William Benjamin Baker

Who was William Benjamin Baker?

William Benjamin Baker was a U.S. Congressman who represented the second Congressional district of Maryland from 1895 to 1901.

Baker was born near Aberdeen, Maryland and attended the common schools. He engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1872, when he became interested in the canning industry, and later in banking. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Aberdeen and served as its first president from 1891–1911. He was also an organizer and director of the First National Bank of Havre de Grace.

In 1868 he married Olivia Wells, of Aberdeen, who lived only a little more than one year. In 1872 he married again to Mary C. Hollis, of Bush Chapel.

He served as a delegate to several State and congressional conventions, and was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1881. He also served in the Maryland Senate in 1893.

Baker was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fourth, Fifty-fifth, and Fifty-sixth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1895, to March 3, 1901. He represented the Second Maryland Congressional District which included, at that time, Harford, Baltimore, and Carroll Counties. He was the father of the rural mail delivery. When the matter of rural mail delivery was spoken of in Congress, there were none willing to assume the responsibility, for it was considered controversial to have rural merchants serve as postmasters. Mr. Baker, however, was willing for the experiment to be made in his district, and the first rural route of the country was started in Carroll County, from Westminster post office.