52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Ancestor #32

John Baldwin (1774-1846)

John Baldwin was born in Mansfield, Tolland, Connecticut on 19 March 1774ⁱ and died on 26 September 1846ⁱⁱ in Mountain, Dundas, Ontario. He is the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Porter) Baldwin. He married Asenath Buck about 1803 probably in either Edwardsburg, Grenville, Ontario or Matilda, Dundas, Ontario. Asenath Buck was born probably between 1780 and 1783 in Sorel, Quebec and died about 1825 in Matilda.

In the 1730’s John’s grandfather Thomas Baldwin moved his family to the Mansfield area from Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Thomas was a grandson of John Baldwin, one of the original settlers of Billerica.

In his comprehensive biography of the Baldwin family, “The Baldwin Genealogy from 1500 to 1881”ⁱⁱⁱ, Charles Candee Baldwin noted that John went to Canada. In the mid-eighteenth century, settlers in New England and their sons were looking West for new land to farm. The Baldwins were no exception. Three of Joseph’s brothers, Eleazar^iv, Asa^v and Benjamin^vi, all moved to the Dorset, Vermont area. By 1775, Joseph’s son, Silas^vii had moved there also. Joseph and his wife were in Vermont in the late 1770’s but did not make Vermont their permanent home and eventually returned to Connecticut. Vermont is hilly and very rocky so agriculture there is difficult. After the Revolutionary War, the Baldwins were engaged in logging and made their way from Vermont into Saint Lawrence County, New York. John’s nephew Silas^viii, son of brother Silas, made Canton, New York his permanent home as did two of his nieces. His Uncle Eleazar’s sons and grandsons settled in St. Lawrence County, New York and Eleazar III lived in Canada for a time^ix. One of his sons and two of his daughters were born there. In the 1830, there was civil unrest in Canada and Eleazar III moved his family back to the US, settling in Michigan.

John was undoubtedly one of this group of Baldwins who logged in upper New York State and probably went with his cousin Eleazar into Canada. He found a home there in Dundas County and settled down. His descendants reported that he was from New York. This was true since he lived in New York for a time before moving into Canada and he had relatives a short distance across the St. Lawrence River but it was only part of the story.

I have not been able to find any written evidence in Canada linking John to Joseph and Elizabeth Baldwin and a birth in Connecticut but I do have DNA evidence. I have an atDNA match to descendants of three of Thomas Baldwin’s children, daughter Aurora, and sons William H. and Silas. Thomas is a twin brother to John. I also match a descendant through Joseph’s son Silas Baldwin who married Priscilla Cary. Also I have at least 2 matches through 2 descendants of Thomas and Dorothy (Kidder) Baldwin, Joseph’s parents, and I match a descendant of one of Dorothy Kidder’s sisters. This is a total of 7 matches to this Baldwin line and I haven’t looked recently. I probably have more now.

John’s will^x, which was transcribed into the Dundas County, Ontario Deed Book D, mentions his sons, Daniel, John, Thomas, George, William, Silas and Ezra and daughters Mary Reid and Sarah Brown. His real property was given to his two youngest sons, Silas and Ezra with bequests to the other children.

Children of John and Asenath (Buck) Baldwin, all born in Matilda:

1. Daniel Baldwin b. 20 Mar. 1804, d. 4 Apr 1886 in Mountain, m. 3 Jan 1833 in Mountain, Ellen Wilson, b. abt 1808 and d. 16 Feb 1891 in Mountain.
2. John Baldwin, b. 10 Oct 1807, d. 11 Mar 1891 in Mountain, m. abt. 1843, Henrietta Higginson b. 10 Oct 1816 in Ireland and d. 24 Feb 1905 in Mountain.
3. William H. Baldwin, b. 1809, d. 21 Feb 1864 in Ottawa, Carleton, Ontario, m. 2 Aug 1831 in Matilda, Elizabeth Wert (Wart), b. Mar 1810 in Matilda and d. 6 Oct 1869 in Ottawa.
4. Thomas Baldwin, b. abt. 1810, d. 1852 in Kemptville, Grenville, Ontario, m. 6 Apr 1835, Elizabeth Foxton, b. 1813 in Ontario and d. 23 May 1881 in Kemptville.
5. George Baldwin, b. 12 Jun. 1815, d. 24 Jan 1880 in Frankville, Winneshiek, Iowa, m. abt. 1840 Eleanor Wagner b. 10 Oct 1822 in Frontenac County, Ontario and d. 2 Dec 1891 in Iowa City, Wright, Iowa.
6. Mary Orilla Baldwin, b. 1818, d, 1890 in Pembina County, North Dakota, m (1) abt 1838 George Reid (Reed) b. in Ireland and d. abt.. 1860 and (2)bef Jan 1861 George Almon Van Camp, b. 13 Jun 1825 in Mountain and d. 1919 in New York State.
7. Sarah Louisa Baldwin, b. 20 Feb 1820, d. 21 Aug 1899 in Mountain, m. abt. 1837, Robert Brown, b. 1816 in Mountain and d. there 10 Dec 1874.
8. Silas Baldwin, b. abt. 1821, d. 3 Mar 1877 in Mountain, m. 1843, Laroxa Catherine Bigford, b. 1825 in Ireland, d. 1887 in Mountain.
9. Ezra Baldwin, b. 1824, d. 9 Aug 1853 in Mountain, m. 1851 Priscilla Ennis, b. 1825 in Smiths Falls, Lanark, Ontario, d. 15 Oct 1893 in Mountain. She m. (2) Noah Guernsey, b. 1831 in Ontario.

i Susan W. Dimock, Births, Marriages, Baptisms and Deaths from the Records of the Town and Churches in Mansfield, Conn., 1703-1850 . (New York, New York: The Baker and Taylor Co., 1898.), 18.

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

iii Charles Candee Baldwin, The Baldwin Genealogy, from 1500 to 1881 (Cleveland, Ohio: The Leader Printing Co., 1881), 694; digital image, Archive.org (http://www.archive.org: accessed 2 March 2016).

iv 1790 US census, Bennington County, Vermont, population schedule, Dorset, p. 20, Eleazar Balding; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 February 2016); Family History Library Film: 0568152.

v 1790 US census, Bennington County, Vermont, population schedule, Dorset, line 12, Asa Balding; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 2 Mar 2016), citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M637, roll 12.

vi 1790 US census, Bennington County, Vermont, population schedule, Dorset, p. 19, Benjamin Balding; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 March 2016); Family History Library Film: 0568152.

vii Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954, Marriage of Silas Baldwin and Priscilla Cary, Index and Images, FamilySearch FHL microfilm 27467, accessed 8 Aug 2014.

viii 1850 US Census, St Lawrence County, New York, population schedule, Canton, Sheet 298B, p. 297 (stamped), dwelling 74, family 74, Silas Baldwin; digital images, Ancestry.com(www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 February 2016); National Archives and Records Administration M432.

ix Baldwin, Arthur D., “Eleazar Baldwin of Iowa – Vermont – New York – Ontario – Michigan – Illinois”, (Texas: self published, 1994), p. 34.

x Land Records of Dundas County, v. C-D, p. 261,