Biography - S. H. Baker
S.
H. Baker is classed among the successful and enterprising young business men
of Arthur. He is a member of the well-known grain firm of Baker & Cahill
(see sketch of latter on another page), which partnership was formed
February 1, 1895.
Mr. Baker was born on a farm in Juniata county, Pennsylvania, April 12, 1862, and remained on the farm, receiving the advantages of the common schools until he had arrived at the age of fifteen years, when he entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and filled the positions of telegraph operator and ticket clerk at different points on the middle division, on the main line between Harrisburg and Altoona. In 1880 he came west and located in Illinois, remaining one year, when he returned to Pennsylvania and reentered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in the capacity of telegraph operator and ticket clerk on the Schuylkill division at Pottstown, Montgomery county. In 1888 he came back to this state and located in Piatt county, and was station agent at Milmine, on the Wabash system, continuing there up till 1892. In that year he changed to the employ of the C. & F. I. Railroad Company and was their station agent at Arthur up to his going into the grain business in 1895.
in 1885 Mr. Baker was united in marriage to Miss Alice Dobson, a daughter of Robinson Dobson, of Milmine. To their marriage have been born three children: Florence and S. H. Baker, Jr., living, and Jesse, dead.
S. H. Baker comes of sturdy Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, and is a son of Jesse and Susan (Zeiders) Baker. The father was born in Montgomery county, near Philadelphia; the mother in Perry county, near Liverpool, Pennsylvania. His grand fathers were Peter Baker and Henry Zeiders, who were members of old and respectable families of the Keystone state.
The firm of Baker & Cahill, who carry on business for themselves as dealers in grain, coal, seeds and mill feed, do an annual business of about fifty-one thousand dollars. Mr. Baker is a member and secretary of Arthur lodge, No. 825, Free and .Accepted Masons, and is also an active member and one of the oldest trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church, which was organized in 1894. He has attained his present position in the business world by industry and close attention to the details of his every day’s work; is public spirited and in favor of all improvements calculated to benefit the community in which he resides.
Extracted 12 Apr 2017 by Norma Hass from the Historical and Biographical Record of Douglas County, Illinois, published in 1900, pages 141-142.
