Waller Saunders Baker

Waller Saunders Baker, lawyer, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, on March 30, 1855, the son of Amanda (Saunders) and John Holland Baker. The family moved to Texas in the late 1850s and settled on a farm near Crawford in McLennan County. Baker graduated from Baylor University in 1875, read law for a year in the office of Thomas Harrison, was admitted to the bar, and practiced law in Waco the rest of his life. He was attorney for the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway and a law partner of Pat M. Neff. In 1884 he became chairman of the Democratic executive committee for McLennan County and in 1887 served one term in the state Senate. In 1892 he was a delegate to the Democratic convention in Houston and campaign manager for James S. Hogg. Baker married Mary Mills of Galveston in January 1886. He died on September 9, 1913, while on vacation in San Francisco, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Waco.