Raymond T. Baker

Baker was born in Eureka, Nevada on November 22, 1877. He was the son of George Washington Baker, the lead counsel of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and Mary Agnes (née Hall) Baker.[http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/baker7.html Political Graveyard] His brother Cleve Baker served as the Nevada Attorney General.

He was educated at the University of Nevada, Reno, then at Stanford University.[https://web.archive.org/web/20090527070413/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,751395,00.html "Political Notes: High Adventure", Time, Apr. 5, 1926]

After college, Baker became involved in gold mining, being one of the first investors active in Rawhide, Nevada. He became a rich man when he sold his claims. He then moved east and had a brief romantic relationship with Elinor Glyn. Baker had a longtime interest in prison reform and in 1911, with his brother, Cleve Baker, serving as Nevada Attorney General, Raymond T. Baker became warden of the Nevada State Prison, a position he held from February 1, 1911 to May 10, 1912.{{cite news |title=MRS. A.G. VANDERBILT TO WED R. T. BAKER Widow of Lusitania Victim to Marry Director of the Mint at Her Lenox Home in June. HEIRESS'S THIRD MARRIAGE Daughter of Capt. Emerson Divorced Her First Husband, Dr. S. H. McKim--Baker's Career |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/05/31/118143494.pdf |accessdate=3 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=May 31, 1918}}

In 1915, Baker traveled to Russia to become confidential secretary to George T. Marye, Jr., the United States Ambassador to Russia. While in the diplomatic service, "he carried out one of the longest messenger trips on record, coming to Washington with dispatches from Ambassador Marye by way of Finland and England, and then returning, after a two or three days' stop at the capital, to Petrograd by way of California and Siberia.

Upon his return from Russia, President Woodrow Wilson named him Director of the United States Mint in 1917. Baker subsequently held this office from March 1917 until March 1922.[http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/?action=past_directors List of Directors of the United States Mint]

During the 1926 Senate elections, Baker sought election as United States Senator from Nevada on the Democratic ticket, but was defeated by the Republican incumbent, Tasker Oddie.[http://nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=639&Itemid=255 "Famous Nevadans"]

On June 12, 1918, he married Margaret (née Emerson) Vanderbilt (1886–1960){{cite news |title=MRS. EMERSON, 75, OF THE '400' DEAD; Society Leader Was Mother of Alfred Vanderbilt -- Her Father Headed Drug Firm |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1960/01/03/105172331.pdf |accessdate=3 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=3 January 1960}} at Homewood in Lenox, Massachusetts. Margaret, the daughter and heiress of Isaac Edward Emerson (the "Bromo-Seltzer King") was the widow of Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, who died aboard the RMS Lusitania. At the wedding, his best man was U.S. Senator Key Pittman. Before their divorce on October 1, 1928 in Reno after a decade of marriage, they were the parents of:[http://www.vintagememorabilia.com/index.cfm/page/franklin-roosevelt-autograph-letter-signed-raymond-baker vintagememorabilia.com]

• Gloria Mary Baker (1920–1975), who married Henry Junkins Topping (1914–1968) in 1938. They divorced and she married Edward Harrison Alexander (1902–1978) in 1944. They also divorced and she married Sidney Taylor (1934–2004) in 1966.

After their divorce, Margaret remarried to Charles Minot Amory in October 1928.{{cite news |title=Mrs. Raymond T. Baker Wed to C.M. Amory By Archbishop Francis at F. Cutting Home |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/10/25/91542034.pdf |accessdate=3 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=25 October 1928}} On December 4, 1928, he married a second time, to Delphine (née Dodge) Cromwell (1899–1943), daughter of Anna Thompson Dodge and Horace Elgin Dodge, one of the two co-founders of the Dodge Motor Company.{{cite news |title=MRS. CROMWELL TO MARRY TODAY; Former Delphine Dodge to Wed Raymond T. Baker, Ex-Director of U.S. Mint. NUPTIALS AT AMBASSADOR Bride-to-Be the Former Wife of James H.R. Cromwell--Mr.Baker's Second Marriage. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/12/04/95856960.pdf |accessdate=3 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=4 December 1928}}{{cite news |title=Mrs. Horace Dodge Dies at 103; Among World's Richest Women |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1970/06/04/121526809.pdf |accessdate=3 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=4 June 1970}} Delphine was the ex-wife of James H. R. Cromwell, who married Doris Duke in 1935. Together, Raymond and Delphine were the parents of:

• Anna Ray Baker (1933–2001), who married James Ranger.{{cite news |title=3 Dodge Heirs Are Denied Equal Shares of the Estate |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1972/12/31/90731998.pdf |accessdate=3 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=31 December 1972}}

Baker died of coronary thrombosis on April 28, 1935, In Washington, DC approximately three months after suffering a heart attack.{{cite news |title=RAYMOND T. BAKER, EX-MINT HEAD, DIES; Held Federal Post From 1917 to 1922 Led in Development of Mining in Nevada. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/04/29/96690442.pdf |accessdate=3 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=29 April 1935}} He was cremated, and his ashes interred with his family at Mountain View Cemetery, in Oakland, California. After his death, his widow remarried to Timothy Godde in August 1935.{{cite news |title=MRS. DELPHINE BAKER TO BEWED ABROAD; Widow of Raymond T. Baker to Become Bride Next Week of Timothy Godde of New York. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/08/09/93692700.pdf |accessdate=3 September 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=9 August 1935}}

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{{s-bef|before=Charles Henderson}}

{{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Nevada
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{{s-bef | before=Friedrich Johannes Hugo von Engelken}}

{{s-ttl | title=Director of the United States Mint | years=March 1917 – March 1922}}

{{s-aft | after=Frank Edgar Scobey}}

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Category:American prison wardens

Category:Directors of the United States Mint

Category:Nevada Democrats

Category:1870s births

Category:1935 deaths

Category:People from Eureka, Nevada

Category:Woodrow Wilson administration personnel

Category:Harding administration personnel