HISTORY OF

SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

by NATHANIEL BARTLETT SYLVESTER

1878

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HOSEA BAKER.

Hosea Baker was born March 23, 1817, in the town of Half Moon, Saratoga County, N.Y. He was brought up in Malta, where, as a boy, he followed various occupations, struggling against poverty, his chief employment being that of a farmer until the age of twenty-four years. Meantime he attended the common schools, and by self-application acquired the rudiments of au education. His natural energy of character, and ambition to improve both his mind and his circumstances, led him to employ diligently his time and means, and, as a result, he has achieved a success in life which worthily contrasts with the humble beginning of his career. As a farmer he has managed prudently, labored industriously, and planned wisely, and has obtained a competence which places him among the independent men of the county.

At twenty-four years of age he settled in the town of Northumberland, where he purchased and improved the farm now owned by William J. Cook. In 1849 he bought the Ostrander place, on Cold Brook, where he resided until 1853, in the mean time marrying, in 1851, Miss Marilla Baker, daughter of William Baker, Esq., of Northumberland. She died in 1853, about sixteen months after marriage, and Mr. Baker sold his farm and purchased a place in Michigan, to which, however, he never removed, but traded the place with Lewis Van Vechten for a farm on Cold Brook. In 1856 he married Mrs. Mary Ann Golden, daughter of Ezra Talmage, of Owego, and settled on his farm. In 1858 he traded this farm for the Vandewerker farm, where Sidney Thompson now resides, and lived there until 1863, when he sold out and purchased the two hundred acres where he now resides in the town of Saratoga; he has also another small farm near Stafford's Bridge, in the town of Saratoga Springs.

In the office of constable, when a young man, Mr. Baker had all the experience in polities he desired, and has never since sought any political preferment. He became a Republican in 1856, and has since steadily voted that ticket.

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Transcribed from the original text and html prepared by Bill Carr, last updated 2/7/00.