George Frederick Baer^[1]

1842 - 1914  (71 years)

• Name	George Frederick Baer
  	son of Solomon Baer & Anna M Baker
  Born	26 Sep 1842	Somerset County, Pennsylvania
  Gender	Male
  Died	26 Apr 1914	Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
  Buried	29 Apr 1914	Charles Evans Cemetery, Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania
  Notes	Geo. F. Baer Dies; Head of P and R and Coal holdings. Never Rallied After Having Been Stricken On Way to Office on Saturday George F. Baer, president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway, and one of the leading railroad and coal mining authorities in the United States, died in his city home, 1718 Spruce street, at 7.43 o'clock last night. Mr. Baer was 72 years old and his death was directly due to uremic poisoning. Heavy burdens which he willingly shouldered in the interest of stockholders owing the Reading's vast properties superinduced the collapse of Mr. Baer at Fifteenth and Walnut streets on Saturday while on the way to his office, his physicians declared. Except for a few brief moments of semi-consciousness, Mr. Baer was in a state of coma from the time he fell to the sidewalk until he breathed his last. Mrs. Baer, her five daughters and sons-in-law were at the bedside of the husband and father when he died. Dr. William F. Muhlenberg, of Reading, Pa., a life-long friend, was also at the death-bed. They had maintained a death watch from Saturday afternoon, realizing that Mr. Baer's demise was only a matter of hours. News of the death of the head of the Reading system and the Reading Coal and Iron Company spread alongthe Reading lines with great rapidity. Soon after Mr. Baer had passed away messages of condolence began to be received by the family by the scores. At an early hour this morning telegrams were received at the house from some of the country's most prominent men
  Person ID	I098670	Strausstown Roots
  Last Modified	6 May 2014

  
  

  Family	Emily Kimmel,   b. 05 Feb 1840, Pennsylvania ,   d. 21 Oct 1915, Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania  (Age 75 years)
  Children	+ 1. Mary Kimmell Baer,   b. 23 Oct 1872, Pennsylvania ,   d. 2 Nov 1946, Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania  (Age 74 years)
  Family ID	F26210	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Sources

  [S151] Montgomery Bios, Morton L. Montgomery, (. H. Beers & Company of Chicago, 1909), 344 (Reliability: 1). George Frederick Baer, President of the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company since 1901, and the leading attorney at Reading for the thirty years preceding, was born Sept. 26, 1842, in Somerset county, Pa. When six years old, his parents removed to the county-seat from a farm situated three miles distant. He received his preliminary education at the Somerset Institute. When thirteen years old, he manifested an interest in the printing business, and entering the office of the Somerset Democrat worked at setting type for upward of two years. Appreciating then the importance of a better education, he resumed his studies in an earnest manner at the Somerset Academy; but he continued there only a year when he accepted the position of chief clerk and bookkeeper of the Ashtola Mills, a large lumber manufacturing establishment located ten miles from Johnstown, a position he filled for about a year, when his ambition for a more thorough education again asserted itself, and he entered the Sophomore class of Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster, Pa. This was in the fall of 1860, but his course there was terminated by the breaking out of the Civil war. He and his brother Harry then purchased the newspaper mentioned and they conducted the publication in a successful manner until the following September, when Harry enlisted in the Union army, becoming an officer of Company B, 54th Regt., P. V. I., and he was left in sole charge of the newspaper. He worked assiduously at the case during the daytime, and edited the paper at night, having been frequently so pressed for time as to be compelled to compose the editorials and set them up in type while standing before the case. During this interesting period of his life, he continued a private course of studies with the expectation of returning to college which he had left so abruptly, and it was this course, with the earnest and persistent exercise of his concentrative powers before the printer's case, which unwittingly prepared him so thoroughly for the arduous labors of professional and business life. He edited and published the Democrat until August, 1862, when his patriotic spirit also asserted itself for suppressing the Rebellion, with the enemy approaching the border of his own county, and he raised a company of volunteers from Somerset and vicinity, which was mustered into the national service as Company E, 133d Regt., P. V. I., and of this company he was commissioned captain, though not yet twenty years old. He served for the period of his enlistment (nine months), and was mustered out of service with his company on May 26, 1863. For part of the time, he acted by detail as Adjutant-General of the 2d Brigade, in Humphrey's Division. His regiment joined the Army of the Potomac at the second battle of Bull Run, and his company participated in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Its most distinguished service was in forming the advance line of the army in the famous charge on Fredericksburg Heights, Dec. 13, 1862. Upon returning home from the army, Mr. Baer selected the law as his profession, and after pursuing a regular course of legal studies in the office of his brothers William and Herman (both attorneys at the Somerset Bar), he was admitted to practice at the April term, 1864. He began immediately the practice of his profession, and under the guidance of his brothers for the following four years was made thoroughly familiar with the intricacies of the profession in all its branches, more especially in the department which related to pleading and the trial of cases. He then removed to Reading for the purpose of locating there, having visited the place several months before, and on Jan. 22, 1868, was admitted to the Berks county Bar. In a few years after his location at Reading, his practice began to increase rapidly, and each succeeding year found him more successful. The trial of cases gradually became the prominent part of his practice, and within a decade his services were engaged in every important case in the local courts. This is shown on the records in the prothonotary's office, and in the published reports of cases taken to the Supreme court of Pennsylvania. This extensive and highly remunerative practice before the courts, local and Supreme, both State and national, continued for thirty years, when his important services as solicitor to the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company during this period eventually resulted in his selection as president of the re-organized corporation, and he has been re-elected annually for the past eight years, evidencing the highly satisfactory character of his services in management. During the same time (since 1901) he has officiated as president of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. On account of his prominent connection with the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company, Mr. Baer quite naturally became an important factor in the management of the Reading Iron Company, the largest industrial enterprise at Reading next to the shops of the railway company, and after having advised this great corporation (whose costly establishments are situated in different parts of Pennsylvania, and give employment to thousands of men) during the same period of time while acting as solicitor of the railway company, he became its president and directed its extensive business affairs in a most successful manner for twelve years. On account of his labors in connection with the Philadelphia & Reading and other railroads, he retired as president, but he has been officiating since as the chairman of its board of directors. His management resulted in making the corporation one of the largest producers of wrought-iron pipe of all sizes, bar-iron, sheet-iron, etc., in Pennsylvania, with large trading relations extending all over the world. He has also been prominently identified with the management of the Temple Iron Company, the Pennsylvania Steel Company, and the Cambria Steel Company, for a number of years as a director, acting as president of the first named since Jan. 1, 1901. In 1886, Mr. Baer organized and established the Reading Paper Mills, and since then has operated them in a most successful manner. The corporation comprises three plants (one at the foot of Bingaman street, one at the foot of Court street, Reading, and the third opposite Reading at the mouth of the Tulpehocken creek), all equipped with the best machinery for the production of the finest book and manilla papers, which are in constant demand. They employ three hundred hands and constitute one of Reading's most important industries. Mr. Baer co-operated with other public-spirited men of Reading in establishing the Penn National Bank in 1883; the Reading Hospital in 1884; the Reading Trust Company in 1886; the Penn Common in 1887; the Wyomissing Club in 1890; the Reading Free Library in 1898; the Berkshire Club in 1899; and he has continued to take an active part in the management of all of them excepting the Penn Bank. His services were particularly important in securing Penn Common as the property of Reading from the possession of the County of Berks, and he has officiated as president of the Board of Park Commissioners since its creation by the City Council. Since 1895, he has served as one of the board of trustees of the Charles Evans Cemetery. In 1900, Mr. Baer erected the first large modern fire-proof office-building in Reading, situated at the corner of Court and Church streets, seven stories high, and embracing eighty rooms, adjoining the rear of his office building on Washington street. The first two floors are occupied by the business offices of the Reading Iron Company. During this long period of time, the services of Mr. Baer as a public speaker were in constant demand. Many of his more important addresses have been published in pamphlet form. They display the great scope of his learning, the forcible and precise character of his rhetoric, and the boldness of his convictions. His diction is clear; his manner of speaking straightforward, always extemporaneous, void of dramatic flourish, and it commands the close attention of his audience from start to finish; and his logic leads to an inevitable conclusion which wins admiration if not approval. His numerous paper-books in carrying on litigation before the higher courts, both State and national, show great care, thorough preparation, and complete knowledge of the respective cases; and they evidence in a high degree his superior literary culture as well as his comprehensive legal attainments. Among the numerous addresses and lectures delivered by him, the following may be mentioned: LAND TENURE, Before the Law Department of the University of Pennsylvania, Oct. 25, 1887; RELATION OF TARIFF TO WAGES, Before Single Tax Society of Reading, Jan. 19, 1891; ADDRESS OF WELCOME, Formation of Pennsylvania German Society at Lancaster (of which he was elected the first president), April 15, 1891; INFLUENCE OF REFORMED CHURCH ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT, At dedication of new Theological Seminary of Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster, May 10, 1894; GERMANS IN PENNSYLVANIA, Before Teachers' Institute of Berks county at Reading on Sept. 26, 1895; BECHSTEIN GERMANIC LIBRARY, At opening of it for University of Pennsylvania, March 21, 1896 (being first of four addresses on that occasion); APPEAL TO DEMOCRATS, Issued in summer of 1896, which resulted in organization of the Gold Democrats and aided materially in the defeat of the Silver Democrats who controlled the National Convention and nominated Bryan for President of the United States; ORATION, Unveiling of Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Allentown Oct. 19, 1899; WORK IS WORSHIP, Before the Y. M. C. A. of Reading, on Jan. 1, 1900, and amplified and delivered before Franklin and Marshall College, on Jan. 16, 1902 (Mr. Baer having been then, and is still, president of the Board of Trustees); ADDRESS, Laying of corner-stone for new science building of Franklin and Marshall College, June 13, 1900; PENNSYLVANIA THEORIES OF GOVERNMENT, Before Pennsylvania Society of New York Dec. 12, 1902; ARGUMENT, before the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission, made at Philadelphia April 8, 1904; MINING OF COAL, Last lecture of a popular course of eighteen lectures delivered at different places in Schuylkill county, at Pottsville, April 8, 1905; DEDICATION OF BOYS' HIGH SCHOOL, Reading, Thanksgiving Day, 1906; RAILROAD LEGISLATION, Open letter to Pennsylvania Legislature, issued Feb. 7, 1907. Mr. Baer has been prominently identified with Franklin and Marshall College since 1872, as a member of the board of trustees, officiating as president of the board since 1894. During this time he has labored efficiently for the advancement of the institution and contributed liberally toward its financial support. In 1886, the College conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws, and the Alumni Association, at its annual meeting in 1895, elected him as its vice-president. Mr. Baer was brought up as a firm believer in the sterling principles of the Democratic party, and he has shown himself to be their fearless advocate. Upon locating at Reading, he interested himself in local politics, and gave party welfare much of his time; but he was never ambitious to fill any public office because he was too busily engaged with his large legal practice and business enterprises. He has at all times been a generous contributor toward the campaign expenses, and he has exerted a powerful influence in national politics, as well as in the county and State. Immediately after coming to Reading Mr. Baer and his wife identified themselves with the Second Reformed Church, and they and their children have been devoted members. When the church was rebuilt they were generous contributors. On all special occasions, the auditorium is profusely decorated with costly flowers from their conservatory, which elicit much praise and admiration. In 1866, Mr. Baer was married to Emily Kimmel, daughter of John O. Kimmel, attorney at Somerset, and Mary Parker, his wife. To this union have come five children: Marion married William N. Appel, an attorney at Lancaster; Helen married William Griscom Coxe, of Wilmington, Del.; Mary married Isaac Hiester, an attorney at Reading; Emily married Frank L. Connard, at Reading (he dying Jan. 21, 1908); Nellie married Heber L. Smith, of Philadelphia. Mrs. Baer has taken a very active part in local charities, more especially in the successful management of the Widows' Home, from its foundation in 1876. She has also taken much interest in the Women's Club, the Book Club, and the Needle-Work Guild, serving each society as president. In social affairs she has been the acknowledged leader for many years. Her receptions in their costly and beautiful home Hawthorne, on Mineral Spring road, have been superb; and it was there, during the popular demonstrations in the historical celebration of the Sesqui-Centennial of Reading, June, 1898, that she and her husband displayed a remarkable spirit of liberality in welcoming and entertaining distinguished visitors, and affording them unusual opportunities of seeing and knowing the social, industrial and municipal affairs of Reading, and of realizing its growth, wealth and importance as a promising centre of population. When Mr. Baer became president of the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company in 1901, he secured a home in Philadelphia, and he and his family have occupied it since, during the winter and spring of each year. Their home is embellished with a rare collection of books and paintings. Mr. Baer's father was Major Solomon Baer. He was born in 1794, in Northampton (now Lehigh) county, near Unionville, and when six years old he accompanied his parents in their removal to a farm in Maryland, near Cumberland. They remained there sixteen years, then settled on a farm in Somerset county, Pa., about twenty-five miles farther west. He died in 1882, aged eighty-eight years, having lived in Somerset from 1848. His grandfather was John Jacob Baer, of Northampton county, where he was born on the homestead in 1761. He was brought up on a farm, and followed farming there until 1800, when he removed with his family to Maryland, and there carried on farming until his decease in 1823. His great-grandfather was Christophel Baer, who emigrated from Zweibruecken in 1743. Upon his arrival at Philadelphia, September 30th, he immediately proceeded to Northampton county, where he had purchased several tracts of land. The original patent issued to him describes one of the tracts as Bruin's Choice, a free translation of the name of his ancestral home.