Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Baker, James H.

BAKER, James H., soldier, b. in Monroe, Butler co., Ohio, 6 May, 1829. He was educated at Wesleyan university in Ohio. Subsequently he became a teacher, and took charge of a female seminary at Richmond, Ind. In 1853 he purchased the “Scioto Gazette”, and became its editor. He was elected secretary of state for Ohio in 1855, and afterward secretary of state for Minnesota. He served as a colonel in the army in 1862-'3, was appointed a provost-marshal for the department of Missouri, and served in this capacity until the close of the war, receiving the brevet of brigadier-general of volunteers. After the war he was appointed register of public lands at Booneville, Missouri, and retained the office two years, after which he retired to his farm in Minnesota. From 1871 to 1875 he was commissioner of pensions.