D.W. Baker

In 2012, my wife Pamela and I traveled to North Platte, Nebraska, on what my wife calls the “Dead Tour”. No, it was not for the Grateful Dead. It’s where we’re off searching old cemeteries or homesteads, or houses of deceased relatives, following our family trees. This time we were driving through the North Platte Cemetery hoping to find D.W. Baker and Maggie McKeown Baker (my great grandparents); and Albert and Frances McKeown (my grand uncle and aunt).

I had a lot number, but the cemetery office was closed. I tried blind luck. I searched the gravestones. Did not happen. So we took a break and went to Cody Park, where they had a Union Pacific locomotive and small museum office. To say they have a locomotive is an understatement. Union Pacific 3977 is one of only two 4-6-6-4 Challengers still in existence. This engine is the largest and heaviest steam locomotive in the world.

While at the museum I mentioned to the lady working there, how I was trying to track down some graves, only the cemetery office was closed. Well, blind luck was working after all.

“My husband is one of those who volunteers at the cemetery,” she said. “I’ll call him and have him meet you there.”

So we drove back to the cemetery, and her husband was kind enough to open the office and look through the records. Then he led us to the locations of the Bakers and the McKeowns.

I laughed when I  stopped the car. I pointed the gravestone out to Pam on my side of the vehicle. There, probably four to five feet tall, in big letters, read “BAKER”. When we had driven in earlier, I had expected just a small gravestone. At the base of the monument read:

D.W. BAKER  OCT. 15, 1839  MAR. 23, 1917

MARGARET T. BAKER  JULY 21, 1849  NOV. 29, 1919

Then across the cemetery road on the north side, I found the graves of the McKeowns. There was Albert, who lived from 1861-1901; dying from an unfortunate mental illness. His wife Frances Haines (1863-1955) is also buried there, along with a daughter I was not aware existed.  Edith G. McKeown was only about five years old (1894-1899) when she died. How hard it must have been for my grand aunt to first lose a young daughter, and then her husband, all in a two year span. Whether Edith’s death played a part in Albert’s mental illness is not known. It could not have helped.

When I was a boy, I used to play with a coin collection my mother kept. Along with the coins, were three bills of currency. One was a United States twenty-five cent bill. Another was a twenty dollar Confederate States of America bill. But the one that always perked my interest was an old, 1865, one dollar bill, printed by the Bank of Albion of New York. Back then, banks could legally print United States tender. Why my mother had those bills, I did not know at the time. But later in 2003, long after my mother passed away, I figured it out. Or at least I surmised what was behind the story.

My great grandfather, Daniel Webster Baker, was born in Knowlesville, New York in 1839. I only knew a little about him.  First, he went by D.W. Baker. Second, he had been a conductor for the headquarters train of the Union Army’s Major General George H. Thomas. And third, he spent most of his life in North Platte, Nebraska.

My wife is from a small town in upstate New York named Lyndonville. Between Niagara Falls and Rochester, it’s within a cobble stone throw of Lake Ontario. And importantly, I would find, it’s in Orleans County.

We were preparing to go to Lyndonville in November 2003, to celebrate my mother-in-law’s birthday. Lois Hartsen would be 80 years old. Pam’s brother Kim, and his wife April, traveled with us. But before we left, I pulled out the old Bank of Albion dollar bill. Right there on the bill it read; Orleans County. It was then that I looked at a map. I found Albion. Then I thought to look up Knowlesville. I was dumbstruck!

Twelve miles away from Pam and Kim’s home in Lyndonville, was the village of Knowlesville!

“Pam,” I called out to my wife. “We may be first cousins!”

So here we are now in Montrose, Colorado where we both met. My wife from New York, me from California. And yet we had a tie, twelve miles away, from where she grew up.

So now I decided to seriously research D.W. Baker. I have his T.F. Cooper (Liverpool, England)  Rail Way Time Keeper pocket watch. I have his passenger conductor’s ticket punch. And I have his conductor’s box with his name D.W. BAKER painted on the lid. Little by little, my great grandfather began to take form.

Born October 15, 1839, he left the family farm when he was twenty-one. and went to work for a railroad in Lafayette, Indiana in 1860. Possibly he worked for the Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Lafayette Railroad. His work in Lafayette didn’t last long.

The War of the Rebellion began and in 1862, D.W. enlisted as a private in the 76th Regiment of “G” Company of the Indiana Volunteers for thirty days. At the time, it was thought that the Civil War would be very short lived, and the South would soon stop their hostilities. Thus, thirty days was thought to be plenty of time to “kick some butt”.

How the next chapter in D.W.’s story happened is not known. But happen it did. Major General George H. Thomas, the “Rock of Chickamauga”, and one of the greatest yet vastly underrated Union generals, appointed D.W. as his conductor for his headquarters train in Tennessee from 1864-1865.

The engineer runs the locomotive. The conductor is the master of the train. The conductor is responsible for the entire train; passengers and crew. He decides when the train is ready, when to leave the station, when to start or stop the train. General Thomas commanded Nashville, and D.W. commanded his train as it ran on the lines that once belonged to the South.

In my possession is a handwritten letter of recommendation from Major General Thomas for D.W. It reads:

Nashville, Tenn., Nov. 1, 1865

Mr. D.W. Baker has been the conductor of my headquarters railroad train for several months and has given me entire satisfaction by the fidelity and ability with which he discharged his duties. I therefore take great pleasure in being able to recommend him as a gentleman who will give great satisfaction in any employment he considers himself competent to undertake.

GEO. H. THOMAS, Maj. General, U.S.A.

This letter had extreme importance to D.W. Baker, even after his death. And that dollar bill from the Bank of Albion? I like to think my great grandfather carried it with him while serving as conductor on General Thomas’ military train, for good luck, or just to remind him of home. The twenty dollar Confederate currency was probably just a souvenir he kept the rest of his life.

After the Civil War ended, D.W. headed back to the Indiana-Illinois area. One source has him working from 1865-1867, as a conductor on the Chicago and Great Eastern Railway. According to the Indianapolis Herald, employees seized a train leaving Chicago on July 11, 1867, by strikers wanting to get their wages. Maybe these financial troubles stimulated D.W. to become a part of the Transcontinental Railroad. In 1867, he went to work for the Union Pacific Railroad, and found himself in the “Hell on Wheels” town of North Platte, Nebraska.

What was North Platte like in the 1860s? In October 1866, the Union Pacific stopped laying down rails and dug in for the winter. Just one month later, there were 300 buildings and 5000 people in North Platte.  Besides everyday businesses for food and clothing, the “temporary town” was home to numerous saloons and brothels. Major Henry C. Parry wrote about North Platte in 1867, “Law is unknown here”. By summer, however, the town was packed up, placed on rails, and carried west, and North Platte dropped to about 500 people. Thus the name “Hell on Wheels”. But because of it’s excellent location, the town’s roots took hold, and North Platte became a real community in the mid-1870’s.

On January 7, 1860, Shorter County was approved by the Territorial Legislature. After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, the county was renamed to Lincoln County, and the county seat was transferred from Cottonwood Creek to North Platte in 1867. While the railroad was being built and operated;  life could be cut short, and not only by gun play in the town.

There were considerable hostilities with the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians at this time. Grenville Dodge, chief engineer of the Union Pacific, wrote in his annual report to Gen. Philip Sheridan, “Every mile (of the railroad) has to be run within range of the musket.”

The first company of soldiers arrived January 29, 1867, under command of Capt. Arthur MacArthur; father of Gen. Douglas MacArthur of WWII fame. In 1867, Indian attacks were frequent between Julesburg, Colorado and North Platte. On August 6, 1867, the Indians were able to derail and burn a train near Plum Creek southeast of North Platte. This brought more permanent soldiers into North Platte. It was not uncommon for railroad surveyors near North Platte to be attacked by Indians. Later, North Platte’s most famous citizen made his home here; Buffalo Bill Cody.

So while D.W. Baker was a passenger conductor for the Union Pacific from 1867 until 1879, he had to be aware of large masses of bison roaming the range, as well as keep an eye out for Indian attacks. To place this time in perspective, The Battle of the Little Bighorn took place in June 1876.

(At his funeral in 1917,  there are some differences from a biographical sketch from the 1880’s. One obituary states he came to Omaha, Nebraska in 1865 and that following spring of 1866, went to work for the Union Pacific in North Platte. It also states that he retired from the railroad in 1882. Regardless, at the time of his death, he was North Platte’s longest residing resident.)

In 1866, a total of nine locomotives were delivered to the Union Pacific. Six of these had names and three had numbers. In 1867, thirty-seven locomotives were delivered. And in 1868, a total of twenty-two locomotives arrived. On May 10, 1869, the last spike was driven at Promontory, Utah; thus the Transcontinental Railroad became a reality. Most of the early locomotives were 4-4-0. That means they had four smaller leading wheels on two axles, four main driver wheels, and no small trailer wheels. These were mostly labeled as American locomotives and they had tenders. Because of the lack of wood in the Great Plains, most of the Union Pacific locomotives burnt coal.

The passenger cars of the 1860s were not lush and not especially comfortable. They had stiff seats and ventilation was by opening the windows. Add to that the coal being burned by the locomotive, which meant an occasional cinder in the eye. If you don’t believe, you can ride the narrow gauge Silverton Railroad out of Durango, Colorado or the Cumbres- Toltec Railroad between Chama, New Mexico and Antonito, Colorado to experience past railroad transportation and your own cinders in the eyeball.

D.W. Baker would frequently check his pocket watch. Standard time zones were not created until 1883. So the railroads went by their own time. You might walk into a bank in North Platte and see one time, a store another time, and the railroad on it’s own time. D.W.’s watch was silver, with a hunting dog laying down on the front cover. He would walk down the aisle and use his ticket punch on tickets. Each conductor had their own distinctive punch, so one could tell which conductor checked which ticket. And he carried his conductor’s box to collect parts of tickets he collected, along with cash to make change when selling tickets aboard the train.

Being a passenger conductor was higher on the pecking order than a freight conductor. A lot more responsibility, as a passenger conductor was responsible, not only for the crew, but for the passengers. Which also meant undoubtedly dealing with the occasional disgruntled passenger.

D.W. Baker also had time from his primary job to be a stock man. In 1871, he grazed stock up in Cheyenne County, which lies west of North Platte, and is essentially half way between North Platte and Cheyenne, Wyoming. Around 1876, he moved his stock raising to a ranch about twelve miles northwest of North Platte. And then in 1881, after he no longer was with the Union Pacific Railroad, he grazed his stock with other partners (1500 cattle) 100 miles north of North Platte, on the North Loup River area.

According to “Andrea’s History of the State of Nebraska”, which was published in the 1880s, D.W. Baker was very active in the community. He was Town Trustee when North Platte first started. He was a Lincoln County Commissioner, elected in 1874, and served three years.

In reviewing newspaper articles and other sources, it appears he served on the North Platte City Council for several years, served as mayor for two years around 1895-96, and was reported to have been a police judge.

Of course there were some other important events in his life which didn’t include employment or community service. On July 16, 1872, D.W. Baker married Margaret “Maggie” McKeown in Omaha, Nebraska. He was 32, she 22. Presiding over the marriage was the Rev. Francis M. Dimmick. In 1865, Rev. Dimmick delivered the funeral oration for Abraham Lincoln at the Nebraska Capitol. Speaking before an immense audience, Rev. Dimmick later yielded to the unanimous desire that his eulogy be published. Serving as witnesses on the wedding certificate was Rev. Dimmick’s wife Kate, and Kate’s parents Sylvanus and Fanny Wright.

Maggie Thompson McKeown was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Being a McKeown, there is a chance she lived with or at least visited Hugh McKeown, another of my great grandfathers, and his family in Will Couty, Illinois (which is outside Chicago). She definitely knew and was related to my grandmother Edith McKeown Jones. In some newspaper references, she is listed as Edith’s “aunt”.

Maggie’s death certificate brings up interesting mysteries. Her name is spelled Marguriet rather than Margaret. And her parents are listed as father; John McKeown, mother; McHenry with no first name given. These facts were written down by her daughter.

Anna Gertrude Baker was born in North Platte in 1877. Going through her school records, she preferred Gertrude. She was  D.W. and Maggie’s second child in their marriage that lasted almost thirty-five years, brought to an end by D.W.’s death in 1917, at the age of 77. A first child, named Mary Ann Baker, was born and died on December 8, 1874. There is no record if she was still-born, or died shortly after birth.

Daniel Webster Baker wrote his will just twenty-three days before he died. It reads as it was typed:

I, D.W. Baker, My mind being now clear, and realising that the end of my earthly life is drawing near, Desire to leave with you the following directions as to the disposition of my body after death.

First  –  It is my desire that a modest coffin be provided, It to be encased in a concrete vault.

Second  –  That my face not be exposed to view at the funeral, and that no flowers be placed on the casket. If possible, It is my desire that an American flag be procured from the Grand  army of the Republic, and placed upon my casket and buried with me.

Third  –  that my old time friends, John Ritter  –  W.H. McDonald Fred.Frederickson and C.F. Tracy Act as Pallbearers.

North Platte, Neb March 1st 1917

At D.W. Baker’s funeral, the Rev. Robert White of the Presbyterian church, read a short biography of the man. And that letter of Major General George H. Thomas? The obituary read, “One of Mr. Baker’s most prized possessions was a letter of recommendation personally signed by the great federal leader.” And with that, Rev. White read out loud, Thomas’ letter.

The end of the obituary reads as written:

And so sans flowers but draped in the flag that he enlisted under more than a half century ago to serve, his coffin was carried to the waiting hearse and bourn to the cemetery where he was lowered to his final rest beneath its folds.

Before my wife and I left North Platte, we stopped in at the North Platte Historical Museum. I donated some copies of photos I made of the Bakers. There were no photos or mention of D.W. Baker in the museum, and the curator was not aware of him.

Thanks to a couple of kind people in North Platte, I stand at his gravesite. A man I never knew or even heard stories about; as my grandmother Gertrude died when I was in 1st grade. I would play with his train ticket punch and his conductor’s box when I was a child.  It wasn’t until much later in life, when I looked closer at a dollar bill, realizing it came from my wife’s birth county in New York, that my curiosity was aroused to learn about D. W. Baker. And now I picture in my mind the American flag still draped over his casket. I am proud of my great grandfather. He made a choice early on to seek a different life. When duty called, he enlisted in the Union Army, and worked his way up as conductor for Major General Thomas. Like so many after the Civil War, he sought employment with the Union Pacific, as a passenger conductor. Besides his love for his wife and daughter, he loved the community of North Platte, by serving several public offices during his fifty year residency.

I came looking for gravestones. I left with much more.