Fraud Baldwins: Fraudwins? "Mercy Baldwin, of Waramaug: All this, Franklin Bearce's Fraud?"

The Mystery of Fidelia Thompson

I have heard that Fidelia Thompson (or Thomson) may have been part Indian. Finding information on great-grandma Fidelia has been very difficult. Aside from her marriage to William H. Baldwin (1816), the fact that she died young at 23, her father's name Gideon Thompson, and that she was buried in New Preston, I know nothing more about her. If I could find her mother's name it would be of great value to my research, but I have not come across any records.



Potential explanations for the lack of information may include the following: Fidelia's mother indeed was a member of the Scatigcoke, Potatuck, or other tribe, and genealogical records were not well kept by the English, if at all. These records may exist in other places I do not have access to at this time. Or, since Fidelia died young, it may be that there simply weren't as many records kept of her as of other family members who lived for a longer period of time. Or, her mother died in childbirth, and Gideon may or may not have been married to her. If there was no marriage, there could be no marriage record.

Or! There's a deep dark spooky secret surrounding Fidelia's past, and nobody wants to unearth it, lest the consequences be dire indeed, and the planet Earth itself be sucked into a void abyss, from which there is no returning. Doom for us all.

"The Handyman knows more than you think!"

So, since I was unable to follow up on this, I started poking around to see if any other family members had Native American heritage. I came across two names of note: Rebecca Baldwin Bearce, and Mercy Caroline Baldwin.

The Tale of Lillinonah

I will summarize. Chief Waramaug had a daughter named Lillinonah. It is said that she fell in love with an Englishman, whom she had nursed back to health, after he was found very ill in the woods during a severe winter. After spring arrived, Waramaug gave the guy and his daughter an ultimatum: He could stay with Lillinonah and marry her, but first he had to leave his people behind forever and stay put with Waramaug's tribe. Englishman departed to tell his people that he had decided to live with Lillinonah, and to settle his affairs, and she began to wait for him. When months passed and EnglishGuy didn't return, she grew despondent, and set forth in her boat to kill herself. But Lillinonah spotted him on the bank of the river, about to return to her at Waramaug's estate. She was too far out in her boat and was pulled over the falls. When he jumped in after her, he, too, became caught up and drowned. Waramaug recognized their love, set up a monument, and that is how Lake Lillinonah got its name.

Lover's Leap at Lake Lillinonah

So what does that have to do with anything?

Franklin Bearce, Jacobus, and Fraud?

Well I have found vague references online to another of Waramaug's daughters. Two actually. One is given the name Chere. About Chere, I know only a given name and a birth year. The other daughter, Mercy Caroline, was supposedly born about 1689. It is said that this Mercy, being the daughter of Waramaug, was sister of the aforementioned Lillinonah. It is said that Mercy married a John Baldwin and so took the name for herself. This John was said to be a son of Richard Baldwin, the very same as my 9th great-grandfather born 1622. This particular John Baldwin and his wife Mercy supposedly had a daughter named Rebecca Baldwin, who married a Bearce. Hence, Rebecca Baldwin Bearce, born 1723. This research was conducted and written down by Franklin Bearce, and he included a copy in the Library of Congress in 1935.

But not so fast!

My research on Richard did not yield any information about a son John. Charles Candee Baldwin knew nothing of him, or if he did he did not see fit to include him. This would be strange given Charles' extensive listings and attention to detail. I've done my own extensive write-up on Richard's family in one of my earlier posts; I encourage you to re-read it if necessary. Richard did have a brother John, known as John Baldwin of Stonington, and he is well documented with many descendants. (One of these is famous cousin Alec Baldwin, by the way...)

Mercy's husband is sometimes said to be another John Baldwin, whose parents were a Richard Baldwin born in 1665. This Richard then married a Mary Bruen. (An aside: this Mary appears to be the daughter of Obadiah Bruen, another gateway ancestor. *Marking this for follow-up later*). But this John, son of Richard, married Amy Oviatt and kept in good standing with the Puritan church. Surely the Puritans would not have tolerated adultery and allowed John to continue in the church. This same reasoning can apply to a son of Richard (1622) and so a known affair with an Ann Warrups does seem to be out of the question.

I will include the discussion to all of this here. I know wiki-tree is not always a reliable source, but this particular article does have its ducks in a row. Sources and citations are given, as well as thorough discussion on the debunking of Franklin's genealogy, which occurred during private investigation in 1938 when a Bearce family member hired a man named Jacobus to look into the matter. Jacobus refuted the first three generations of Bearce's claims, casting all further generations into doubt:

Franklin Bearce discussion at Wiki-Tree

About Franklin Bearce Himself 

But then, how can one disprove an extramarital affair which was conducted in secret, and which may have produced a child, or children? Such things are called secrets for a reason; these things can be buried and forgotten over time by deliberate design. Bearce cited the use of an old family diary, handed down over several generations, and an oral tradition. These things can not be directly disproved.

However, the discussion page above tells of how Bearce looks to have copied down genealogical records from sources that have since been found to contain numerous errors. Savage's genealogies are mentioned. Therefore, his use of a family diary is cast into question, because the exact errors he makes are present in other known sources. Bearce includes people, also, who appear nowhere else in records outside of his own documents. Mercy Caroline is one such person; there is no other known record of her. Many references I can find on family tree pages seem to have been copied from each other blindly, and all lead back here to Franklin Bearce. From what I understand not even the Native American genealogies can find one piece of information.

Photo uploaded by Jason Clark, 2014, WikiTree

It must also be considered that Franklin Bearce himself was quite the shyster. For a time he tried to pass himself off as a member of the native tribes in order to obtain benefits or recognition, but these wild claims were untenable. Bearce was never accepted by the tribes as one of their own. He took the name "Swimming Eel", which I find hilarious. Slippery fellow, eh?
More of Bearce's claims can be read about online. Mercy Caroline Baldwin is only one such story; numerous others are discussed and debunked at the sources given above. In total Bearce listed 13 Native princesses in his genealogy and from what I understand, all 13 can be debunked! Also, "The 13 Native Princesses" sounds like an 80s fantasy movie. It would probably have Tim Curry in it, they usually did back then.

"I'll have those thirteen princesses, mark my words!"

It is for the above reasons, then, that I have to unfortunately disregard the stories of Native heritage entering the Baldwin family by way of Ann Warrups or Mercy Caroline Baldwin. I also wonder if Mercy Caroline ever existed, and the same goes for Rebecca Baldwin Bearce. If Ann Warrups never procreated with a Baldwin, then the Native lineage story dies here.

However!

Going back to the beginning of this post: This does not in any way discount the possibility of Fidelia Thompson having Native American heritage, potentially through her mother. The two stories, these two sections of the family, are completely separate. Mercy and Fidelia are only linked through my investigations of Native American lineage, and I have put them together in this post for this reason. I also wish to spark interest and potential discussion. I will continue to ask family members about Fidelia and her mother, and when I find anything new, I will post it here in the blog. If anyone else has information to add about Mercy Caroline, I welcome the feedback.

Also: Admit it. You read that caption there in Tim Curry's voice, didn't you?