Representative Caleb Baker

Caleb Baker (1762 – June 26, 1849) was an American politician and a U.S. representative from New York. Born in Providence in the Rhode Island Colony in 1762, he came of age in the final years of British rule and the early period of the American Republic. Little is recorded about his parents or early youth, but his later professional life indicates that he received sufficient education to pursue legal studies and to teach school, occupations that required a solid grounding in reading, writing, and the law in the late eighteenth century.

In 1790, Baker moved from Rhode Island to New York, settling in what was then Tioga County. He studied law after his arrival, was admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of law. He married Sarah Stull, with whom he had two children, Brockholst L. Baker and Ruth M. Baker Hamilton. From 1790 to 1836 he resided in the towns of Chemung, Ashland, and Newtown (now Elmira), all then within Tioga County. Subsequent partitioning of Tioga County placed these communities within the boundaries of Chemung County, reflecting the evolving administrative geography of upstate New York during his lifetime.

Baker’s early public service began soon after his relocation to New York. In 1791 he served as assessor of the town of Chemung, an office that involved the valuation of property for tax purposes and indicated his early integration into local civic affairs. In addition to his legal work, he contributed to the educational life of the region by teaching school in Wellsburg, Chemung County, in 1803 and 1804. His growing prominence in the community led to a series of judicial and administrative appointments. On April 7, 1806, he was appointed surrogate of Tioga County, an office responsible for probate matters and the administration of estates. He was reappointed surrogate on April 13, 1825, and again in 1829, underscoring the confidence placed in his legal judgment over a span of more than two decades.

Baker’s judicial career broadened when he was appointed a judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1810, placing him at the center of county-level civil and criminal adjudication. His local influence extended into the legislative arena as well. He served as a member of the New York State Assembly in 1814 and 1815, participating in state lawmaking during the closing phase of the War of 1812 and its immediate aftermath. In 1816 he held the office of Justice of the Peace in the town of Chemung, a position that combined minor judicial responsibilities with important local administrative duties. He later returned to the State Assembly in 1829, reflecting an ongoing role in New York’s state government.

As a member of the Republican Party, more specifically the Democratic-Republican Party of his era, Baker advanced to national office when he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. Elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Sixteenth Congress, he served as the U.S. representative for the twentieth district of New York from March 4, 1819, to March 3, 1821. During this single term in Congress, he participated in the legislative process at a significant period in American history, as the nation confronted issues of postwar expansion, economic development, and sectional balance. In representing his district, he took part in the democratic process and the formulation of federal policy on behalf of his New York constituents.

After his service in Congress and his repeated terms in state and local office, Baker continued to reside in upstate New York. In 1836 he moved to Southport in Chemung County, where he lived for the remainder of his life. By this time, the area where he had long resided had been reorganized administratively, and Southport would eventually become part of the greater Elmira area, reflecting the growth and consolidation of communities in the Southern Tier region.

Caleb Baker died in Southport, New York (now a part of Elmira), on June 26, 1849, at about 86 years of age. He was interred at Fitzsimmons Cemetery in Elmira, New York. His career, spanning local, county, state, and national service, reflected the pathways by which early American lawyers and public officials moved from frontier communities into positions of broader responsibility in the young republic.