Stephen Baker (New York)

Stephen Baker (August 12, 1819 – June 9, 1875) was an American politician and a U.S. Representative from New York during the American Civil War.

Baker was born in New York City, New York and attended the common schools. He engaged as importer of woolen goods, and moved to Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1850.

Elected as a Republican to the Thirty-seventh Congress, Baker was a U.S. Representative for the twelfth district of New York from March 4, 1861 to March 4, 1863. After his term in office, he abandoned active business pursuits and lived in retirement until his death.

While en route to California for his health, on a train near Ogden, Utah, Baker died on June 9, 1875 (age 55 years, 301 days).

He is interred at the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery, Poughkeepsie, New York. His son, also named Stephen Baker, was the President and Chairman of the Board of the Bank of the Manhattan Company, the earliest predecessor of Chase Bank, and an associate of John D. Rockefeller, Jr..