{"id":440,"date":"2024-04-26T20:11:55","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T20:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/?p=440"},"modified":"2025-04-15T01:44:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T01:44:05","slug":"baker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/baker\/","title":{"rendered":"The Baker Family"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the late 19th and early 20th century, at least three generations of the Baker family were an integral part of the Michigan Agricultural College and East Lansing history. Many Bakers were graduates of the College and a large percentage of them achieved national prominence in their professions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Luther B. Baker astride Buckskin, whom he rode in pursuit of J. Wilkes Booth, standing before the steps of the Michigan Capitol, date unknown. The duo were a popular fixture of Memorial Day and Fourth of July parades in Lansing for many years. When \u201cOld Buck\u201d died in 1888 the horse was stuffed and mounted, and put on display at the M.A.C. Museum<\/a><\/span>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The story begins with Lieutenant Luther Byron Baker and his brother, Major Joseph Stannard Baker, who both served in the United States Secret Service during the Civil War. The service was, at the time, headed by their first cousin General Lafayette C. Baker. These three Bakers seem predestined to play a role in American history, for they had as their paternal great grandfather Remember Baker, captain in the Green Mountain Boys, whose commanding officer\u2014and no less than first cousin\u2014was Ethan Allen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gen. Lafayette Baker led the group responsible for tracking down President Lincoln\u2019s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, and all three Bakers joined the cavalry detachment in the hunt. On April 26, 1865, it was Lt. Luther Baker who held a mortally wounded Booth in his arms as the killer uttered his last words. This moment of historical chance was something Luther was able to parlay into a modicum of minor celebrity for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two brothers Luther and Joseph came to Lansing \u201cat the close of the Civil War,\u201d and both were married in 1868.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luther Byron Baker married Helen M. Davis, formerly of Massachusetts, and the couple had four children:<\/p>\n\n\n\n