BIOGRAPHIES

George W. Baker

Throughout the county of Sweet Grass, in which he resides, there is no more highly respected person than this gentleman, who is esteemed, not only for his many sterling qualities of head and heart, but for his superior intelligence and rare business ability.  A New Englander by birth, having first seen the light on December 28, 1840, in Essex county, Vt., he is one of three sons born to Nahum and Clarissa (Cutting) Baker, of the same county.  The paternal grandfather was Solomon Baker, who was born in the same county and there resided during his entire life.  Nahum Baker subsequently removed to New York, and in 1857 to Minnesota where he remained until 1884, when he came to Montana where he resided with his son George until his death on November 24, 1889, at the age of seventy-four years, ten months and twenty-three days.  His wife survived him until March 26, 1896, when she too passed away, aged seventy-seven years.

The early life of George W. Baker was passed in New York, where he employed himself on his father's farm and attended the public schools.  In 1859, at the age of nineteen, he went to California and there followed mining with fair success, and in 1866 he went to Nevada, and was for the succeeding years there engaged in mining and freighting.  His advent in Montana in 1881 was signalized by his securing a claim and making a home in Sweet Grass county, now comprising 450 acres, well irrigated and of high productiveness.  The principal lines of industry he follows are stock and alfalfa raising, in which he has enjoyed unqualified success, usually wintering 400 head of Hereford cattle.  He has 100 head of fine Norman horses including a splendid stallion weighing 1,900 pounds, a thoroughbred, considered one of the finest in the state.

His home is an elegant two-story residence, with mansard roof and supplied with modern conveniences, where he is surrounded with a large and interesting family.  The outbuildings and equipments are of the most substantial description.  Mr. Baker is a man who excercises a wide and beneficent influence in the community in which he resides and whose confidence he has to the fullest extent.

Mr. Baker was married on March 2, 1876, to Emma B. Cowles, who was born in Danville, Dodge county, Wis., on August 7, 1850, the daughter of Marcus and Deborah (Doam) Cowles, both natives of Jefferson county, N. Y.  The father passed away on February 14, 1874, at the age of seventy-four.  The mother was born on August 8, 1804, and died on April 20, 1865.  Mr. and Mrs. Baker have four children, Pearl, now Mrs. Primus Bruffey, whose husband is a rancher on the Boulder; Mabel, the wife of Mr. Elmer C. McConnell, residing on the East Boulder, and Ralph and Edna.

Source: Transcription from the book, Progressive Men of the State of Montana, author and publication date unknown, page 987, located on the website, Internet Archive (http://archive.org), accessed 14 August 2022.

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