BAKER, HON RICHARD TARVIN, Lawyer, Politician and Farmer, was born September 13, 1816 in Campbell County, Kentucky. His parents were Samuel and Elizabeth (Armstrong) Baker; the former a native of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania and the latter of Mason County, Kentucky. They raised a very large family of children, of which he was the fourth. His father came to Kentucky when quite a boy, with his parents and located in Fayette County; but about 1790, they settled in Campbell County, where he became a prominent farmer and citizen; held some offices of importance in the community; was of Scotch-Presbyterian extraction and died in 1873.

His mother was a daughter of John Armstrong, one of the early pioneers and business men of Mason County. R T Baker was raised on the farm and received his education in such schools as were then supplied in the neighborhood. In 1838 he was appointed Deputy Sheriff for the county and held the position for three years. In 1841 he began reading law under his own direction; and in the winter of 1842 attended a course of lectures at the Cincinnati Law School and graduated in the following March. For some time subsequently he was engaged in the office of the county clerk, but in 1844, entered upon the practice of his profession at Alexandria, the seat of Campbell County, where he has since resided.

In 1846 he was elected County Attorney and held the position for two years; in 1849 he was first elected to the Legislature and was therefore a member of one of the most able and distinguished Legislatures of the State, that which adopted the present or new Constitution; in 1860, he was elected to represent Campbell and Pendleton Counties in the State Senate; was re-elected in 1865; serving eight years; in 1863 he was the Republican candidate for Governor, but was defeated by John S Helm; and again in 1867, he made the race for Governor, but was defeated by John W Stevenson of the Democratic party.

In 1870 he was again elected to represent his county in the Legislature and served one term. He cast his first Presidential vote for Gen Harrison and was a member of the old Whig party until its dissolution. At the election preceding the war of secession, he voted for Bell and Everett, the so-called Union candidates. He has since been identified with the Republican party and was noted, during the war, as a bold and aggressive supporter of the National Government. He is what is styled a self-made man, purely is a man of great natural talent; is thoroughly read; has great independence of character, adhering to his convictions of right and his avowed principles at all hazards, and yet seldom without peculiar suavity and courtesy; is a fine versatile political speaker; has uncommon ability before a judge, carrying additional influence in his person and manner; is able as a lawyer and stands in the front rank in his profession.

Mr. Baker has been twice married; in 1841 to Miss Sarah B Bell, native of Campbell County, daughter of Benjamin B Bell, for many years Clerk of Campbell County Court and a prominent citizen of the county. She died in 1844; and in 1853, he was married to Mary J Orr, also a native of that county and daughter of Dr. John Orr, an old and worthy physician of Alexandria.

Richard Tarvin Baker, was born on the Licking River, September 13, 1816. His father, Samuel (Bennett) Baker, a native of Westmoreland County, Penn., being a graduate of Gettysburg College; he immigrated to Kentucky in 1800, where he engaged in teaching, and was also a practical engineer and surveyor; his father was John Baker, a native of Ireland, and his wife, the mother of our subject, was a daughter of John and Jane Armstrong, who were Scotch people.

R. Tarvin Baker was the fifth in a family of thirteen children, and was reared on the farm. When quite young, his father being sheriff of Campbell County (1838-41), he became deputy sheriff and served several years. In the meantime he began the study of law, and attended the Cincinnati Law School, where he graduated March 5, 1844. He them moved to Illinois, and became the law partner of M. K. Browning, but remained only six months, however when he returned to Campbell County, from which county he was elected to the Legislature in 1850.

Although he has been in public life nearly thirty years, filling in at one time, during a war exigency, in the term of Gov. McGoffin, the office of governor of Kentucky for a short time.

His first marriage was Miss Sarah Bell, daughter of Col. Benjamin D. Bell of Campbell County; she lived but two years and eight months, and February 4, 1854, Mr. Baker married Mary J. Orr, daughter of Dr. John Orr, of Alexandria, and three sons and two daughters have blessed their union: William B., Courtland T., John S. (deceased), Sarah B. and Maggie O. William B. and Courtland are both attorneys.