George Holbrook BAKER

George Holbrook BAKER was a pioneer who did much to bring California and its early conditions to the attention of the world, and his exceptional talent and business ability enabled him to render large contribution to the civic and material development and progress in the state of his adoption, and especially the City of San Francisco.

A representative of a sterling New England Colonial family, Mr. BAKER was born on the paternal homestead farm near Dedham, Massachusetts, and the date of his nativity was March 9, 1827.  He was the second in a family of four children, the others having been Elizabeth (Mrs. Richard RICHARDSON), Francis and John.  He was a son of John and Evelyn (HOLBROOK) BAKER, the American progenitors in both the paternal and maternal lines having come from England about 1630 and both families having given patriot soldiers to the Continental forces in the War of the Revolution.  John BAKER was a substantial farmer in the old Bay State, where he remained until his death, in 1868, his wife having passed away about the year 1852.  The father of Mrs. BAKER was a bell founder and organ builder, and the distinction of casting the first large bell manufactured in the United States, the firm of which he was a member having been organized in 1816 and the name of HOLBROOK having long been one of prominence in connection with manufacturing industry in Massachusetts.

He to whom this memoir is dedicated was afforded the advantages of private and other schools in the City of Boston, and thereafter he attended the Academy of Design in New York City, where he took a course through which he well developed his natural artistic talent.  As an artist when he came to California, within a short time after the historic discovery of gold in this state had attracted almost universal attention throughout the civilized world.  He made his way to the Pacific Coast by way of Vera Cruz and the City of Mexico, and arrived in San Francisco on the 28^th of May, 1849.  Of his impressions and experiences in California in that early day he wrote interesting articles for the New York Tribune, and in this connection it is specially pleasing to note that he made the first drawings depicting San Francisco, which then had a population of about 2,000 persons, these drawings having been used to illustrate his articles in the New York Tribune.

Soon after his arrival in San Francisco, Mr. BAKER made his way to the gold mining camps on the Sacramento River, and finally he became associated with General WINN and established a general merchandise business at Sacramento, General WINN being accredited as the founder of the fine organization known as the Native Sons of the Golden West.  In 1850 Mr. Baker made at trip to Portland, Oregon but he soon returned to Sacramento.  He made many sketches of different mines in California and Nevada, and was one of the most talented and successful newspaper artists of the pioneer days in California and on the Pacific Coast in general.  Such of his sketches and drawings as were preserved in newspaper files and elsewhere eventually became of great historic value.  In 1856 Mr. BAKER became editor and publisher of the Granite Journal at Sacramento, and in that city he was editor and publisher also of a periodical called the Spirit of the Age.  In the capital city he later engaged independently in the lithographing business, and there he continued as a pioneer in this field of enterprise until 1862, when he established his home and business headquarters in San Francisco.  In 1850 Mr. BAKER returned to Boston, the journey having been made on this occasion by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and in the following year he returned, alone, across the plains, his trip to the East having been made for the purpose of buying goods for the store which he and General WINN had established at Sacramento.  From 1862 until his retirement, about 1890, Mr. BAKER conducted the leading lithographic establishment and business in San Francisco and he was one of the venerable and revered pioneer citizens of this city at the time of his death, in January 1906.

Mr. BAKER was a spirited supporter of the cause of the republican party, and in the ‘50’s he was a valued attache of the office of the surveyor general of California.  He was a life member of the California Society of Pioneers, and was affiliated also with the Independent Order Of Odd Fellows.

February 11, 1856, recorded the marriage of Mr. BAKER and Miss Mary A. BELDEN, who was born in England, and who died in 1898, when about sixty years of age.  Of the union there was born seven children:  Mary is the wife of C.P. BLANCHARD, of Seattle, Washington; Eugenia is the wife of George LILLY, of San Francisco; Charles H. married Miss Dora BURTCHAELL and they maintain their home in San Francisco; and the other four children are deceased.

ROBERT O. BALDWIN  

ROBERT O. Baldwin was a California pioneer, lived in the state for over a half century and his life work constituted a permanent contribution to the agricultural development of Contra Costa County. 

He was born in the State of Ohio, March 30, 1828, was reared on a farm, acquired a common school education, and as a youth of twenty-two broke the ties of home and kindred, setting out March 18,1850 across the plains for the newly discovered gold fields of California. His journey was made by way of Salt Lake City and eventually brought him to the historic old settlement of Hangtown, California. For three years his efforts were directed in the gold mining fields, but the work that constituted his real success was agriculture and live stock. He first bought three hundred and twenty acres of land and eventually became the owner of an estate of more than a thousand acres in Contra Costa County near Danville. His energy and good management set an example of what could be accomplished by properly conducted agricultural and live stock enterprise in the beautiful San Ramon Valley. He was also active in community affairs serving many years as a school trustee in his home locality. 

Robert O. Baldwin married Miss Mary Cox, who was born in Indiana, January 7, 1838. They were married at Danville, California, March 25, 1858, and they lived more than a half a century in Contra Costa County, where both of them passed on. The death of Robert O. Baldwin occurred April 26,1908, and that of his wife on October 9, 1914. Just a month before the death of R.O. Baldwin there was celebrated at Danville as a public event the golden wedding anniversary of this venerable old couple. It was an occasion for people all over the county to meet and offer congratulations to the husband and wife who had shared life’s duties and joys together through such a long period. 

The children of these honored pioneers were: May Margaret, born May 1, 1859; Elmer H., born September 6, 1861; Perry A., now deceased, born August 14, 1869, and John F., born December 20, 1873. The daughter, May Margaret, now residing at 782, Delores Street in San Francisco, was graduated from the Napa Ladies’ Seminary, June 1, 1877. Her first husband was the late Dr. Walter E. Hook. On the 14^th of October 1896, she married Mr. E. C. Gilbert. 

Robert Oliver Baldwin, Jr., son of the pioneer, gained an enviable reputation as a successful physician and surgeon in California and is practicing at the City of Oakland.

He was born in Danville, in Contra Costa County, April 20, 1865, and was liberally educated in preparation for his chosen vocation.   

Louise E. Shoemaker, Transcriber April 16, 2004 

William Henry BARROWS

William Henry BARROWS was established in the successful practice of law in California for more than half a century, and at his death in November, 1923, was one of the veteran, able and honored members of the bar, of San Francisco, in which city he had long controlled a substantial and representative law business.

Mr. BARROWS claimed the old Empire State as the place of his nativity, his birth having occurred in Steuben County, New York, on the 29^th of December, 1848.  He was the son of Clark and Mary (MOSHER) BARROWS, both, likewise natives of New York, and his brother , Edward, is now a resident of Oakland, California.  Clark BARROWS was a successful contractor and builder in the State of Indiana.  The common schools of the Hoosier State afforded William H. BARROWS the major part of his early education, which was supplemented by a professional course in the law department of the great University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1872.  In the year which thus recorded his reception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws, Mr. BARROWS  came to California, which state continued the stage of his able and successful professional activities during the long intervening years.  Soon after his arrival in San Francisco  Mr. BARROWS became associated in practice with Judge Robert THOMPSON, and this effective alliance continued six years.  From that time on he was engaged in an independent practice up to the time of his death.  Mr. BARROWS was associated with much important litigation in the various courts of California within the long period of his professional service, and has gained and retained high repute as a resourceful trial lawyer and well fortified counselor.

In January, 1881, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. BARROWS and Miss Carrie MCMURRAY, who was born at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and of the three surviving children of this union the eldest is Ray K., who is engaged in the practice of law in San Francisco and who is well upholding the professional prestige of the name which he bears; Leigh is a superintendent in oil fields in the southern part of the state; and Dorothy is the wife of David Porter VAIL, of Los Angeles.

Mr. BARROW’s death occurred at his home in Marin County on November 18, 1923.