Simmons Jones Baker

Simmons Jones Baker (February 15, 1775 – August 18, 1853) was a medical doctor, planter and legislator in North Carolina.

Early life and education

Baker was born in Hertford County on February 15, 1775, to Lawrence Baker and Ann Jones.

Baker traveled to Great Britain in 1793 at the age of eighteen to study medicine. Polly Smith Baker died in 1812 following the birth of their eighth child.

In 1814 Baker was remarried to Ann Cleverius who died in 1843. While in the Senate Baker was in a group who, in excitement over the news of the Erie Canal, investigated the possibility of constructing a canal from Raleigh to Asheville. The plan was ultimately abandoned. Baker was also involved in the legislation that created the Supreme Court of North Carolina. His lodge elected him to represent them at the Grand Lodge assembly in 1814. He would later be elected Grand Master of the state of North Carolina in 1832 and again in 1840.

Physician, Educator, Religious Layman

The oral tradition in the region indicates Dr. Baker was a well known and well respected physician, but there is little evidence to prove this. He was however made an honorary member of the North Carolina Medical Society when it was formed in 1849

Within the Episcopal Church Baker was one of the founders of Trinity Church in Scotland Neck, North Carolina as well as St. Luke's Church in Marianna, Florida. Through Simmons Baker Jr.'s influence in the area, the town of Greenwood, Florida was named for his father's plantation in Halifax County, North Carolina. He furthermore provided for the maintenance of superannuated (retired due to age or infirmity) slaves in his will.