Baker's sister, Dellora, married John Warne Gates in 1874. He was nicknamed "Bet A Million" Gates because of a 1900 race track bet for which he actually won $600,000. Rumors raised the sum to $1 million. Gates was said to be willing to wager on anything, including which of two raindrops would trickle down a pane of glass first. Gates sold barbed wire, invented by Joseph Glidden and eventually started his own company to manufacture it. He also ventured into the steel industry. Gates' oil investments led to his founding the Texaco Oil Company. Upon Gates's death in 1911, his fortune was left to his widow, Dellora, and son, Charlie. Charlie Gates died in 1913; Dellora died in 1918. Dellora willed the fortune to her brother, Edward J. Baker of St. Charles, and her niece Dellora Frances Angell.
