Hiram Emmit Baker, of Dayton township, LaSalle county, is a prominent
farmer and stock dealer and is entitled to more than a passing notice on the
pages of this work, devoted as it is to a portrayal of the lives of the
representative men and women of LaSalle county.
Mr. Baker may well
be termed a self-made man. He began life a poor boy, he toiled and saved,
and his industry and good management have brought him the success he now
enjoys. He was born in Clinton county, New York, February 4, 1848, the son
of a farmer, and was reared and schooled in Plattsburg. His father, Daniel
Baker, was born at Chazy, New York, and died in LaSalle county, Illinois, in
1884. He and his wife, whose maiden name was Laura Card, were the parents of
the following named children: James, of Allegan, Michigan; Martha, wife of
Henry Miller, of Oakland, California; H. E.; George, of Iowa; Oscar, of
Dayton township, LaSalle county; Charles, of Des Moines, Iowa; Susan, who
married Gideon Ruger; and Nelson, a traveling salesman in Kentucky.
H. E. Baker, on leaving school, entered the employ of a Mr. Benedict, a
milkman, with whom he remained two years, beginning at a salary of ten
dollars per month, and five years with I. S. Thorn. At the end of the seven
years he had assisted his father to the extent of one hundred and thirty
dollars and had six hundred dollars in the bank. He then married and rented
his father-in-law's farm, which he ran four years, after which he was
prevailed upon by Gabe Ruger, his wife's uncle, to emigrate to Illinois.
Coming here in 1874, he was employed as the foreman on Mr. Ruger's farm, in
which capacity he served two years, receiving four hundred dollars the first
year and five hundred dollars the second. The third year he purchased eighty
acres of land in Dayton township, the price being four thousand dollars.
Half of this amount he paid down. The other half and five hundred dollars
worth of stock he went in debt for, paying ten per cent interest on the
money, and at the end of five years he had the farm paid for. Then, with the
hope of bettering himself, he went to Greene county, Iowa, but returned to
his former residence in Dayton township, after an absence of one year. He
bought one hundred acres on the bluff, near Ottawa, at sixty-five dollars an
acre, on five years' time; built a modern house and barn, and when the five
years had elapsed his obligations had all been met. Still another tract of
eighty acres he contracted for, at five thousand five hundred dollars, four
thousand dollars of which consideration he received four years' time on with
the usual results, prompt payment of principal and interest. The last
addition he made to his property was the stock yards west of Ottawa, which
he purchased from the Phelps estate. These yards he himself used for a time,
while he was engaged in buying and shipping stock, but now has them leased.
Such rapid accumulation of wealth among the farming classes where the
products of the soil are depended upon solely to meet such investment
expenses is remarkable, even wonderful; and the instances are rare where
such good fortune attends so regularly and so persistently as in this one.
Mr. Baker was married in 1870, at Plattsburg, New York, to Annie
Ruger, a daughter of Gideon Ruger. The Ruger family is one of prominence in
the townships of Serena and Dayton, where they are classed among the most
industrious and progressive people of their respective localities. Mr. and
Mrs. Baker have six children, namely: Sadie, Julius, Anna, Florence, Hiram
E., Jr., and Glen.
Mr. Baker affiliates with the Republican party
and takes an active interest in local affairs. He has served as a member of
the board of road commissioners, of which he was the treasurer.
Extracted 13 May 2019 by Norma Hass from Biographical and Genealogical Record of LaSalle County, Illinois, published in 1900, volume 2, pages 595-597.
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