Title: Charles Minton Baker Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1823-1900

Creator:

• Baker, Charles Minton, 1804-1872

Call Number: Whitewater Mss N; PH 1957; PH 1959; PH 2690

Quantity: 6.0 c.f. (15 archives boxes) and 206 photographs (1 archives box and 3 albums)

Repository:

Housed at the University Archives & Area Research Center, Harold Andersen Library, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Whitewater Library / Whitewater Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of Baker, a Lake Geneva, Wis., lawyer, member of the first state constitutional convention, railroad director, and Civil War draft commissioner, consisting primarily of letters and other papers, 1823-1879, relating to his collection agency and general law practice, local history materials, and biographical materials.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-whit000n

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

Items include the 1841 assessment roll, district number two, Walworth County, and (in the same volume) a daybook of Baker for his law practice (1845-1847); two volumes of court records, 1831-1853; a draft of the report of the committee on organization and functions of the judiciary for the 1846 state constitutional convention; the manuscript of the 1849 Revised Statutes of the State of Wisconsin and letters from C. L. Sholes concerning its publication; letters in 1853 relating to the incorporation of and efforts to finance the Kenosha & Beloit Railroad; several items (1870) relating to the proposed State Line & Union Railroad Company; routing letters in regard to administrative work of the local soldier enrollment board (1864); the manuscript of “Early Settlers in Walworth County” (Wisconsin Historical Collections, 6:441) and several autobiographical sketches, one of which (1867) contains a description of the Baker family journey from Hortonville, Vermont, to Wisconsin in 1838. There also are diaries, 1859-1868, kept by Eliza Baker, Charles' wife.

Especially informative letters include one by Marshall M. Strong, written from Racine in 1838, describing Wisconsin to Baker as a prospective immigrant; another by Josiah A. Noonan, 1845, in regard to the controversy about the Milwaukee Bank charter; and a letter of Edward G. Ryan, 1846, concerning prospects for adoption of the new constitution. Other correspondents include Edward Elderkin, Henry Dodge, and H. S. Winsor.

Intermingled with the other papers is a group of business papers, 1845-1849, of the [Lake] Geneva general mercantile firm of Joseph Griffin and C. R. Merrill. These papers consist of wheat contracts with farmers; invoices of purchases; letters from eastern firms concerning collections of accounts against the firm; and letters from Henry K. Elkins, a dealer in wheat at Southport, quoting wheat prices in eastern markets.

Acquisition Information

Box 1-10 presented by Edward L. Baker, March, 1920. Additional materials presented by Mrs. Edgar Stanton, July 30, 1954.

Box   1-9	General Correspondence as lawyer, legislator, draft commissioner, revisor of statutes, etc., 1835-1872
	Correspondence including private letters
Box   11-12	1823, 1830-1831, 1840-1866
Box   13	1867-1872
Box   13	Letters of condolence to Mrs. Baker, 1872 February
Box   13	Autobiographical material
Box   13	Family photographs
Box   14 Volume   1-14	Diaries kept by Mrs. E. H. Baker, 1859-1860, 1862-1868, 1871-1876, 1878-1879
Box   13	Pioneer history of Walworth County, an address to the Walworth County Old Settlers Society, 1869 October 5 Note: A revised edition of this address was published in Wisconsin Historical Collections.
Box   13	News clippings from the Walworth County Independent, 1869 October 20 and 27
Box   10	Original draft of revised statutes of Wisconsin, 1849
Box   15 Volume   15	Court records, indexed, 1831-1853
Box   14 Volume   16	Account book, 1836 May 10-1844 June 4
Box   15 Volume   17	Miscellaneous ledger, 1836-1841, and Justices docket, , 1840-1848
Box   15 Volume   18	Assessment Roll, District No. 2, Walworth County, 1841, and Account Book, , 1845-1847
	Griffin and Merrill
Box   14 Volume   19	Account book, 1847 May-July
Box   9	Griffin and Merrill papers, 1845-1849