| Other People | Frank J. Bradley | Olive Rambo Cook | Jerry Litton | | |||
|
Past and Present of Livingston County Volume 2. Biographies by Major A. J. Roof. 1913 |
|||
Page 237-238
Photo available
Among Livingston county's native sons, who by industry, practical methods and well directed labor have won success in agricultural pursuits, is William H. Baker, who operates the fine farm of nine hundred and thirty-five acres in Cream Ridge township known as the Baker estate. The land lies on sections 3 and 4, range 24, and has been in the possession of the Baker family since 1864. Mr. Baker was born in Livingston county, August 13, 1868, his parents being Henry and Mary (Knowlton) Baker, both of whom have passed away, the mother in 1901 and the father in 1909. The latter was one of the most prominent men in Livingston county and a pioneer in the state, having bought the Baker Estate in 1864. Upon it he engaged in general farming and stock-raising on an extensive scale.
William H. Baker acquired his early education in the Livingston county public schools and supplemented this by a course in the Ohio State University, from which he was graduated in 1892. Immediately afterward he returned to the home farm and assumed charge of its operation, and has been engaged ever since in the development of its resources, having substantially increased both the area under cultivation and the yields per acre. He has at present about six hundred acres under cultivation, the remainder being devoted to pasture. He engages in general farming and stock feeding, and usually carries in stock about twelve head of work horses, one hundred to one hundred and fifty head of cattle and one to two hundred head of swine.
Mr. Baker married, in Franklin county, Ohio, in 1898, Miss Emma Almieda Slyh, a daughter of Daniel M. and Rosaltha Slyh, the latter of whom died in 1895. The father, D. M. Slyh, is still operating his own farm in Franklin county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Baker have four children, Rose Altha, Ruth Beryl, Henry Hollister and Clarence McArthur. Mr. and Mrs. Baker are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Politically Mr. Baker is a progressive. He is well known in Livingston county, having resided here all his life, and his high principles and his upright and honorable character make him a native son whose life record is a credit to the community.