Baker, Edward Lewis, 1829-1897

Edward Lewis Baker was born in 1829 to Illinois Judge and Senator David Jewett Baker and Sarah Tennery Baker. Edward attended Shurtleff College in the 1840s. In 1855, Baker bought The Illinois State Journal in partnership with William Bailhache, and assumed the position of editor. It was in this capacity that he developed a relationship with Abraham Lincoln The Illinois State Journal became Lincoln's mouthpiece during the presidential campaign of 1860. Baker's relationship with Abraham Lincoln was also personal; Baker was married to Julia Cook Edwards, Abraham Lincoln's niece (the daughter of Ninian Wirt Edwards and Elizabeth Todd, Mary Todd Lincoln's sister). The Baker family accompanied the Lincoln family to Washington D.C. when he became President and attended both inaugurals. In 1869 Baker was appointed United States Assessor in Internal Revenue, and in 1873 he was offered the position of U.S. Consul at Buenos Aires, Argentina . He died in Buenos Aires on July 8, 1897.

Editor, Illinois State Journal, 1857-1869; U.S. assessor, 8th District of Illinois, 1869-1873; U.S. consul, Argentina, 1874-1897.

Son of David Jewett Baker and husband of Julia Edwards, a niece of Mary Todd Lincoln.