~ Bakker ~ Holland
~ Iowa ~ South Dakota ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Arend Herman Baker
Arend was born “op den twintigsten der maand Juni des
jaars duizend achthonderd acht en tachtig, des namiddag te vijf uur, te Finsterwold” (on the twentieth
of the month of June in the year one thousand eight hundred eight and
eighty, in the mid-afternoon at five o’clock, at Finsterwolde).
He and his brother Harm were twins and the youngest of 10
children. Arend emigrated from
Holland to America with his parents when he was 15 years old, arriving at
Ellis Island on August 11, 1903. After arriving in America, the family
first settled in rural Dumont, Iowa where Arend and Harm attended
school. In 1910 Arend and Harm moved
to the De Smet / Lake Preston area of Kingsbury County, South Dakota where
they farmed together for several years.
In addition to farming, they also owned an auction business called
‘Baker Brothers’. In 1917, at the Kingsbury
County Court House in De Smet, Arend filed his ‘Declaration of Intention’ to
become an American citizen. He must
not have followed through with the process at that time, because he filed
another ‘Declaration on Intention’ on October 19, 1934. This was also at the court house in De
Smet. His petition for citizenship
was filed on August 25, 1939, and he took his Oath of Allegiance and received
his Certificate of Citizenship on December 4, 1939. Harm eventually returned to Iowa but Arend remained in the De Smet /
Lake Preston area. Arend was marred
to Nellie Irene Torrence on August 22, 1917, in Lake Preston, South
Dakota. They made their home for
several years on a farm 4 miles east of De Smet. This is where their 5 children, 3 sons and 2 daughters, were
born. The children attended a one
room school a few miles east of the family farm. From here they moved to a farm north of De Smet where they
lived until 1949 when Arend went to work for the De Smet Cemetery Association
and they moved into the city of De Smet.
They first rented a home on the corner of Joliet Ave. and 4th St.
before buying their home on Front St.
Arend died suddenly on the morning of July 25, 1956 of a heart
attack. He was 68 years old. Nellie continued to live in their home
until 1992 when she went to live in the De Smet Good Samaritan Nursing
Home. She died July 12, 1999 at the
age of 99. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On a personal note, Arend was my grandfather but “Dad” to me because
I was raised by my grandparents. When
I was small and we still lived on the farm north of De Smet, I would run out
to meet him as he drove the team of work horses back to the barn after a day
of working in the field. He would
lift me up onto the back of one of the horses and I would hang unto the
harness and ride back to the barn. I
cried and cried when the horses were sold because we were moving into
town. When I was older, Mom told me
the story of how I came to her crying because the horses had been taken away
by their new owner. She told me that
I said to her, “Well at least I still have my baby calf in the barn to pet.” She said she didn’t have the heart to tell
me that it had been sold too. After
we moved into town and Dad went to work for the De Smet Cemetery, he would
occasionally take me to work with him.
I would spend the day galloping around the grounds of the cemetery on
my imaginary horse. Mom always told
me I was like his little shadow. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Photo Album/Documents – Under Construction – Please check back soon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |