MARY'S GENEALOGY TREASURES
Philip P. Baker and
Mary Maud (Stringam) Baker and
Lottie (Stevens) Baker
Mary Maud (Stringam) Baker and
Lottie (Stevens) Baker
pages 155 - 156
Philip and Mary Maud and their three young children,
Roscoe, Bryan and LaPreal, immigrated to Canada
from Bicknell, Utah in the spring of 1919. They came
by train to Cardston where he bought land from E.J.
Wood in Glenwood and moved into the old Cochrane
mansion. He stocked his 80 acres with cattle and
hoped to expand his new enterprise. But the summer
of 1919 was so dry that very little hay was harvested.
Winter came early and feed became scarce. By the
spring of 1920, the ranchers had lost most of their
sheep and cattle. Phil relocated his small herd further
north but feed was expensive and by spring he was broke.
Phil and family moved, then, to Raymond until he was
able to relocate. He bought a three-quarter section from
H.H. Nichols and a quarter section from H.S. Allen
north and west of Raymond, in the Welling area.
Early in the winter of 1920 Mary Maud passed away.
In November of the same year Phil married his
housekeeper, Lottie Stevens who was raised on a
homestead near Manyberries. Bryan remembers her
as a loving mother to her little new family.
Phil farmed with horses until 1928 when he bought
his first tractor. Mechanization had come to the Baker
farm. Phil was also an energetic business man and
it was said of him that he could be pretty stubborn.
He was often called "Fightin' Phil". Perhaps he
earned that nickname from the leadership he assumed
in the Sugar Beet Growers' Association. In 1932 he
was made president of the Alberta Beet Growers'
Association and in 1934 he became president of the
National Beet Growers. He held these positions until
his retirement in 1955. He always had the farmers'
interests at heart.
Philip was a member of the Southern Alberta Water
Conservation Board of Alberta when the St. Mary's
Dam project opened up. He served on the Federal
Board of Agriculture and was District Governor of
the Lions Club of Southern Alberta which included
part of Montana. After 1935, Phil kept such a busy
schedule of business endeavors that he pretty much
left farming to his sons with Bryan and Roscoe doing
the managing.
Daughter Myrtle said of her dad that he liked to go to
the community activities. He would take the whole
family even the hired girls and hired men. To Phil
they were all one big family.
In the fall of 1949 Phil rented the farm to some of his
sons and moved into Lethbridge. Here he could raise
all the flowers that he and Lottie enjoyed and he could
keep up his activities.
Lottie passed away in September 1953 at the age of 52.
Phil lived on at home with young Wayne and a
sister-in-law Ethel Queckbourner for a few years
until his health failed. The children looked after
him until his death in August 1957 at the age of 73.
Phil left a large and strong posterity to carry on.
After his death, Bryan bought the farm and it now
operates under the name of Baker Land and Cattle
Co. Ltd.
Three children were born in the first marriage and
Seven children were born in the second marriage.
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