Captain James A. Baker of Houston, 1857-1941

Notes

369  Abbreviations EOL Presidential Records, Edgar Odell Lovett, WRC ER Early Rice Institute Records, WRC HMRC Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library MS40 Baker Family Papers, MS40, WRC MS487 Captain James A. Baker Papers, MS487, WRC OR Baker Botts Office Review, Baker Botts L.L.P., Houston RU Rice University WRC Woodson Research Center, RU Please note: James Addison Baker refers to Judge Baker, father of Captain James A. Baker. Jimmie Baker refers to Captain James A. Baker as a child and young man. James A. Baker refers to Captain James A. Baker as an adult. James A. Baker Jr. refers to Captain Baker’s son, also cited as Jim Baker in the text. James A. Baker, III refers to Captain Baker’s grandson. Jimmy Baker refers to James A. Baker, III as a child. Certain documents in chapter 3 refer to Captain Baker as James A. Baker Jr., as he was sometimes called until about 1910. Prologue 1. Huxley, “Texas and Academe,” 59. 2. Welcome remarks, EOL 46:2; also quoted in Boles, University Builder, 100. 3. Huxley, “Texas and Academe,” 55. 4. Rice Institute Board Minutes, WRC, May 2, 1912, May 21, 1912. Hereafter cited as Board Minutes. 5. Letters, Edgar Odell Lovett to James A. Baker, Jul. 22, 1912 (in Bass Rocks), Jul. 26, 1912 (in New York about to sail to Europe), ER 90:1. 6. Quote in Boles, University Builder, 94. 7. Newspaper lists of delegates in ER, Opening Ceremony file. The invitation measured 18 x 23.75 (Boles, University Builder, 101). See also McCants, “Rice Institute ,” 68–76, for opening weekend events. 8. Boles, University Builder, 102. Notes book TAM Kirkland.indb 369 book TAM Kirkland.indb 369 5/30/12 2:48 PM 5/30/12 2:48 PM  370 notes to pages 5–16 9. Houston Chronicle, Oct. 10, 1912, clipping in ER, Opening Ceremony file. 10. McCants, “Rice Institute,” 75. 11. Book of the Opening, Baker, 1: 26, passim, WRC. 12. Houston Chronicle, Oct. 9, Oct. 11, 1912. 13. Mary Hale Lovett to her mother Virginia Hale, Oct. 20, 1912, Lovett Family Papers, addendum, courtesy of John B. Boles. 14. Book of the Opening, 1: 84, WRC. 15. Huxley in Meiners, “Rice University Historical Commission Newsletter,” 3; Cram and Lovett, in Book of the Opening, 1: 93, WRC. 16. Edgar Odell Lovett, “The Meaning of the New Institution” in Lovett, Creation of Rice University, 53, 66, 79, 134. 17. Mary Hale Lovett to Virginia Hale, Oct. 20, 1912, Lovett Family Papers, addendum . 18. Meiners, “Rice University Historical Commission Newsletter,” 4; McCants, “Rice Institute,” 76. 19. Mary Hale Lovett to Virginia Hale, Oct. 20, 1912, Lovett Family Papers, addendum . 20. Houston Daily Post, Oct. 14, 1912, p. 8. The entire sermon and Van Dyke’s Bible readings are included. Charles Aked was a member of the Neutral Conference for Continuous Mediation that tried to broker a peace settlement among the European powers in 1916. 21. Houston Press, Mon. Oct. 14, 1912. 22. Houston Daily Post, Oct. 14, 1912, “Dr. Van Dyke in Unique Sermon Addressed Students.” 23. Ibid. Chapter One 1. Austin College was founded Oct. 13, 1849. Its charter was received in Nov. 1849. In 1876 the trustees voted to move the college to Sherman, Texas, and in 1877 they sold the campus to the city of Huntsville. 2. Rankin, Texas in 1850, 25. 3. Olmsted, Journey through Texas, 39. 4. Ibid., 27. 5. Ibid., 37. 6. Houstonian, Oct. 18, 1979, p. 8. 7. Rankin, Texas in 1850, 138. The precise date of Miss Rankin’s stay in Huntsville is unclear, but some time between 1849 and 1851 she spent about twelve months there, teaching at the Brick Academy before continuing her missionary career. 8. Ibid., 122, 120. 9. Ibid., 138. 10. Ibid., 22. 11. Cummins, Austin College, 19. 12. During Texas’ first decade as a republic and state, the seat of government moved several times. Several towns vied with Houston and Austin—the most arbook TAM Kirkland.indb 370 book TAM Kirkland.indb 370 5/30/12 2:48 PM 5/30/12 2:48 PM 371  Notes to pages 17–24 dent contenders—to become the permanent capital city. By 1850 the argument had been settled decisively in Austin’s favor after several elections. 13. Information about the family comes from genealogical studies provided by grandsons James A. Baker, III and Preston Moore Jr. and by...