Bibliography: Herringshaw, Thomas William. Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century, Chicago, IL:American Publishers' Association, 1902. page 68 BAKER, BENJAMIN M., lawyer, legislator, jurist, was born Jan. 20, 1850, in Girard, Ala. After receiving his education he entered into the active practice of law. He was the first state superintendent of public education of Texas; and was a member of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth state legislatures of Texas. He has served as judge of the thirty-first judicial district of his adopted state, and his decisions have shown him to possess rare judicial abilities.