Obituary, Aledo Times Record (Mercer County, Illinois), August 29, 1928:
W. T. BAKER IS FOUND DEAD IN BED AT HOME
Resident of This County Sixteen Years Dies of Heart Attack
While Wife is Working; Funeral Held Sunday
Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Aledo Methodist church for William Thomas Baker, 79, who was found dead in bed at his home on West Seventh street last Wednesday evening by his wife, death being caused by neuralgia of the heart. Rev. I. M. Thompson officiated. Burial was in Millersburg cemetery.
Mr. Baker is bellived to have died some time last Wednesday morning while his wife was up town working. When she came home at 6:30 in the evening she found the body lying on the bed, dressed, he apparently having died while sleeping. Mr. Baker had been ill for several months but showed no signs of greater suffering when she left in the morning. A coroner's investigation by Dr. A. N. Macker indicated that he had been dead about eight hours when found by Mrs. Baker.
Born at Edgewood {Reseach shows rual Edgewood was Larkinsburg Twp; Clay Co.,IL}
Mr. Baker was born on Dec. 8, 1848, at Edgewood, Ill., and had lived at various places in Mercer county during the past 16 years. He was married three times during his life, the last being to Mattie J. Brown on Nov. 26, 1914, in Aledo.
Surviving besides the widow are five children, three having preceded him in death. Living children are Austin Baker of West Frankfurt, Ill.; Mrs. A. L. Lamb of Belmont, Iowa; Ernest Baker of St. Jose, Calif.; Mrs. Fern Johnson of Philadelphia, Ia., and Amos Baker whose whereabouts are unknown. Homer Brown of Buffalo Prairie, a step-son, also survives. He also has three brothers and two sisters living. They are Henry Baker of Aledo, Wess Baker of Aledo, Abner Baker of Edgewood, Mrs. Lina Hardin of Edgewood and Mrs. Alice Sheese of Joy.
~~Broadcast for Son
Members of the family broadcast over a radio station at Muscatine, Ia., Friday evening in an effort to locate the lost son but no word from him was received. The other children were all present for the funeral.
The Odd Fellows lodge held their rites at the grave.