Captain James A. Baker (Rice University photo)
James A. (for Addison) Baker is a famous name in Houston.
The first James Addison Baker came to Texas in 1852. The 31-year-old widower came to Huntsville from Alabama to establish a law practice. He bought land, built a business, and became a district judge. Baker then moved to Houston and married again. His son, also named James A. Baker, was born in 1857.
The younger Baker became known as “Captain” and graduated from the Texas Military Institute. He began his law practice with his father’s firm in Houston.
One of Captain Baker’s most important clients was William Marsh Rice. Rice was a millionaire from New York who made his fortune in Texas. In September 1900, Rice died under mysterious circumstances. Captain Baker traveled to New York to help the police investigate Rice’s death. The police discovered that Rice’s valet and another lawyer used a forged will to claim the Rice estate for themselves. The murder and subsequent trial were sensational news. Newsmen called it the “trial of the century,” and Captain Baker and his law firm became national names.
Saving William Marsh Rice’s fortune might be Captain Baker’s most significant contribution to the city of Houston. Rice had specified that his estate be used for an institution of higher learning to be built in Houston that would compete with Princeton, Stanford, and other fine universities.
For 40 years, Captain Baker served as chairman of the board and helped make Rice University a leading institution.
Captain Baker helped to charter the Commercial National Bank, one of the biggest banks in Texas at the time. When Wall Street crashed in 1929, his efforts as a banker helped keep Houston banks from collapsing. Baker was also instrumental in founding Glenwood Cemetery, the Houston Country Club, Memorial Park, and the Museum of Fine Arts.
James A. Baker, Jr., son of Captain Baker and his wife Alice, was a decorated World War I hero. After his service, he worked at his father’s law firm.
James A. Baker, Jr.’s son, James A. Baker, III, served as White House chief of staff and secretary of state under President George H.W. Bush.
Captain Baker died in 1941, and is buried in Glenwood Cemetery. Today the law firm his great grandfather established is called Baker, Botts. In 2012, Captain Baker’s life and times were chronicled in a biography written by Kate Sayen Kirkland. James A. Baker, III, wrote the foreward.
