Young Germany
Thomas Stockham Baker was born in Aberdeen, Maryland on March 28, 1871 to Cornelia E. (née Stockham) and John H. Baker. He attended public schools in Baltimore County. He studied at Johns Hopkins University, graduating in 1891 with a Bachelor of Arts. He did graduate work at the University of Leipzig in Germany, then returned to Baltimore to complete his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins in 1895. His thesis was titled "America as the Poetical Utopia of Lenau and the Politico-Literary Ideal of Kürnberger and Young Germany".