Love at First Sight

Love at First Sight. Early Snohomish Heritage Trail. , Nina Blackman graduated from Oakland High School in 1883, then studied for and passed the teacher's examination board with a certificate to teach primary school. Surprising both her mother and fiancé, Nina accepted a teaching position in Snohomish offered by her Uncle Hyrcanus Blackman, a member of the school board. Nina's descendant, Frances Wood, tells the story in her book Down to Camp:, "A month later the blast of the steamer's whistle gathered the town to the wharf for Nina's arrival. Among the assembled townsfolk was Charles H. Bakeman, likely intrigued about the town's newest resident. Charles had moved to Snohomish three years earlier from Wisconsin, and began to grow a woodworking business. He built the first buggy in the region and also ran a mercantile outlet for his furniture. As Charles watched Nina disembark, he uttered the most quoted words in the Blackman/Bakeman family history, 'I am going to marry her and buy her a sky-blue dress to match her eyes.', "Somewhere along the way Nina broke her engagement and fell in love with Charles. On June 20, 1887, they were quietly wed. Their first five years were buoyed by prosperity in Charles' furniture business. Box springs became the rage and he produced enough for the whole town. In December of 1889, Nina gave birth to her first child, Inez Mildred. Two years later a son, Guy Victor, arrived., "On a September night in 1893, fire raged through Charles' store and burned the entire inventory, valued at $17,000 dollars. The couple had to give up their home and squeeze into a small rental cottage at 317 Avenue B. Nina and Charles remained in that house for the rest of their lives. Nina died there at age 79. Charles survived for another 14 years, living with their daughter Frances (Bakeman) Hodge and her family., "Years later when Frances was straightening the things in the attic, she uncovered a sky-blue brocaded silk dress, carefully saved among her mother's possessions. Charles had carried through with the second promise he'd made so many years before.", [Photo captions, counterclockwise from top, read] , . The Bakeman Family, Charles, Guy (7), Inez (9) and Nina, 1898., . Before. Illustration of the new Bakeman Furniture store located on the southeast corner of Avenue B and First Street., . After. A fire, of suspicious origin, destroyed the Bakeman Furniture Building in 1893. It was a time of unrest due to a financial collapse unmatched until 1929. The white building in the background was the first class Penobscot Hotel, itself lost in the great fire of 1911.