Tulare County
Biographies
THOMAS A. BAKER
Thomas A. Baker, a leading merchant of
Bakersfield, and the Treasurer and Tax Collector of Kern County, was born in
Visalia, Tulare County, California, July 22, 1859. He is the only surviving son
of the late Colonel Thomas Baker, a pioneer of California, and a distinguished
citizen of the counties of Tulare and Kern, where, as may be seen in a
biographical sketch printed elsewhere in this work, he spent the best years of
his active and useful life. Young Thomas was afforded the best schooling
advantages of his time, which he improved. He graduated at the Washington
College, Alameda County, in 1880, after which he returned to his home. On the
10th of October, 1881, he was united in marriage with Miss Amie, daughter of J.
Smith, Esq., of Los Angeles. She also is a native of the Golden State, and was
born in Kern County.
Mr. Baker soon drifted into the field of local politics, and in 1884 was elected
Tax Collector of Kern County. In 1886 he was re-elected to the same office, and
in 1888 was elected to the office of Treasurer and Tax Collector, the offices
having been combined. In 1890 he was again elected to the same office and is now
filling that position. A fact worthy of note is, that Mr. Baker was retained in
this office with practically no opposition, running as he did two or three
hundred votes ahead of his ticket, which is one of the most substantial tokens
of respect and esteem that an appreciative public can bestow upon a faithful and
popular public servant.
Thomas A. Baker is a man of modest demeanor, genial in his manner and temperate
in his social habits. He is a member of Baker Parlor, No. 42, Native Sons of the
Golden West, which parlor was given their family name in token of the esteem in
which they are held in the community. He is also a member of the Knights of
Pythias.
Mr. Baker's mercantile establishment, a clothing and gents' furnishing goods
store, is one of the largest and best conducted of its kind in Central
California.
Both as a business man and a public officer, Mr. Baker is prompt and active. He
is thoroughly awake to the growing interests and importance of his home city and
county, and is ever found ready to encourage any enterprise tending to their
future growth and prosperity.
SOURCE: Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Fresno,
Tulare and Kern, California :Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892 Page
383, 384 Transcriber: Beverly Green
ALFRED BALAAM
Alfred Balaam has been a resident of
California since 1853, and is well-known to the citizens of Tulare County.
Mr. Balaam was born in Louisville, Kentucky, September 5, 1839, son of George
and Sara (Swan) Balaam, both natives of England. His parents had three children
born to them in England, three in Kentucky and three in Arkansas; and in 1853
the whole family came to California, the subject of this sketch being fourteen
years old at that time. They settled in Los Angeles County, where they remained
until 1857, when they came to Tulare County to their present location near
Farmersville. The father took up 160 acres of Government land, improved it and
lived on it for many years. He is now a resident of San Luis Obispo County, his
wife having died in 1868. Alfred purchased the old home and has continued on it
all his life. He was married in 1862, to Miss Ann Whitlock, a native of Ohio,
who bore him two children, a son and daughter, Charles Wesley and Nellie. The
latter became the wife of Charles Fitzsends, and died in 1886. After five years
of married life Mrs. Balaam died, and two years later, in 1869, Mr. Balaam
married Miss Marian Bequette, a native of California, and the daughter of C. L.
Bequette, one of the prominent and early settlers of the State. To them three
children have been born, namely: Ida May, Carl and Edward.
SOURCE: Memorial and Biographical History of the counties of Fresno, Tulare and
Kern, California: Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892 Page 716
Transcribed by Beverly Green