 Dr. Baker was a great admirer of Francis Asbury, a popular Methodist bishop at that time, and named his son after his friend.Francis Baker graduated from Princeton University in 1839, and was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1846.He was assigned at first as an assistant at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Baltimore, and six years later was named rector of St. Luke's Church in the same city, where he became known as an eloquent preacher.