BIOGRAPHY: William McClain BAKER, Mifflin County, PA

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The Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, Comprising 
the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, Pennsylvania.
Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897, Volume I, pages 427-428.

  WILLIAM MCCLAIN BAKER, M.D., Lewistown, Mifflin county, Pa., was born at 
Bannerville, Snyder county, Pa., June 24, 1863, son of Walter and Salome 
(McClain) Baker.  His grandfather, Walter Scott Baker, was a resident of Lehigh 
county, where his German forefathers settled in the latter half of the 
eighteenth century.  He had eight children, among them was Walter, father of Dr. 
Baker.  The Doctor's maternal grandparents were John and Sophia (Treaster) 
McClain; Mrs. Walter Baker was their only child.  Walter Baker received the 
average education attainable in his times by country boys.  He learned 
carpentry, but spent his early manhood principally in cultivating his father's 
farm in Snyder county.  He served in defense of the Union during the war of the 
Rebellion, being mustered into service September 7, 1864, in Company I, One 
Hundred and Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers, Capt. L. C. Edmunds.  After 
the war, having been mustered out June 2, 1865, Mr. Baker continued to combine 
farming and carpentry in Snyder county, until his removal to Mifflin.  The 
children of Mr. And Mrs. Walter Baker are:  James M.;  Dr. William McC.;  Mary, 
born April 8, 1866, died December 15, 1867;  Ada C., born April 11, 1870, is the 
wife of Edward S. Aurandt;  Ira R., born June 11, 1873, is a student of the 
Northwestern Ohio University, Ada, O.;  Elizabeth M., born July 8, 1875;  Elsie 
V., born in 1880;  Kirby, born April 23, 1882;  and Samuel S., born May 28, 
1878.  The eldest of this family, James M. Baker, is an attorney-at-law in 
Snyder county;  having graduated at the Northwestern Ohio University, he read 
law in the office of Andrew Reed, Esq., at Lewistown;  was admitted to the 
Mifflin county bar, and practised there for one year, before removing to Snyder 
county, where he is at present district attorney, and has the prospect of a most 
successful career.  He married Mary Yeager, and has one child.
  Being studious and diligent, William McClain Baker profited so well by his 
course in the common schools of Mifflin county that at the age of seventeen he 
was accepted as a teacher, and taught for a year at the Centre schoolhouse in 
Decatur township, Mifflin county, whither the family had by this time removed.  
At the age of eighteen he entered the Northwestern Ohio University, and took the 
preparatory course.  Again in Mifflin county, he taught for two terms at Lilly's 
schoolhouse, in Decatur township, and in October, 1866, entered the Medical 
College of Ohio, at Cincinnati.  The succeeding winter found him a student of 
the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, in which he matriculated in 
October, 1887;  he graduated from that institution in 1888.  After spending a 
few months at home, Dr. Baker began practise at Beavertown, Snyder county, where 
he remained until October 15, 1895, the date of his removal to Lewistown.  The 
Doctor's professional qualifications have already won for him the confidence of 
many patients;  he is also esteemed for personal traits, and is decidedly a 
"rising physician."  He belongs to Lodge No. 97, I. O. O. F., Lewistown;  Camp 
No. 98, P. O. S. A., Beavertown, Pa;  and to the Sons of Veterans.  He is of the 
Republican party.
  Dr. William McClain Baker was married, September 1, 1887, to Mary Willa, 
daughter of Augustus M. and Elizabeth (Sigler) Ingram.  One of their children, 
Charles F., died September 2, 1890, aged three months.  Those living are:  Lloyd 
R.;  Merle W.;  Russell I.;  and Rex M.  The parents of Augustus M. Ingram were 
William and Martha (Cottel) Ingram, and were of Scotch-Irish descent.  His wife 
was a daughter of George and Sarah Sigler, of German ancestry.  Mrs. Dr. Baker 
is one of ten children;  the others are:  Elizabeth;  Ada L.;  Sarah Martha;  
Robert W.;  James H.;  Howard L.; Annie M.;  Ellen B.;  and William.  Dr. Baker 
and his family are members of the Lutheran church.
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TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:  There appears to be a typo in the 2nd paragraph.  The 
author has written that Dr. Baker "in October, 1866, entered the Medical College 
of Ohio".  As he was born in 1863, this is obviously a mistake and should 
probably read "1886".