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Alfred E. Baker (1855-1924) was born in Pennsylvania and died in Waltham,
Massachusetts. His family moved to Philadelphia when he was 12. He graduated from the
Hahnemann Medical College in 1877 and was appointed visiting physician at the
Homeopathic Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. But, by the late 1880s, he had given
up that job and bought a farm in East Bradford, Philadelphia. In 1889, he married Anna
B. White Baker (b. Bradley), in New Jersey. She had a daughter, Rebecca "Dolly", from
her previous marriage. The family lived on the farm in East Bradford in the early 1890s.
Alfred was first introduced to Christian Science through his aunt, Dr. Rachel T.
Speakman, who had been a physician before becoming a Christian Scientist. In 1896,
around the time Rebecca left home to study at Wellesley College in Wellesley,
Massachusetts, Anna and Alfred met Flavia Stickney Knapp and took her Primary class.
Alfred joined The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, in January 1897 and he was
elected a First Member of the church in January 1898. The couple moved to Boston to
practice and teach Christian Science. They took Mary Baker Eddy's Normal class in
November 1898. Alfred was listed as a practitioner in
The Christian
Science Journal from 1898 through until 1922. Eddy was impressed with the
Bakers and asked them to come to Concord in 1899. They lived in the apartment above the
Christian Science Hall. Alfred continued his Christian Science healing practice and Anna
staffed the Reading Room. The Hall was later torn down and the First Church of Christ,
Scientist, Concord, built on the property (dedicated in 1904). The Bakers had almost
daily contact with Eddy during their years at Concord and Anna served at Pleasant View
from September to December 1901. In 1902, Anna and Alfred moved to Brookline,
Massachusetts, and continued their Christian Science practice. After Eddy's death in
1910, they moved back to Pennsylvania, then back to Massachusetts, first to Auburndale
and then to Newton.
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