2004-10-30/2019-02-11 - From the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders by David H. Fox (Organ Historical Society, 1991). - Son of John Baker; in Charleston, South Carolina, 1895-c.1900. Sources: Orpha Ochse, The History of the Organ in the United States (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975), 292. Barbara Owen, The Organ in New England (Raleigh: Sunbury Press, 1979), 397. Piano and Organ Purchaser-s Guide, Purchaser-s Guide to the Music Industries, (published by Music Trades, New York).
2016-09-02/2019-02-11 - From the OHS Database Builders Listing Editor, September 2, 2016. - James S. Baker was the son of John Baker, an English organ builder who had emigrated to the U.S. in the 1840s. James would have likely learned the craft from his father and may have been with him in Charleston, South Carolina, in the 1870s. Another possibility was that churches with organs damaged by the earthquake of 1886 sought out the younger Baker to come to Charleston in place of his father to repair the damaged instruments. Regardless of the circumstances leading to his moving there, he was active in Charleston from 1895 to circa 1900. Sources: Orpha Ochse, The History of the Organ in the United States (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975), 292.
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