From "Turn the Rascals Out!" by Jim Sleeper 1972.
His father, William Walker Baker, was born in Henry County, Kentucky, on June 29, 1814. Like numerous Southern families, his migrated north, finally putting down stakes in Johnson County, Indiana, the winter of 1827. Thirteen years old at the time, Walker (as he preferred) was reared on a farm and received what formal education he got in the "common schools." Judging from his penmanship and spelling, that wasn't much. But if his youthful scholarship was a bit rough around the edges, as an adult Walker Baker proved to be an insatiable reader and put a high premium on self-improvement as would all those who eventually bore his name.
A granddaughter recalls that "W.W.'s" earliest known occupation was that of tax collector. He rode around the country collecting the government's revenue which took nearly every form but cash—-animal skins and produce being accepted as legal tender. Baker's district took him down into Kentucky, and it was there he met his wife-to-be. On November 29, 1838, in Williamsburg, the well-built Kentuckian wed Eliza Jane Musselman, a slip of a girl scarecely sixteen years old. According to the family, they eloped. History does not record how Eliza, the daughter of a coal miner from Wales, came to settle in Kentucky, but most accountably it was with her parents who, like many English subjects, had sought a new life in the "land of opportunity." Shortly after their marriage, the two set up housekeeping in a log cabin in nearby Brown County, Indiana. As an inducement to stay, the government threw in a horse and a cow.
A year later saw the arrival of the first of a substantial brood of young Bakers. Ultimately there were about fifteen children. After a dozen one tends to lose count. Whatever the total, on January 26, 1842, Walker and Eliza were blessed with their second son. His name was Daniel. Precisely why he was so christened is not known. Possibly it was a compromise: the righteous Welsh woman recalling a favorite Bible character; the free-spirited ex-Kentuckian thinking of—well, what excuse does anyone from Kentucky need for naming a son Dan'l? His middle initial was M. That stood for Musselman, an obvious concession to Eliza's family. Dan's daughter, Bertha, offers that "Grand-mother had a brother named Daniel Musselman and my father was named after him." She adds, "For some personal reason, my father hated him and his name." In later years he managed to work it into print often enough, so we may assume that he finally made a truce with reality.
Other but more prosaic children followed as quickly as Nature would permit. By the time Walker Baker was 29, a disinclination for hard work and the slim pickings of farm life induced him to look for greener pastures. He thought he saw them in politics. Recalls another grand-daughter, Clara R. Cushman, "Grandpa Baker's philosophy was: don't work with your hands when you can use your brain to avoid it and make more money, too." That thought in mind, and possessing the attributes of the perfect candidate (he was genial, practical, well-liked and big), Walker ran for sheriff of Brown County and was elected in 1843.
Years later his son, then editor of the Santa Ana Standard, described some of his father's qualities: The old governor was a splendid specimen of physical strength and vigor throughout life and his first illness was his last. . . . He never owed a debt that he failed to pay. . . . He was the soul of honor and the embodiment of humanity and generosity in his intercourse with mankind. . . . He had no religion and believed that Free Masonry contained all the teachings necessary to make a man a good citizen and a true man . . . . His creed was humanity, charity and justice for all. The people of Brown County must have thought likewise, for they reelected him sheriff in 1845. Three years later they bestowed the highest of Hoosier trusts by electing him county treasurer and tax collector, an office he filled until 1853. Bent on improving himself still further, Walker eyed the legal profession and dipped into enough law to be admitted to the Indiana bar in 1852, though there is no evidence that he ever practiced. If tax collecting kept the elder Baker occupied, no doubt matters were just as taxing at home for Eliza, whose litter increased annually.
If there was one seat Dan would have rather filled that year, it was the saddle alongside his old Montana companion, M.V.B. Lovering. "Mart" was off again, this time to California. His travels took him as far west as Stockton, and as far north as Fall River. 47 When he returned, his tales of the Golden State were unquestionably dandies and found an envious listener. California had long been Dan's dream. He wondered if he would ever set eyes on the place. He might even have made this trip but for the birth of his second daughter, Harriet. "Hat" for short. "Once more the old routine of business begins," he was in the habit of saying, but in 1873 it was unrelieved even by a vacation. [1]
Walker was listed in the 1850 Census. [2]
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10283229
See book: History of Lucas Co. Iowa, 1881
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