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1907 Past and Present Biographies

O. B. Baker

O. B. Baker was born in Harrison county, Ohio, in 1865, and is a son of William B. and Ann (McDougal) Baker. The father was also a native of Ohio and came to Iowa at an early day, settling in Franklin township, Greene county, where he bought three hundred and twenty acres of unimproved land. He was a hard working man and brought his land to a high state of cultivation, being engaged in general farming and stock-raising until the time of his death in 1875. In his family were five children, four of whom are now living.

O. B. Baker was but four years of age when his parents brought him with them upon their removal to Greene county in 1869. He was reared under the parental roof, attending the district schools and assisting his mother upon the home farm. When he had attained his majority he started out for himself, farming at first on land which belonged to his mother. Some ten years ago he located on section 31, Scranton township, where he took up his abode on a farm which belonged to his wife’s mother. This consisted of one hundred and sixty acres of land. The well tilled fields are now highly cultivated and abundant harvests reward his efforts. He has added to his enterprise of general farming an extensive business of stock-raising, making a specialty of Hereford and Aberdeen Angus cattle and Poland China hogs.

Mr. Baker was united in marriage, in 1892, in Franklin township, to Jennie Quayle, a native of Illinois, born in 1870, and a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Cain) Quayle, both natives of the Isle of Man. Her parents came to this county in 1874. Mr. and Mrs. Baker are the parents of an only child, Marguerite, born February 20, 1899.

In his political afliliations Mr. Baker is a republican but has never been an aspirant for oflice. He is an up-to-date farmer in every respect, carefully studying the advanced methods and scientific experiments which are being made in agricultural lines. Farming with him is an exact science and in consequence he has made success of his efforts. He owns forty acres of land in Franklin township. He is well known as a man of honorable character and upright life and during the years of his residence in this community has made a large circle of friends, by whom he is held in the highest regard.

Transcribed from "Past and Present of Greene County, Iowa Together With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Prominent and Leading Citizens and Illustrious Dead,"
by E. B. Stillman assisted by an Advisory Board consisting of Paul E. Stillman, Gillum S. Toliver,
Benjamin F. Osborn, Mahlon Head, P. A. Smith and Lee B. Kinsey, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907.

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