Thomas Baker was born Nov. 8, 1852, in either Bristol, Gloucestershire or Somersetshire, England, depending on the source. I believe he grew up in Somersetshire. As far as I can tell his parents, George Baker and Elizabeth White, never came to America.
Thomas ventured alone to Ottawa, Canada in 1872, at the age of 19. According to his obituary, he moved south to Minneapolis in 1874. In 1879, Thomas came to Boulder County, Colorado, to visit a silver mine he had invested in back in Minnesota. He soon met George Samuel Allesbrook, a fellow Englishman who told him about homestead opportunities in Northwest Colorado. Allesbrook and Baker both had mining interests in Boulder County. In 1883, Baker and Allesbrook drove some sheep from Boulder all the way to the Camp on the White River. It took months to accomplish the task. When they arrived, the soldiers were still encamped. Thomas divested his ownership of the sheep and became a cattleman. His brand was the “Triangle B.” The Baker ranch was on the south side of the White River.
In 1884 both men felt confident to seek brides to bring back to the new town of Meeker. Allesbrook went back to Salina, Colorado, to marry Cecelia Smith who was born in Scotland. Thomas Baker returned to Minnesota to marry Sarah Jane Wilkerson who was born in Minnesota to English and Scottish parents. Sarah liked Meeker well enough to invite her younger sister, Margaret ‘Belle’ Wilkerson to visit. Belle liked Meeker so much that she married Frank Shaver and set up house in Axial, Colorado.
While Thomas and Sarah were building up their ranch, Thomas found time to take an active role in the Meeker Townsite Company, local politics, helped found the St. James Episcopal Church, and helped organize the Masons Rio Blanco Lodge No. 80. Thomas is the author of a large typed manuscript which was donated to the White River Museum. It is a detailed history of early Meeker and Rio Blanco County.
Sarah Baker bore six children before her death in 1925: Charlotte Bell, Alice May, Florence Lillian, Wilfred, Bruce and David. Thomas Baker died at his ranch April 17, 1938, at the age of 85.
Sources: This Is What I Remember books; Rio Blanco Historical Society; Ellen Reichert; Bio by David Baker, son; Ancestry.com; Federal Census; Minnesota State Census; Coloradonewspapers.org; Herald Times archives; Rio Blanco County Clerk and Treasurer.