Moses Baker

Moses Alexander Baker was born in 1841, somewhere outside of Cleveland, Ohio. His family was poor, but not destitute; his father was a hard working, if mediocre, farmer, his mother earned money when possible as a housekeeper, seamstress, and, on occasion, a teacher of music and English. As Moses grew up, he learned to hunt and trap from his father and older siblings, to supplement the family income, and the Baker family did well enough, all things considered.

In 1849 his father caught gold fever, sold the farm, packed up the family and set out for California, a choice which turned disastrous for the Baker family. Moses lost his mother while passing through Nevada to illness; the oldest brother was killed by a drunk soon after entering California; Moses’s father paid good money for a stake in a claim that produced only gravel and disappointment.

By 1850 the Baker family was about dried up. Moses’s father took them up into the mountains and began to hunt and trap again. In this way they were able to make a rough living selling meat and furs to the successful camps, traveling up and down the mountains.

When he reached his late teens, Moses struck out on his own. A Bible from his father and a picture of his mother were the only mementos he kept of his family. He travelled and hunted and traded as he could, and made his living supplying towns and camps as they popped up, wandering off again as they dried up or when the mood took him, avoiding the worst of the weather when possible.

During the early years of the Civil War, Moses joined with the Union forces in California as a scout. He saw no action other than riding into Los Angeles to suppress a secessionist voting scheme and mustered out well before Gettysburg.

When things became more dangerous Moses found that he wasn’t quite so keen to stay alone in the wilderness for so long. He kept his routes closer to civilization, hugged the trails and outskirts more, wintered in camps or towns when he could, partnered up when possible, and generally became a little more cautious than he had been before.

Recently, Moses’s mule, Agitha, and his former partner, a half-Indian who gave his name as Ezekial Smith disappeared from camp while he was off checking traps. While he has never been there himself, Moses set out south for Brimstone with what belongings he could carry hoping that his erstwhile partner decided to go to the largest nearby settlement with his ill gotten goods.