Lake-Porter County IN Archives Biographies.....Baker, Charles M. 1866 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 10, 2006, 4:06 pm Author: T. H. Ball (1904) CHARLES M. BAKER. Charles M. Baker, who is proprietor and successfully conducts a large livery, feed and sales stable at Crown Point, is a business man who can point with much pride and satisfaction to his career of self-achievement culminating in a substantial place in the business circles of Crown Point and in the esteem of his fellow-citizens and associates. He has practically hewn out his own destiny and been the architect of his own fortune since he was a lad of few years and with little preparation such as most boys enjoy. From various experiences in varied lines of activity he has progressed gradually but surely, and is now able to claim one of the very best establishments of its kind in Lake county, with a constantly growing patronage as evidence of the excellence of his teams and equipments and methods of doing business. Mr. Baker was born in Porter county, Indiana, March 26, 1866, a son of Justice and Eunice (Allen) Baker, the former a native of New York state. He was four years old when he lost his mother, and five years old when he lost his father, and their individual histories are not easily recalled. Mr. Baker has one brother, George, of Boone Grove, Porter county, and three sisters: Lydia, wife of Noah Merriman, of Marion, Indiana; Jennie, wife of James Lewis, of Champaign, Illinois; and Emma, who is the widow of Alfred T. Coffin and lives in Crown Point. Mr. Baker, thus left an orphan before he was of an age to attend school, was deprived of many circumstances of rearing that most children have. At the age of nine he was bound out to a man with whom he remained three years, and then started out on his individual career. He worked by the day and month at anything he could find. He clerked in a store in Crown Point for some time, and also spent two years as a clerk for the H. P. Stanley Fruit Company in Chicago. For several years after that he was engaged in various lines of enterprise in Crown Point, which has been the scene of most of his efforts since arriving at years of manhood. In 1900 he bought the livery stock of Charles Wilson, and in 1903 he built his present barn, thirty-eight by one hundred and forty feet. He keeps twenty-six head of good horses, and has the reputation of sending out the best rigs in town. Mr. Baker is one of the public-spirited citizens of Crown Point, and has served on the town board and as one of the trustees of Crown Point. He is stanch in his adherence to the Republican party. He affiliates with the Independent Order of Foresters. In connection with the livery business he also buys and sells horses, and up to 1902 he was engaged in the hay business. Mr. Baker married, in 1887, Miss Adah Holton, the daughter of Janna S. and Catherine J. (Eddy) Holton, who were Lake county pioneers. Mrs. Baker was born in this county, September 14, 1867, and was educated at Crown Point, finishing in the high school. She died February 16, 1904, when in her thirty-seventh year. There are three sons and one daughter of the family: Harry J., born in 1889; Fay M., born in 1892; Lewis C., born in 1895; and Howard H., born in 1897. Additional Comments: Extracted from: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Genealogy and Biography OF LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA, WITH A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY 1834—1904 A Record of the Achievements of Its People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. REV. T. H. BALL OF CROWN POINT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ILLUSTRATED CHICAGO NEW YORK THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1904 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/lake/bios/baker446gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/infiles/ File size: 4.1 Kb