George Basil Baker

As printed in 1910

GEORGE BASIL BAKER.

Although a young man, George Basil Baker has attained pronounced prestige by reason of native and acquired ability, and because of his prominence in business circles and in the domain of private citizenship he deserves to be ranked as one of the representative men of Nodaway county, having been for some years past prominently identified with the industrial life of Maryville and the agricultural interests of various parts of the county. He manifests a deep and abiding concern in everything pertaining to the material advancement of the town and county, and every enterprise intended to promote the general good is sure to receive his hearty support.

Mr. Baker is the schon of one of the old and honored families of this locality, his birth having occurred in Maryville on February 19, 1871; he is the son of George Saunders and Margaret Ellen (Prather) Baker. The father was born in Madison county, Kentucky, June 19, 1836, the son of Charles and Fanny (Saunders) Baker. Charles Baker, who is remembered as a very genteel representative of the Blue Grass state in the old days, was born in Madison county, Kentucky, about 1800, and there lie spent the major portion of his life, coming to Nodaway county, Missouri, in March, 1851, and settled near what is known as the Conklin bridge, about six miles north of Maryville on the One Hundred and Two river, and there he improved a good farm and spent the rest of his life, dying in August, 1853. He was a Democrat and a member of the Christian church. He and Fanny Saunders were married in Kentucky, and four children were born to them. The mother’s birth occurred in Virginia; she reached the age of eighty, dying in Kansas City, Missouri, in January, 1880.

George S. Baker, long a prominent citizen here, came to Nodaway county with his parents in 1851. and here grew to maturity, working on the home farm and attending the local schools in the winter-time. He began the struggle of life at the age of fifteen against such odds as would have crushed many of a less courageous spirit, but, being of a family of sterling settle that knew no bending, he pushed forward and, in due course of time, won over all obstacles. He tried, in turn, farming, buying and selling live stock, and operating a country store, in all of which he won a fair measure of success. His sympathies being with the South during the war between the states, he enlisted in the Confederate service in August, 1861, under General Price and became quartermaster of the regiment, with the rank of captain, and he performed his duties in a very faithful and creditable manner and received an honorable discharge.

After the war Mr. Baker resumed farming and stock trading. In December, 1868, he turned his attention to banking, and organized the first bank in the county, the firm being George S. Baker & Company, Bankers, now the Nodaway Valley Bank, and he was successful in this venture from the first. On October 26, 1874, he organized another bank, known as Baker, Saunders & Company, now the Maryville National Bank. On September 7, 1896, he organized the Real Estate Bank, located on East Fourth street, which enjoys the distinction of being the only bank of that name in the United States. He is a director in this bank, and his judicious counsel has been very largely responsible for its great success, as was the case with the other institutions with which he has been connected. He is still in harness, his years weighing lightly upon him. He is a master of details, with keen discernment and good judgment, making few mistakes in his calculations and transactions, and he has a natural genius for organization and promotion and he has managed his affairs in a manner that has not only brought success to himself and family but to those associated with him and to the general good of the community, being recognized today as one of the greatest bene factors of Nodaway county, always liberal in the support of worthy move ments looking to the general uplift of the locality in a material, civic or moral way, and he is eminently deserving of the high esteem which is accorded him by all classes and of the wide friendship which he enjoys. He is well known in Masonic circles and is a member of the Episcopalian church.

On April 14, 1863, George S. Baker married Margaret Ellen Prather, daughter of Col. Isaac N. and Maria (Prater) Prather. Colonel Prather was born in 1803, near Harrisburg, Kentucky. He came to Nodaway county in the early forties and entered three thousand acres of land in White Cloud township. He was a large slave owner, and one of his former slaves is now living in Maryville. He farmer on an extensive scale, and became one of the well-to-do men of the county in those days. He was a great over of good horses and he probably brought the first racing horses to Missouri, having some fine runners in his collection. He was a man of strong characteristics, and he served in one of our principal Indian wars, becoming colonel of a regiment. He married Martha Prater in 1833; she was a native of Kentucky, and her death occurred on January 9, 1883, having survived her husband twenty-three years, the Colonel having died in September, 1860. He was a Democrat and a Presbyterian. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, two of whom are living, Mrs. Cynthia Ann Mulholland and Mrs. Mary Vance McMillan, both of Maryville.

Mrs. George S. Baker was born on August 11, 1843, 0,1 ie old Prather plantation in White Cloud township, and her death occurred in Maryville on September 4, 1878. She was the mother of five children, three of whom died in infancy, and two are living at this writing, Maud E., the wife of M. G. Tate, a well-known attorney and ex-probate judge, of Maryville; and George Basil, of this review.

George B. Baker grew to maturity in Maryville and received his education in the public schools here. Early in his youth he turned his attention to banking, deciding upon this line of endeavor as a life work, and the success he has attained in the same shows that he was wise in coming to such a conclusion. He began as bookkeeper in the Maryville National Bank, where he remained until 1896, familiarizing himself with general banking business. In that year he became cashier of the Real Estate Bank, and has very worthily discharged the duties of this position ever since. He is the owner of nine hundred acres of valuable land in various parts of Nodaway and Jackson counties.

Mr. Baker is a Democrat in his political relations, and he belongs to the Methodist church; he is a Mason, having attained the fourteenth degree, and is treasurer of the blue lodge; he also belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

On October 12, 1892, Mr. Baker married Sarah Scott Campbell, daughter of Dr. Smith Vawter and Caroline S. (Davis) Campbell, natives of Indiana, who came to Nodaway county, Missouri, in 1878. Doctor Campbell, who became a man of influence here, died on July 2, 1896. Mrs. Baker was born November 25, 1872, in Adell, Iowa; she received a good education and is popular with a large circle of friends in Maryville, as are all the members of the Baker household.

One child, Carrie Margaret, who is now attending school in Maryville, has added sunshine to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Baker.

Mr. Baker is rated as one of the progressive citizens of the community in which he lives, and the high respect in which he is held by all classes of people is a deserving compliment of an intelligent, broad-minded and most worthy man.

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.