Joseph Wilson Baines

Joseph Wilson Baines (January 24, 1846 – November 18, 1906) was Secretary of State of Texas and a member of the Texas state legislature.

Baines was born in Mount Lebanon, Louisiana but his family moved to Anderson, Texas when he was four. He was a son of George W. Baines. He studied at Baylor University. In 1867 he moved to Collin County, Texas where he studied law under James W. Throckmorton. Baines was involved as owner and publisher of multiple papers in McKinney, Texas. From 1883-1887 Baines was the Secretary of State of Texas. Later starting in 1903 he served one term in the Texas House of Representatives.

Baines married Ruth Ament Huffman of Collin County in 1896. Both are buried at Der Stadt Friedhof in Fredericksburg, Texas. They were the parents of Rebekah Baines Johnson, and the maternal grandparents of Lyndon B. Johnson.