52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Ancestor # 16

Daniel Baldwin (1804-1886)

Daniel Baldwin was born in Matilda Township, Dundas County, Upper Canadaⁱ on 20 Mar 1804, according to family records and he died on 4 April 1886 in Mountain, Ontario and is buried there in the Van Camp United Church Cemetery. He is the son of John and Asenath (Buck) Baldwin. He married Eleanor (Ellen) Wilson on 3 January 1833ⁱⁱ in the Methodist Church in Mountain. Ellen Wilson was born about 1808 in Northern Ireland and came to Canada when she was 12 years old. Nothing is known about her family.

Daniel and Ellen settled down in Mountain to farm and raise a family. They were living on 100 acres in lot 13, Concession 4 in Mountain Township with their five childrenⁱⁱⁱ. The 1851 census of Canada was taken on January 12, 1852. The census asked for age at next birthday making Rachel 19 on her next birthday, Sarah 17, John 14, Polly 10 and William who turned 4 on Jan 9th, would be 5. By the 1861 census^iv, the three daughters of the family were married with families of their own. This left Daniel, age 57, Ellen 51, John 22 and William 14. Also included in the household was a Mary Baldwin, age 10. Nothing is known about this child. In 1871^v all of the children have left. Mary Baldwin, age 18, is still living in the household. By 1881^vi, Daniel and Ellen have turned the hard work of farming over to son William and his wife, Elizabeth and are enjoying their grandchildren.

In 1851^vii twenty acres of Daniel’s 100 acres was cultivated, 10 acres in crops and 10 acres in pasture. Eighty acres were still in woods. Of the 10 acres in crops, 5 were in wheat. Seventy bushels of wheat were harvested and sold in 1851. To individuals of the twenty-first century, 10 acres cultivated does not sound like much. But in 1850, farming was still an intensely manual process^viii. Fields were cultivated by walking, using a walking plow and a walking harrow, a tool with multiple spikes or disks used to smooth the soil, and seed spread by hand. Harvesting was also done by hand. First the wheat stalks had to be cut and then gathered together dried and thrashed. Wheat and oats were the main cash crops in the mid-nineteenth century. McCormick would patent his thrasher in 1834 and soon after others started making steel plows and other types of farm machinery. These tools would be hitched to horses and allow farmers to increase production dramatically.

In addition to the harvested crops, Daniel had 2 cows and a pig. The cows produced milk for the family and allowed the women to make butter to sell locally. In 1851, they produced 50 pounds of butter. You will notice that they had no horses.

Daniel is mentioned in his father’s will. He is identified as “my oldest son” and bequeathed the “sum of ten shillings currency payable one year after my decease and also if my son Daniel or his heirs shall pay unto my two sons Silas and Ezra Baldwin or their heirs the sum of Two hundred and twenty five dollars with the term of five years commencing at the date of this my last will and testament then my sons Silas and Ezra shall give to my son Daniel and his heirs a good and sufficient deed or title to the West half of the Said East half of lot number thirteen in the fourth Concession of the Said Township of Mountain which is herein before named as the Staddard farm.^ix”

Daniel wrote his will on 22 May 1885^x leaving everything to his wife and after her death to his son, William R. Baldwin. He appointed Alexander Rose, John Sullivan and William Shaver as his executors. One of the witnesses was Lizzie Baldwin, his daughter-in-law.

Children of Daniel and Ellen (Wilson) Baldwin, all born in Mountain

1. Rachel Mary³ Baldwin b. 11 Feb. 1833, m. abt. 1856, John Wylie, d. 1 Mar 1873 in Mountain of consumption.
2. Sarah Louisa Baldwin, b. 11 Nov. 1834, m. abt. 1855, Levi Van Camp, d. 16 Jan 1915 in Mountain.
3. John Wilson Baldwin, b. 2 Jul. 1838, m. 20 Feb 1867, Priscilla Adeline Mayhew, d. 23 May 1912 in Woodlands, Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada..
4. Mary Orilla (Polly) Baldwin, b. 5 Nov. 1841, m. 26 Sep. 1858, Henry Levere, d. 19 Jul 1925 in Mountain.
5. William Reuben Baldwin, b. 9 Jan. 1848, m. 16 Jul. 1874, Catherine Elizabeth Tweed, d. 16 May 1911 in St. Thomas, Pembina, North Dakota of throat cancer.

Footnotes:

i Canada was divided into 2 parts, Lower Canada (now Quebec and the Maritime Provinces) and Upper Canada (now Ontario) until 1841 when Upper Canada became known as Canada West. With Confederation in 1867, Canada West officially became the Province of Ontario. The Canadian Encyclopedia.ca (http://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca: accessed 3 Mar 2016).

ii “Ontario marriages, 1801-1928”, database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 8 Jun 2014), marriage of Daniel Baldwin and Eleanor Wilson, 3 January 1833, Mountain, citing Archives of Ontario, Series MS248, reel 3.

iii Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Mountain, Dundas County, Canada West, District 5, Sub-district 36, page 59, line 32, Daniel Baldwin; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 23 Sep 2014), citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm, roll C_11717.

iv 1861 Census of Canada, Dundas County, Canada West, population schedule, Mountain, page 50, line 42, Daniel Baldwin: digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 23 Sep 2015), citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm, roll C-1014.

v 1871 Census of Canada, Dundas County, Ontario, population schedule, Mountain, District 71, Division 2, page 6, line 4, family 23, Daniel Baldwin; digital image, Ancestry.com  (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 17 Dec 2015), citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm, roll C-10006.

vi 1881 census of Canada, Dundas, Ontario, population schedule, Mountain, District 102, Sub-district E, Division 3, p. 30, family 137, William Baldwin; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 17 Nov 2015), citing Library and Archives Canada Record Group 31-C-1, roll C_13228.

vii 1851 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Mountain, agricultural schedule, Dundas County, Canada West, District 5, Sub-district 36, page 32,, Daniel Baldwin; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 23 Sep 2014), citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm.

viii National Agriculture in the Classroom, educational support for teachers in grades K-12, supported by National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture: (http://www.agclassroom.org: accessed 20 Mar 2016).

ix Land Records of Dundas County, Dundas County (v. C-D) 1839-1847. p. 261, M 2160 Will of John Baldwin.

x Land Records of Dundas County, Vol 161, p. 494, Memorial #5896, will of Daniel Baldwin, recorded 10 Jul 1886, FHL film #1,639,848.