Bibliography: Herringshaw, Thomas William. Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century, Chicago, IL:American Publishers' Association, 1902. p. 69 BAKER, FRANK R., legislator and lawyer, was born Nov. 11, 1861, in Bentonsport, Iowa. In 1891 he was elected a member of the Washington state legislature, and has since attained prominence as an orator and statesman.