G. Carson Baker's Cunningham Catalog — The Baker Family
Charles Baker
Born: December 9, 1853
Married: June 9, 1875, Martha
Birdsell (1857)
Children: Alice Elizabeth (1876), Gertrude (1878), George Carson (1881), Victor H. Birdsell (1879) (adopted)
Died: April 9, 1932Our family history has always said Charles was Irish, but all his adult census records show it was not he, but instead his parents who were born in Ireland. This new information has been added since our last family history was written in 2009.
Charles was born in 1853 in Rochester N.Y. to Robert and Alice Baker, the eleventh in a family of twelve children. In 1870, Charles Baker of Adams St. began work as a carriage painter for James Cunningham & Son carriage works on 3 Canal St. It is this entry in the Rochester directory plus the 1860 and 1870 Census records that when taken together, identify that young man as our Charles.
In 1875, Charles left Rochester and married Martha (Mattie) C. Birdsell on June 9, in Clyde N.Y. Charles had a good friend named George W. Carson who was his best man, and later, Charles would name his son after him.
It remains a mystery how he met Martha and why he moved to Clyde. Charles did find work there as a carriage painter, and is recorded as living in his father-in-law Isaac Birdsell's house in 1880, with wife and young daughter. Alice Elizabeth was born in 1876 and probably named for Charles's mother. A second daughter Gertrude was born in 1878, but died in infancy. (Family history and cemetery stones spell the name "Birdsell" with an "e" while U.S. Census spells it "Birdsall" with an "a".) In 1881, George Carson(though always called Carson) was born. It's not known to us whether he was born in Clyde or Rochester.
Some time after his father's death in 1880, Charles came back to Rochester. In 1882, Charles reappears in the street directory living on Reynolds St., in the 19th Ward, and working once again as a painter at Cunningham's 3 Canal St. company. In 1882, his brother Joseph still lived in the Adams St. house, and was now a policeman. In 1884, Charles's work address changed to 13 Canal, another part of the Cunningham property.
In the late 1880s, Charles moved a few times in the 19th and Third Wards, living on Cady and Clarissa streets. In 1891, he finally settled with his family on Mansion St. (later renamed Elba St.) in the house where he and Mattie lived until approximately 1923, about 1-1/2 miles from the carriage factory.
At the very end of the 19th century Carson joined Charles's place of employment, and father and son worked together on Canal St. until the mid-1920s. Charles remained steady in his trade of painting and finishing carriages, and also did what his granddaughter Dorothy referred to as "the fancy carving in wood" for the coaches and hearses.
The 1900 U.S. Census record shows that Charles had at some point adopted a boy from Mattie's side of the family, Victor H. Birdsell. Victor's father died when he was a baby, and his mother Alzada Birdsell was widow at 32 with four children; Charles and Mattie must have taken Victor to help and then raised him with their own. Also in 1900, Mattie's mother Mary was living with them on Elba St. It's not clear where Charles's father-in-law was at this time, as Isaac didn't pass until 1903. Mary died in 1910.
Charles was a strong believer in the Christian faith and his granddaughter, Margaret, would ask for him to pray for her when she was sick. She was sure he had a "hotline" to God.
In 1924, Charles was no longer listed at the Elba address. At age 71, this may be when he semi-retired and moved with Mattie to a house in Sea Breeze near Lake Ontario and Irondequoit Bay. His daughter Alice and her husband Bob Smith lived in Sea Breeze as well. Family history says Charles continued to work every day, but that would have been a long commute to Canal St. His occupation was still listed as painter, though now "auto painter." He may have found work closer to his new neighborhood in Irondequoit.
Charles and Mattie enjoyed a 54th wedding anniversary celebration in 1929. Martha passed in 1930. Charles continued to live in Sea Breeze on Brad St. until he died in 1932 at age 79.
Charles and Mattie are buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery, Rochester, N.Y. in a plot with their daughter Alice and her husband Bob, and Mattie's mother Mary.
