She was the only child of Willard Amherst Humphrey and Harriet Curtis who lived at 209 Newton St., a house that is still standing. She graduated from the Oread Institute in 1854; married James Baker, a Boston ship chandler, in her home in 1859; and raised two children there. She raised her sons in the Newton St. house while living with her parents and both sons, who remained single, also lived in the same house their entire lives.

Donation from Ann Denny Solodar