This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Baker, Gillette, Brown Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/JGB.2ACI/641 Message Board Post: Portrait and Biographical Record of Northern Michigan. Chicago: Record Publishing Co., 1895. PROF. S. W. BAKER is at the head of one of the thriving institutions of Manistee. November 6, 1893, he opened the Manistee Business College, which includes in its scope of study preparation for teachers in the normal department, instruction in the languages, and a complete business course, including stenography and typewriting. The college has the support and encouragement of the best citizens of this place, and as it is the only school of the kind in the county, the people of the rural districts appreciate its advantages, and among the students enrolled are many who attend from a distance of several miles. For the accomodation of those whose time is otherwise employed during the day, a night school is also in operation three nights in each week. Professor Baker is a gentleman well fitted by training and experience for the position he occupies, as he has been constantly engaged in this line of work for about a quarter of a century. A native of Canada, born in 1849, Professor Baker was educated at the home of his boyhood and at Ypsilanti, Mich. He graduated from the State Normal School in the last-named city in the Class of '68. The following twenty years he held the responsible position of Superintendent of the city schools of Ovid and Big Rapids, this state. In 1893 he came from the last-named place to Manistee, and is meeting with gratifying success in this recent venture. The parents of our subject were M. S. and Rachel (Brown) Baker, the former a native of England, and the latter of Canada. They both died at the home of their son, S. W., who is their only child. The death of M. S. Baker occurred October 30, 1885 at the age of sixty-nine years, while his wife's demise took place September 2, 1887, after she had passed her sixtieth birthday. In the village of Corunna, Mich., Professor Baker was married, in 1870, to Miss Ellen I. Gillette, a native of this state. Six children have been born of their union, the eldest of whom, Ethel, is a teacher at Filer City, Mich. Ray C. is a druggist by occupation, and is now a resident of New Orleans. Lee H. is interested with his father in the business college and teaches the branches of stenography and penmanship. Ward and Eva are attending the local schools, and the youngest bears the name of Donald. The Professor and his estimable wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and contribute their share both of work and means towards its support. In political views Professor Baker is identified with the Republican party and is a true patriot and good citizen in the best sense of the terms. [I have no other info on this family]