"Billy' Baker's Boathouse, ca. 1900
[this entry is a work in progress]
Text of William Bakers obit in the Brooklyn Eagle, April 11, 1940
"William J. Baker Red Hook Native
For 40 Years Operated "Billy' Baker's Boathouse - Founded Yacht Club
William J. Baker, one of the best know residents of Red Hook, where he lived all his life, died yesterday (Tuesday) after a protracted illness. He was 70 and lived at 143 Sullivan St.
Mr. Baker for nearly 40 years operated a popular boathouse at the foot of Columbia St. known as Billy Baker's Boathouse, where he rented rowboats and carried passengers from the Erie Basin to 23d St.
He was also one of the founders of the old Red Hook Yacht Club which formerly held racing contests for sail and motorboats in the Buttermilk Channel.
Mr. Baker is survived by two sons, Thomas and William; five daughters, Mrs. Margaret Kenney, Mrs. Andrew Hickey, Mrs. Hugh Dunbar, and Miss Gertrude Baker, and 16 grandchildren.
The funeral will be held at 9:30 am, Friday, with a solemn requiem mass in the R. C. Church of the Visitation