Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor

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Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor (1793-1874) was a Kentucky native who later moved to Alabama and then Texas. Baylor was also the nephew of Kentucky politician Jesse Bledsoe.

Baylor served in the military during the War of 1812. After the war he studied and then practiced law in Kentucky. He was briefly a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1819-1820 before he resigned and moved to Alabama.

In Alabama he practiced law, studied theology, was licensed to preach, and was ordained to the Baptist ministry. In 1824 he was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives. Baylor was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-first Congress (March 4, 1829-March 3, 1831) from Alabama's 2nd congressional district and was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1830 to the Twenty-second Congress.

In 1839 Baylor moved to Texas where he founded Baylor University in 1845 and Baylor Female College. He was elected judge of the district and supreme courts of the Republic of Texas and was a member of the convention that framed the State constitution of Texas in 1845. Baylor was a district judge for twenty-five years. He is also credited with establishing the healthcare system that would eventually become the Baylor network of hospitals. Despite his prominence, Baylor County, Texas is not named after him.