BAKER, Mrs. Charlotte Johnson

Charlotte Johnson Baker edited photo from Amy.jpg
Charlotte Johnson Baker letter to the editor with quote.jpg
Charlotte Johnson Baker and Fred Baker.jpg

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Description

Charlotte Johnson Baker, who was born on March 30, 1855, in Newburyport, MA, was educated in her town high school and Vassar College.  Later, she earned her medical degree at the University of Michigan.

She and her husband, also a doctor, moved to San Diego and practiced there.  In a 2016 article, a descendant described Charlotte as "the first female M.D. in San Diego, who was well known for delivering over 1,000 babies."  Dr. Baker, a parent of two, had a keen interest in the idea of parents having equal participation in child-raising.

In addition to spending her time with patients and raising her family, Charlotte was active in a variety of professional activities.  She was elected president of the San Diego County Medical Society in 1898 and was a member of the Southern California Anti-Tuberculosis League

Dedicated to reform, Charlotte was a member of the WCTU and advocated for women's causes. As her profile notes, "Dr. Baker has always identified herself with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and with all other movements for the advancement of women individually, socially, and politically" (46).

Charlotte played a prominent role in the California Equal Suffrage Association and the San Diego Equal Suffrage Association.  In addition, she was a member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the Woman’s Parliament of Southern California, and the Y.W.C.A. of the Southwest,  

Since she loved to travel, Charlotte sometimes returned to Massachusetts to visit family members.  She and Fred were avid bug collectors, and in October of 1913, they went on a bug collecting trip around the world.  When they returned, she continued her medical career and her pursuit of equal suffrage.  

She passed away on Halloween in 1937 and was buried in San Diego's Greenwood Memorial Park.

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