Nathaniel
Bradley
Baker

August 29, 1818 - September 11, 1876

Henniker, New Hampshire

New Hampshire Governor. He graduated from Harvard in 1839, studied law under future President Franklin Pierce, and became an attorney in Concord in 1842. He also became active in the newspaper business as co-owner and publisher of the New Hampshire "Patriot". In 1845 he became Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas and in 1846 Clerk of the Merrimack County Superior Court. Baker was a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1850, and served as Chief Engineer of the Concord Fire Department in 1851. He ran for Governor as a Democrat in 1854 and was elected to a single one-year term. Baker then moved to Iowa, where he immediately ran for Governor. He lost that race, but returned to elective office when he won a seat in the Iowa House in 1859. During the Civil War he was appointed as Iowa's Adjutant General, and served from 1861 until his death