W. T. Baker is president of the W. T. Baker Company, a large concern engaged in the general painting and wallpaper business. Their patronage comes not alone from Oakland, but from all over the coast and the excellence of their work insures continued success. Mr. Baker is a native of Liverpool, England, born October 2, 1865. He attended the public schools of his native country until he reached the age of fourteen years and then went to sea. As a sailor he made the trip around Cape Horn to San Francisco, where he arrived in 1880. In that year he was apprenticed to the painter's trade in Berkeley under William Lingard, with whom he remained until 1888, after which he came to Oakland. In this city he worked at his trade with various firms until 1890, when he engaged with W. W. Tucker & Company as a painter. He worked his way upward until he became vice president of the company in 1908, and in 1912 he sold his interest in that firm and formed what is now the W. T. Baker Company, of which he is the president. In March, 1913, they took over the business of W. W. Tucker & Company and are now controlling an extensive trade.
Mr. Baker was married in Oakland to Miss Annie Young, of Virginia City, Nevada, on the 12th of November, 1891, and they have a pleasant home in Oakland, where warm friendship is accorded them by many who knew them. Mr. Baker has never had occasion to regret his determination to come to the United States, for in this country he found the opportunities which he sought and which, by the way, are always open to ambitious, energetic young men. He worked diligently to acquaint himself with the business in which he is now successfully engaged, and as the years have gone by he has worked his way steadily upward in this connection until he is now at the head of one of the foremost enterprises of the kind on the coast.
Past and Present of Alameda County California, Vol. II
Published in Chicago by The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1914
Pages 326-327
Transcribed by Linda Jackson 6/22/2008
Alameda County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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