Lyman J. Baldwin (1843 - 1921)
Following the "Sylvester branch": My great-great-great-grandfather, or 3rd great-grandfather, is Lyman J. Baldwin. He was born March 28, 1843 in New Preston CT, and he died Sept. 21, 1921 at the age of 78.
At the time of Lyman's birth, his father William H. Baldwin was 26, and his mother Fidelia A. (Thompson) Baldwin was 22. I know (thanks to Aunt Roz) that on Christmas day 1843, Fidelia died, aged only 23. Lyman was only eight months old at his mother's death and so he was raised by his grandmother Amanda (Drake) Baldwin. Amanda was the wife of William H, as seen in my chart below.
I will reproduce a portion of it from my first blog post here, for convenience.
10) Isaac Baldwin (1787 - 1845) - Amanda Drake (1796 - 1899)
11) William H. Baldwin (1816 - 1862) - Fidelia A. Thomson (1820 - 1844)
12) Lyman J. Baldwin (1843 - 1921) - Elizabeth A Wolcott (1847 - 1938)
13) William H. Baldwin (1866 - 1951) - Irene Keeler (1869 - 1953)
14) Lyman J. Baldwin (1889 - 1981) - Bessie Siddell (1898 - 1977)
15) L. L. Baldwin (1921 - 1996) - H. M. Baldwin (1928 - 2011)
16) W. Baldwin - L. Baldwin
17) William Baldwin, Myself
As you can see, this section of the family tree contains a William H, followed by a Lyman J, followed by another William H, followed by another Lyman J. Lyman J was also the name of my great-uncle, and William H is the name of my own father. There are other Williams scattered around the family tree on different branches. These are all different people, and this repetitive sequence still manages to trip me up sometimes. I have learned to rely on dates and the names of my great-grandmothers to keep the group of them in line. (I had a good time talking with my cousins Todd, Tracey, and Ray at the last family reunion about this problem).
So. Lyman's mother Fidelia had died. According to 1850 census data, when Lyman was 6 years old, he was living with a Spencer Hitchcock (age 55) and Amanda Hitchcock (age 54) on a farm in Washington CT. Another resident in this household was a Russell T Barneson, age 29. Any extant relation to Russell is unknown. Might he have been a member of Spencer's family, or a cousin, or a hired hand? Nooobody knooows!
From what I have been able to find, Amanda's husband Isaac died in 1845 and she remarried a Spencer Hitchcock in 1850. So, then, this Spencer and Amanda must have been Lyman's grandmother and step-grandfather, as recorded in this census. However, Amanda was buried next to her husband Isaac Baldwin. The reasons why are a mystery. I know very little about Amanda. This marriage to Spencer Hitchcock is new information for me, and a possible lead for me to follow up on.
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| Amanda, Isaac, Fidelia, William H. Baldwin |
Above: New Preston, CT, picture from a recent visit. Graves of Amanda Drake Baldwin and husband Isaac Baldwin, then Fidelia A. Thompson Baldwin and husband William H. Baldwin. Far left, not pictured, James Parrot Jr. Relation to James Parrot is unknown, if any.
Ten years later during the 1860 census, Lyman can be seen living still with his grandparents on a farm. This farm's location is given as Warren CT. It may be the same farm under a different name as an error, or a different farm altogether. At this time his father William was also present in the household and working as a stone cutter, at the age of 43. In 1861 the United States Civil War broke out. I have heard that there was some involvement in it on the Baldwin side of the family, and a relative may have been incarcerated at Andersonville. I need to learn more about this.
William died one year later in 1862. He was 47 years old.
About a year after his father's death, in 1863, Lyman married Elizabeth A. Wolcott, who is my 3rd great-grandmother. She lived from 1847 to 1938. Elizabeth's mother Jane had a connection to the Burton family, and according to cousin Todd can be traced back to Benedict Arnold. I will have to learn more about this as well.
Historical Context fun fact: two years later in 1865, Lincoln was assassinated and Andrew Johnson was inaugurated as President. So that's what the Baldwin family was doing during this time in history.
Anyway, together, Lyman and Eizabeth had four children: William Harmon Baldwin, Ellen (Nellie) Baldwin, Frank W. Baldwin, and Clarence Baldwin. Clarence was born in 1886, but died only two years later very young in 1888.
My ancestry notes are telling me that the family was probably living in the Washington CT area when a severe blizzard hit that year. This Great Blizzard of 1888, called the Great White Hurricane, was a ridiculous weather event which produced some snow drifts 50 feet in height, and paralyzed much of the northern portion of the east coast. Whether or not this blizzard contributed to Clarence's early death is not known.
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| Photo retrieved from FindAGrave, user Richard M Clarke |
Lyman and Elizabeth Baldwin are both buried in the Morris Burial Ground in Litchfield, CT. It is a short drive away from where I live and so I visited there with my father on one of our graveyard-crawling excursions. The crawling is just a metaphor. Don't crawl through graveyards, kids. Those trips are nice to take in the fall when the weather is cooler, and you can also use a relaxing drive to see the leaves. If you like leaves.
I actually have some pictures of Lyman J. and Elizabeth! The pictures came into my possession after finding them behind a cabinet after my grandmother's death. They were originally given by my aunt Roz, so I'll thank them both here for the photographs.
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| Lyman J. Baldwin |
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| Elizabeth A. Wolcott Baldwin |
William and Frank Baldwin
The rest of this post will focus mainly on the brothers William and Frank, and their descendants. I know very little about Clarence, and this has been covered above. I have a birth date for their sister Nellie, but I can't find any record of her death. William will get his own post in more detail at a later date, since he and his wife Irene are the source of the three Baldwin children whose descendants started the Baldwin Family Reunion fifty-odd years back. These were Lyman J, Silas, and Fannie Baldwin. These three branches and their subsequent generations continue to meet up annually at the family picnic. Fannie married Henry Simpson in 1887 and this is where the Simpson side of the family becomes linked to the Baldwin side.
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| William H. (left) and Frank W. Baldwin |
William Harmon Baldwin is my 2nd great-grandfather. His brother Frank Wolcott Baldwin would be, then, my 3rd great-uncle.
Frank was born to Lyman and Elizabeth in 1879 and was living in Washington CT according to the 1880 census. He survived the blizzard of 1888 and is next seen living in Waterbury in the year 1900. His father Lyman lived in Waterbury at this time according to census data, but Lyman was living in Litchfield during both the census of 1910 and the census of 1920. Lyman died in Waterbury, however, in 1921. Frank's mother Elizabeth survived her husband and can be seen as living in Stamford, CT in 1936. She died two years later in 1938, also in Waterbury.
Frank himself was about 13 years younger than his brother William, and this is evident when looking at this photograph of the two. Notice their matching bowties, which could historically be classified as 'snazzy'. My nephew Oliver wore a similar bowtie to church today, so it is a good thing that this neck wear has not been put completely out of style.
Frank was also living in Litchfield in the 1910 census but at this time was married to Amy (Sills) Baldwin. He was the head of his own household and the couple had two daughters, Helen (1907) and Clara (1910) Baldwin. In the 1920 census Frank had moved to Thomaston and at this point the couple had had four more children, daughters Jane (1912) and Hazel Frances (1913), son Charles (1915) and daughter Gertrude (1919).
Three more children followed. Stella in 1923, Howard in 1925, and my cousin Raymond in 1927.
In my records search I found Howard Franklin Baldwin had been drafted for World War II, and he is counted among the names listed in the "US Rosters of World War II dead". Private Howard is buried in the Morris Burial Ground and I visited his grave on a recent trip. His parents' stones can also be found there, as Frank and Amy are buried nearby.
Thank God that Raymond is still living today in 2017. He is the father of my cousins T. and T., who I am still in touch with, along with T.'s children and grandchildren. All frequently attend the family reunion picnic.
There has been some confusion over the years exactly how our two branches are related and how the generations line up, due to various factors. First of all, I am five generations from William H. (including him). My cousins L. and J., who are about my age, are only 4 generations away from William's brother Frank, however. This means that my cousin T. is the same generation of my grandfather, even though he is more my father's age. This seems to be just a weird quirk of genealogy. The generations do not always line up. See below:
11) William H. Baldwin
12) Lyman J. Baldwin
13) William H. Baldwin (1866 - 1951) 13) Frank W. Baldwin
14) Lyman J. Baldwin (1889 - 1981) 14) R. Baldwin
15) L. L. Baldwin (1921 - 1996) 15) T. Baldwin
16) W. Baldwin 16) L. and J.
17) Me, R. Baldwin 17) Z., B., K., A.
18) O., A. Baldwin
This does mean, though, that even though I am born in 1986, Ray born in 1927 is still only my 1st cousin, just 3 times removed. His son T. is my 2nd cousin twice removed, and L. is my third cousin once removed. I find this all very confusing, since her children are my 4th cousins evenly, but they are my nephews 4th cousins once removed, although there are only a few years difference between them. Let this stand as a record to define these relationships, because I just know they are going to come up in future conversation.
But that's how it goes.
On the GenieOwl'gie blaag.
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