Captain Seth Baker
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Image Number058-2Dateca. 1890DescriptionPortrait of Capt. Seth Baker.PhotographerunknownLocationUnknownSubjectPortraitsMenSailing ShipsUndertakers and undertakingMines and miningNotes Research indicates he served as a trustee and secretary of the board of All Souls Unitarian Church. A retired merchant sailing ship captain, Captain Baker came to Colorado Springs and was involved in the undertaker and mining businesses. Born in 1837, he died in 1907 in Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts and is buried there in Springfield Cemetery. Portrait and Biographical Record of the State of Colorado (1899) provided the following biography: CAPT. SETH BAKER, who has resided in Colorado Springs since 1881, is a member of the firm of Hallett & Baker, undertakers, at No. 7 North Cascade avenue, and is also secretary and treasurer of the Hallett & Hamburg Mining Company, and a director of the Chesapeake and Gold Stone Mining Companies. The business to which his attention is especially given is among the oldest exclusively undertaking enterprises in the city, and the building occupied by the firm since 1891 was built for their use and is equipped with every modern improvement. Captain Baker was born on Cape Cod, Mass., March 30, 1837, a son of Capt. Seth and Sophia (Lovell) Baker, natives of Cape Cod. His grand-father, Capt. Seth Baker, was born at the same place and engaged in the merchant and marine trade for many years. The family has been represented in America since a short time after the landing of the "Mayflower," and each generation has had one bearing the name of Seth. Our subject's father, who was in the merchant marine service, died at forty-nine years. His wife, who died at seventy-six years of age, was a daughter of Capt. Abner W. Lovell, a seafaring man, who was drowned while on a pleasure excursion in the harbor of Hyannis, Lewis Bay. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. The subject of this sketch was one of six children, of whom three sons and one daughter survive. Three of the sons were in the merchant marine trade. William G., who was chief mate on his ship, died of yellow fever at Rio Janeiro, Brazil|Rebecca died in Massachusetts|Henry H. is a merchant at Hyannis|Seth was fourth in order of birth|Cyrus was captain of a merchant ship and served in the navy during the Civil war|and Sophia, Mrs. Berth, lives in New York. In the grammar and high schools of Hyannis and Centerville Academy our subject received his education. When seventeen he shipped on the clipper ship, "Robin Hood," which rounded Cape Horn and went to Shanghai, China, returning to New York with a cargo of tea. This voyage lasted ten months and ten days. Later he was able seaman on the same ship and went around the world once. As third officer on a large clipper ship of eighteen hundred tons he sailed via the Horn to San Francisco, thence to Callao and Chiucha Island, on the west coast of Peru, and returning to New York via Cape Horn after a voyage of ten months. On the same ship, as second officer, he sailed to San Francisco, where he was made chief officer. Going south on the ocean to Callao, from there the ship sailed to the Isle of Java and at Batavia, East Indies, took on a cargo of arrac and sugar, and proceeded around the world to Rotterdam. His next ship was the "North America," of which he was chief officer and which carried cotton from Savannah to Liverpool, then took iron to Boston. As chief officer of the "South America" he sailed via Cape Horn to Callao with merchandise, then from Chincha Island to Boston with guano. On the "City of Boston" he made several voyages between Boston and Liverpool, and during this time was made captain of his ship, at the age of twenty-four. On this ship he sailed to Melbourne, Australia, thence to Akyab, East Indies, from there with rice to London via the Cape of Good Hope, thence to New Zealand via Good Hope with a cargo of coal, from there to Howlands Isle, on the equator, in the Pacific Ocean, where he loaded the ship with guano. On the homeward journey, under stress of storms and heavy winds, the ship sprung a leak in the South Indian Ocean and two hundred tons of cargo were thrown overboard. The ship put in to a harbor for repairs, after which it was brought back to Boston. On the "Robert" Captain Baker took a cargo of ice to Madras, East India, via Good Hope, thence to Calcutta, and with a cargo of merchandise to Bombay, from there with linseed via the cape to New York City. During this voyage the ship sprung a leak off Good Hope and nearly foundered, but the captain and crew succeeded in bringing it to New York by pumping constantly during the sixty days between the cape and harbor. This was the captain's last voyage. He left the sea and in 1871 settled in Springfield, Mass., where he conducted a mercantile business until 1881. He then came to Colorado Springs and embarked in the undertaking business, in which he is still interested. He is a member of the State Association of Funeral Directors of Colorado and was a delegate to the national convention of Funeral Directors at Omaha in 1898. In Massachusetts Captain Baker married Miss Rebecca W. Paine, of Massachusetts. They had three children: William G., who has a very large business as importer of teas and coffees in Springfield, Mass.|Alice W., of Colorado Springs|and Alexander B., a graduate of the dental college in Denver and now engaged in practice in Colorado Springs. The captain's second marriage took place in this city and united him with Miss Estelle Whaite, who was born in Iowa. They have two children: Edith Lovell and Seth, Jr. The family spend the winters in the city and during the summer occupy their cottage at Green Mountain Falls. Politically, Captain Baker is a Republican. In the Unitarian Church he officiates as a trustee and secretary of the board. He is past officer in the Royal Arcanum and Ancient Order of United Workmen|also in Pike's Peak Lodge No. 38, I.O.O.F., and the encampment. Thanks to J Richards of Colorado Springs for the background research on this image.CollectionAll Souls Unitarian Universalist Church Photograph CollectionPublisherPikes Peak Library DistrictOriginal FormatnegativesPhysical Description4 3/4 x 3 3/4 b&w negativeRightshttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This material may be protected under U. S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S. Code). It is the user’s responsibility to determine copyright status and obtain necessary permissions for use. You may use items from PPLD’s digital collections freely for private study, research and educational purposes. Any other use, including reproduction, publication or exhibition, should be requested through Regional History & Genealogy at PPLD. Proper credit and citation should accompany any use of these materials.
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Captain Seth Baker (ca. 1890). PPLD Digital Collections, accessed 13/12/2024, https://digitalcollections.ppld.org/nodes/view/74361