| James A. Baker | |
|---|---|
| Born | James Addison Baker, Sr. January 10, 1857 Huntsville, Texas |
| Died | August 2, 1941 (aged 84) Houston, Texas |
| Cause of death | Unspecified illness |
| Resting place | Glenwood Cemetery, Houston, Texas |
| Nationality | United States of America |
| Other names | Captain James A. Baker |
| Occupation | Attorney |
| Religion | Presbyterian |
| Spouse | Alice Graham (m. 10 January 1883) |
| Children | 1) Frank Graham Baker 2) James A. Baker, Jr. 3) Alice Baker Jones 4) Walter Browne Baker 5) Malcolm G. Baker |
| Parents | James Addison Baker Rowena Crawford Baker |
| Relatives | James Baker (grandson) |
James Addison Baker, Sr. (aka Captain James A. Baker;[1] January 10, 1857 – August 2, 1941) was an American attorney and banker in Houston, Texas.
Grandfather of the Chief of Staff in President Ronald Reagan's administration, James Addison Baker III.[2] His father was an early partner, joining in 1872, of the Houston based international law firm Baker Botts, and Captain Baker was also a partner with the firm.[3][4]
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Baker was born in Huntsville, Texas to James Addison Baker (1821–1897) and his wife Rowena Crawford Baker (1826–1889).[2] James had lived in Dodge, Huntsville, Texas in his childhood. Baker was of Scottish and Welsh descent.
Baker had attended a nearby primary school in Dodge, Texas, then he attended the Texas Military Institute high school which is located in San Antonio, Texas. Baker then also attended the Trinity University which was also located in San Antonio, Texas. Baker became a lawyer. In 1880, Baker attended the State Bar of Texas.
He was the personal attorney in Houston and friend of millionaire businessman William Marsh Rice (namesake of Rice University). After Rice was murdered in 1900 by his valet, Charles F. Jones, and his New York City attorney, Albert T. Patrick, Baker helped the courts in the conviction of Patrick.[5] Patrick had produced a will that turned out to be a fake with the signature of Rice forged by Patrick. The murder case and litigation concerning the will, which left a trust fund for the Rice Institute, would take nearly ten years to short out.[6] Baker, as an executor of the previous 1896 will, got it admitted into evidence at the trial, a major point in the case.[2] In a case that made national headlines, he helped the estate direct the Rice fortune (over $5 million dollars in 1904) to the founding of the Rice Institute, the intended wishes of William Rice.[1][6] By the time the case ended the amount in the trust had grown to almost $10 million dollars.[6] Baker would be the main representative of the estate and was the founding chairman of the university's Board of Trustees, where he served from the charter of Rice in 1891 until his death in 1941. The board would take control of the assets on April 29, 1904. Rice University's Baker College is named for him.[1][6]
Beginning in 1905 he was a director of Union National Bank, he organized Commercial National Bank, and then after he engineered a merger with South Texas National Bank, served as president, and later chairman of the board, of South Texas Commercial National Bank (1914–1926).[1][2] After the Wall Street Crash of 1929 he was instrumental in avoiding the collapse of banks that were sweeping the nation. The president of South Texas Bank wanted to let two weaker Houston banks fail (Public National Bank and Trust Company of Houston run by Jules Henri Tallichet; and Houston National Bank run by C. S. E. Holland),[7][8] saying that they deserved to do so because management was incompetent. But, Baker argued that if the two weak banks fail, depositors will also withdraw their money from all Houston banks, creating a domino effect that couldn't be stopped. Baker's reasoning persuaded the other bankers, including Jesse Holman Jones, not to let the other two banks fail. All of the solvent banks were assessed a recovery fee based on a percentage of their assets and healthy businesses also contributed to the fund. The fund was used to absorb Public National, and with the help of the fund, Union National and Commercial National took over Houston National.[1][2]
Baker a member of the Presbyterian Church, Philosophical Society of Texas, president of the Houston Bar Association, and the was also a founder and a board member of the Houston Gas Company, he organized and was the first president of the Guardian Trust Company, and one of the organizers of the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railway and the Southwestern Drug Company.[1][2]
James Addison Baker married Alice Graham on January 10, 1883, his 26th birthday; they had four children, the children were Frank Graham Baker, James A. Baker, Jr., Alice Graham Baker (married Murray B. Jones), Walter Browne Baker, and Malcolm G. Baker. James Baker's grandson is Republican James Addison Baker, III. (b. 1930).[2]
Alice Graham Baker founded the Houston Settlement Association (now Neighborhood Centers, Inc.) in 1907.[9]
James Addison Baker died in Houston in 1941, aged 84; he was interred at Glenwood Cemetery located in Houston. He left his home, "The Oaks", to Rice Institute (Rice University).[2]