John Harris BAKER, Congress, IN (1832-1915)

1832-1915

BAKER, John Harris, (brother of Lucien Baker), a Representative from Indiana; born in Parma Township, Monroe County, N.Y., February 28, 1832; moved with his parents to the present county of Fulton, Ohio; attended the public schools; taught school; attended the Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, two years; studied law in Adrian, Mich.; was admitted to the bar in 1857 and commenced practice in Goshen, Ind.; member of the State senate in 1862, but, being a notary public at the time, was unseated because the State constitution forbid the simultaneous holding of two lucrative offices; elected as a Republican to the Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, and Forty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1875-March 3, 1881); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1880; resumed the practice of law in Goshen, Ind.; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1888; appointed judge of the United States District Court for Indiana by President Harrision in 1892 and served until his retirement in 1904; resided in Goshen, Elkhart County, Ind., until his death on October 21, 1915; interment in Oak Ridge Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present