare has been of such a character as to win for him a high place in the confidence and esteem of the people.

D. R. Baker is a native of the county in which he now resides, having been born in Monroe township on July 1, 1864. He is a son of Andrew and Mary A. (Campbell) Baker. The father died some years ago. and subsequently his widow became the wife of a Mr. Hedgepeth. The subject’s parents were both natives of Hardin county, Kentucky. His great-grand father, Lawson Baker, who was a native of Virginia, was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and also fought in the Indian wars, subsequently be coming a pioneer settler of Kentucky. Lawson Henry Baker, a son of Lawson Baker, was born in the Blue Grass state, and on attaining mature years became overseer on a plantation owned by Charles Marshall, a relative of Chief Justice Marshall and Tom Marshall, the noted orator of Kentucky in her early years. Lawson Henry Baker came to Missouri sometime during the fifties and settled on a farm of three hundred acres in section 17, Monroe township, two miles south of Skidmore, and it was on this farm that the subject of this sketch first saw the light of day. He was reared under the parental roof and secured his early education in the public schools. Subsequently he attended Amity College, at College Springs, Iowa, and also the Southwestern Normal School at Shenandoah, Iowa. On completing his education he engaged in teaching school and for two years was principal of the schools at Elmo, this county. Subsequently he became connected with the Elmo Register in an editorial capacity, in which he was engaged during the following five years, at the end of which period he engaged in the insurance business at Maryville for about eighteen months. He was then chosen to the position of cashier of the Skidmore Bank, to which he gave three years of efficient service. At the end of that time he relinquished the position and, going to St. Louis, he became bookkeeper in the office of the Willard Case Hardwood Lumber Company, where he remained until the spring of 1905, when he was sent by the company to Portland, Oregon. He represented the interests of the company there two years and was then transferred to San Francisco, California, where he served efficiently in a like capacity until October, 1908, when he returned to his native county. His former experience in newspaper work had touched a responsive chord and he determined to devote his future energies to this line of effort. He purchased the Nczv Era and his career thus far in his chosen field has been satisfactory to an eminent degree. He is a ready and resourceful writer, a good judge of what is news, and a man of splendid business ability, so that his success has been fully merited. The New Era is a spicy and interesting paper and is a welcome visitor in the homes which it enters. The paper is independent in matters political and exerts a beneficent influence for the advancement of the best interests of the community, taking high ground on all moral and ethical questions.

On August 27, 1890. Mr. Baker married Cora L. Case, a daughter of L. H. and Amanda (Terhune) Case, of Maryville, this county, and they have become the parents of three children, namely: Raphael A., born November 29, 1898, died on the 5th of the following January; the other two are Helen, who was born at Maryville, and Richard Case, born in St. Louis.

Politically, Mr. Baker is a stanch Democrat and takes a keen and intelligent interest in public affairs, though in no sense an office seeker. His religious membership is in the Methodist Episcopal church South, to which he gives an earnest and liberal support. Of a quiet and unassuming disposition, yet genial and approachable, Mr. Baker is well liked by all who know him and has many warm friends throughout this part of Nodaway county.

As printed in Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.