Athlete, daredevil, artist. The son of Burr and Jenny Carter Baker, Conn Baker took up bicycle racing as a teenager in the 1880s. He soon held several world records for speed and endurance. Baker was the first person to perfect a "loop-the-loop" using a safety bicycle. He joined the Forepaugh and Sells Circus in 1901, performing under the stage name of J.C. Carter, aka, "Allo, Diavolo!" He later toured Asia, where he met his future wife Laura Calvert, a member of the Tiller Girls troupe, which was also touring in India.
Baker purchased the David Beers house, an 1805 log cabin, and moved it from High Street and Ackerman Avenue in Columbus to Norwich Avenue to use as his studio, and later, his home; still standing, it is the oldest residence in all of Franklin County Ohio. Conn also rescued other log structures and reassembled those on Kanawha Road just south of Worthington.
After retiring from circus performing, he focused on his landscape painting. He was active in the Ohio Republican Party and worked for the State of Ohio Auditor's office for many years. He and his wife had one daughter, Miriam. Baker was the grandfather of artist Conn Baker Gibney.
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NOTE: Conn's full legal name, "CONN BAKER", matches the stone, legal documents, and his death record. The name matches his voting records, his daughter's birth certificate, and census records. "John Carter" (see above, "J.C. Carter") was a stage name that Conn performed while performing his bicycle stunts.
Athlete, daredevil, artist. The son of Burr and Jenny Carter Baker, Conn Baker took up bicycle racing as a teenager in the 1880s. He soon held several world records for speed and endurance. Baker was the first person to perfect a "loop-the-loop" using a safety bicycle. He joined the Forepaugh and Sells Circus in 1901, performing under the stage name of J.C. Carter, aka, "Allo, Diavolo!" He later toured Asia, where he met his future wife Laura Calvert, a member of the Tiller Girls troupe, which was also touring in India.
Baker purchased the David Beers house, an 1805 log cabin, and moved it from High Street and Ackerman Avenue in Columbus to Norwich Avenue to use as his studio, and later, his home; still standing, it is the oldest residence in all of Franklin County Ohio. Conn also rescued other log structures and reassembled those on Kanawha Road just south of Worthington.
After retiring from circus performing, he focused on his landscape painting. He was active in the Ohio Republican Party and worked for the State of Ohio Auditor's office for many years. He and his wife had one daughter, Miriam. Baker was the grandfather of artist Conn Baker Gibney.
______________________________________________________________________
NOTE: Conn's full legal name, "CONN BAKER", matches the stone, legal documents, and his death record. The name matches his voting records, his daughter's birth certificate, and census records. "John Carter" (see above, "J.C. Carter") was a stage name that Conn performed while performing his bicycle stunts.
Inscription
CONN BAKER 1870-1944
Gravesite Details
The family is buried in the plot, however, there are only two markers. One marker notes the family surname of Baker and Gibney. The other marker lists all who are buried in the plot. The cemetery has the actual plot map in their official records.
