Simmons Jones Baker

Simmons Jones Baker
Member of the North Carolina Senate Representing Martin County
In office 1816–1818
Governor	William Miller then John Branch
Preceded by	Jeremiah Slade
Succeeded by	William Darlett
Member of the North Carolina House of Commons Representing Martin County
In office 1814–1816 Serving with John Guyther (1814) and Gabriel L. Stewart (1815)
Governor	William Miller
Preceded by	Andrew Joyner / Joel Cherry
Succeeded by	Joel Cherry
18th Grand Master of Masons of North Carolina
In office 1832–1833
Preceded by	Richard Dobbs Spaight
Succeeded by	Samuel F. Patterson
22nd Grand Master of Masons of North Carolina
In office 1840–1841
Preceded by	David W. Stone
Succeeded by	Daniel S. Crenshaw
Personal details
Born	February 15, 1775 Hertford County, North Carolina
Died	August 18, 1853 Raleigh, North Carolina
Resting place	Scotland Neck, North Carolina, Private cemetery with large monument
Alma mater	Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and others
Occupation	Physician
Notes:

Simmons Jones Baker (February 15, 1775 – August 18, 1853) was a physician, planter, legislator, and slave owner in North Carolina.

Baker was born in Hertford County on February 15, 1775 to Lawrence Baker and Ann Jones. His mother died when he was quite young and he therefore lived for part of his childhood with an aunt in Southampton County, Virginia. During this time he attended the same school run by Rev. Henry John Burges that William Henry Harrison attended.

Baker traveled to Great Brittan in 1793 at the age of eighteen to study medicine. As was customary at the time there is no evidence of him ever earning a medical degree. However, he did receive certificates from the two of the more famous medical facilities in Britain at the time: St. Thomas's Hospital in London and the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh.

During this trip he carried with him an armorial seal that had been passed down through his family. He took the seal to the College of Arms to inquire if any living Bakers in England were still using the same arms. The only one was Sir George Baker, the physician of King George III. Baker visited this Dr. Baker on a future trip to consult about a personal illness. The consultation was success and in gratitude he would later name his first son George.

Baker returned from his medical studies in Brittan in 1795 and married, in October of that year, Polly Smith of Halifax County. The couple built a house named Greenwood in 1796 on the plantation given to them by Polly’s grandfather near the current town of Scotland Neck. Four years later he sold that plantation and moved to Martin County. Baker was made a trustee of the State Bank of North Carolina in 1811. Polly Smith Baker died in 1812 following the birth of their eighth child.

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