Conrad Baker

Conrad Baker
Conrad Baker from Who-When-What Book, 1900
Indiana House of Representatives
In office December 5, 1845 – December 4, 1846
15th Lieutenant Governor of Indiana
In office January 9, 1865 – January 23, 1867
Governor	Oliver P. Morton
Preceded by	John R. Cravens as Acting Lieutenant Governor
Succeeded by	William Cumback
15th Governor of Indiana
In office January 23, 1867 – January 13, 1873
Lieutenant	Will Cumback
Preceded by	Oliver P. Morton
Succeeded by	Thomas A. Hendricks
Personal details
Born	February 12, 1817 Franklin County, Pennsylvania, USA
Died	April 28, 1885(1885-04-28) (aged 68) Evansville, Indiana, USA
Political party	Republican

Conrad Baker (February 12, 1817 – April 28, 1885) was a state representative, 15th Lieutenant Governor, and the 15th Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from 1867 to 1873. Baker had served in the Union Army during the American Civil War, rising to the rank of colonel but resigned following his election as lieutenant governor, during which time he played an important role in overseeing the formation and training of states levies. He served as acting-governor for five months during the illness of Governor Oliver Morton, and was elevated to Governor following Morton's resignation from office. During Baker's full term as governor, he focused primitively on the creation and improvement of institutions to help veterans and their families that had been disaffected by the war. He also championed the post-war federal constitutional amendments, and was able to successfully advocate their acceptance.

Conrad Baker was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, on February 12, 1817, the son of Conrad Baker, a Presbyterian minister, and Catherine Winterheimer Baker. He worked on the family farm until age fifteen and attended common school. He then enrolled in Pennsylvania College in Gettysburg where he studied law, but quit before graduating. He continued to study law in the office of Thaddeus Stevens. He met Matilda Escon Sommers and the couple married in 1838. They had two children. Baker was admitted to the bar in 1839 and opened his own office in Gettysburg.

Bakers closed his practice in 1841, and moved his family west to settle in Evansville, Indiana. He opened a new law office there, and took an interest in the city's civics. In 1845 he ran as the Whig candidate for representative of Vanderburgh County in the Indiana House of Representatives. He served one one-year term before returning to his practice. He was elected to serve on a county court in 1852 but resigned in 1854. His brother, William Baker, had also become active in the local politics, and served four terms as major of Evansville during the same time period.