Background
Lorenzo Dow Baker was born on March 15, 1840, at Wellfleet, Massachussets, the son of David and Thankful (Rich) Baker, of a line of Cape Cod mariners dating from the seventeenth century.
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
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Lorenzo Dow Baker was born on March 15, 1840, at Wellfleet, Massachussets, the son of David and Thankful (Rich) Baker, of a line of Cape Cod mariners dating from the seventeenth century.
Trained by his father from boyhood for a seafaring life, Lorenzo had only the winter months each year in the Wellfleet public school and later a short term in Wilbraham Academy.
He was a sailor boy at ten, master of a ship at twenty-one, and was never in his life of nearly seventy years more than two weeks out of sight of the ocean. In 1870, as owner and master of a schooner, he contracted to convey a party of gold-miners, with their machinery and supplies, 300 miles up the Orinoco River in Venezuela. On his return voyage he put into Jamaica, seeking cargo. There his attention was drawn to bunches of bright yellow bananas--a wild fruit that had never been imported to the United States in quantity. He covered the deck of his schooner with the ripe fruit, purchased at twenty-five cents a bunch, and on arrival at Boston was able to dispose of the bulk of the shipment at prices ranging from $2. 50 to $3. 25 a bunch. This is believed to have been the first cargo of bananas sold at Boston. When the fruit reached the market, most of it was over-ripe and Capt. Baker profited by the experience; thereafter he bought his bananas green, making several voyages a year to Jamaica and back. In 1879 English capital organized the Atlas Line of steamships, and Baker was made the Jamaica agent of the enterprise, receiving five percent on shipments to American ports. The banana trade had now become important, largely through Baker's energy and business acumen. The sugar industry in Jamaica had ceased to be profitable; the stimulus to banana-growing given by the new American market came at the right time. Baker encouraged both whites and Negroes on the island to cultivate the fruit, which had not before been done extensively.
Gradually a profitable industry was built up, which brought wealth to Baker and a diffusion of prosperity in Jamaica. While he was the Atlas Line representative he continued his heavy shipments of bananas to Boston. He brought about the organization of the Boston Fruit Company in 1885, became its president, and after the formation of the United Fruit Company in 1897, he was managing director of its Jamaica division. Although the latter years of his life were largely passed in Jamaica, Baker was interested in various New England corporations and institutions.
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
A loyal member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he was for several years a trustee of Boston University.
Quotes from others about the person
A British colonial officer said in 1905, "Capt. Baker has done more for Jamaica than all the Governors and Governments. "
He was married on December 19, 1861, to Martha M. Hopkins, who like himself was a descendant of Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower. There were four children of this marriage.
