SNOHOMISH - Many of you have been reading the Obits. posted on WASNOHOM-L with the Obits from The Snohomish Tribune, etc. It makes for interesting reading about old Snohomish, old Snohomish County, and environs. You get the picture of a rough & tumble existence around here in those early days from the excerpts that describe how the individual succombed, and who the relatives were. I have found them most interesting reading as I see many surnames that were, and are well known to me. The Elmer Lenfest obit. listing the related surnames, and the various members of that family was especially interesting to me as the Lenfests were on my Herald paper route; but they were also close friends of my family and they attended the same lodges, and the same church that was familiar to me over 76 yrs. living in Snohomish. One surname that keeps appearing in the various obits is that of BAKEMAN, C. B. Bakeman, Bakeman Funeral Parlor, but best known to me, and my Family as Charley Bakeman, or for me, when I was small, Mr.Bakeman. I remember Charley Bakeman best when he had his furniture store between 1st St & 2nd St on the W side of Union Av. in Snohomish, just around the corner from my home on 2nd St. across from Starr Mall Antiques (formerly the National Guard Armory prior to WWII ). When I was about 5 yrs old, and we visited Charley Bakeman at his furniture store, he presented me with a tin, windup toy bear, that when wound up would shuffle along the floor on its two hind legs, about 5" tall, inevitably made in Germany. Today, they are collector's items in antique stores. That gesture of kindness impressed upon my mind Charley Bakeman's image along with the many times I had seen him at various places in Snohomish. Charley was a versatile businessman - a truly admired man for his activities for the good of our town. He had been a man who'd trained to be a carriagemaker -serving a 3 yr apprenticeship in Green Bay,WI.-b. in 1861 of parents who were natives of Germany. By 1883, Charley had moved to Snohomish, WA where he taught school; was employed in a general merchandise store; and by 1885 opened a furniture store, and later add an undertaking department. He applied his apprenticeship ability and built the first buggy (carriage) in Snohomish. His business suffered a fire destroying it in 1893, causing him to have to start anew on a smaller scale which was sold to another townsman. Charley, went into the mining business at Monte Cristo, where he was rather successful with the O & B mine for a couple of years, when the Flood of 1897 that damaged the railroad and the mine to the extent that he returned to Snohomish and resumed the undertaking business left in the hands of his brother. His brother went to Alaska. Charley and his wife of 1890 had 4 children. Frances Bakeman was his 3rd child. She would come to be my 7th grade English teacher at the County Courthouse Bldg which became Snohomish High School, 1937. What a wonderful teacher she was just as her Mother and Charley had been previously in Snohomish. Charley had been coroner a number of times, city treasurer, and a member of the city council for 12 yrs. He was a member of Odd Fellow, Knights of Pythias (where I saw him most often when attending it with my Folks); Ancient Order of United Workmen; Order of Red Men; and of the Fraternal Order of Eagles (another place where I frequently saw Charley). His success is reflected in the fact that he owned 200 acres of land where he bred fine horses in Snohomish. His Legacy descends via his daughter Frances who became Frances Hodges - her husband ,Paul, being a Professor at the University of Washington in the English Dept. ; their son John Hodges, whom I knew as a kid, became in time a Professor of Marine Biology at the University of WA. - he and a team of marine biologists from both the West and East Coasts of the US proved how fish navigate, using magnetic orientation and reference with the Earth's magnetic field to travel great distances and using their magnetic referencing to navigate in doing so. His brother, another grandson of Charley, is Paul Hodges Jr., who became an Astronomer. I have no details on him at this time. Whenever I see the surname Bakeman, C.B.Bakeman, or Bakeman Funeral Home, I cherish the man I was lucky to have known, Charley Bakeman, the man who presented that mechanical, wind-up bear made in Germany. I remember that as if it were yesterday, not 72 yrs ago ! What a Legacy among the obits I see on my monitor of the early news. Thank you for Posting those Obits as I am seeing many recognizable Surnames among early Snohomish History. What a wonderful person Charley Bakeman was - his Legacy lives via his genealogy. Carroll in Snohomish * * * 30 * * *