Palo Pinto, Palo Pinto County
Virginia native Jonathan Hamilton "Ham" Baker came to Texas in 1858 with his brother G. W. Baker and his uncle Eli Young. Stricken by malaria while a teacher in Fort Worth, he later moved to Palo Pinto County where his uncle Frank Baker was homesteading. Here he opened a school, believed to be the first regularly organized school in Palo Pinto, and soon after helped establish the town's first Methodist church. In 1859 Baker was chosen to lead a company of local men organized to defend the area against Indian attacks. He first served under Capt. J. R. Baylor and later participated with Capt. Lawrence Sullivan Ross in the recovery of Cynthia Ann Parker, the white woman seized by Comanches in 1836. During the Civil War he served as the leader of the home guard. Baker was also an open range cattleman, and in 1869 he began driving his herds to Kansas railheads. Active in local government, he served as deputy sheriff, justice of peace, deputy postmaster and clerk of the county and district. In 1890 he moved to Granbury, where he became a successful nurseryman. For over 60 years Baker kept a detailed diary, which now provides a thorough account of his distinguished life and the frontier of Texas.