Vermilion county Illinois, FRANKLIN BALDWIN ==================================================================== Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives Joy Fisher ==================================================================== p. 214-216 FRANKLIN BALDWIN. It must be admitted that although no man attains to success without encountering difficulties and drawbacks, life still has its compensations, especially when the individual has chosen that wise path of rectitude and honor which has led him to a position where he is looked upon by his fellow men with confidence and esteem. The career of Mr. Baldwin has been pregnant with interesting events and experiences, some of them dark and trying and some of them filled in with a large measure of satisfaction. The former served to develop the naturally strong points of a substantial character while the latter have shown like the sun upon a rugged mountain side, rounding up the whole to a complete end. The native place of our subject was in the vicinity of Decatur, Ohio, and the date of his birth, April 26, 1832. When he was a mere child his parents set out for the West and after landing in Grant County, Ind., stopped there and raised one crop. In the spring of 1838 they folded their tents for a further journey Westward, starting out with a four- horse team and taking with them their household goods and a quantity of provisions. Arriving at the Wabash River at Covington, they then loaded their belongings on to a ferry boat. The wind being strong and the river high, they came very near being capsized and drowned and received such a fright that our subject distinctly remembers the event to this day. They succeeded however, in making the crossing in safety and arrived in this county on the 30th day of March, stopping at Danville, that place then being a very small town. The country around was comparatively unsettled, the cabins of the pioneers being few and far between. There was only one or two wagon roads and wild animals were plentiful. The fellow feeling which makes all man kin prevailed, and each new comer was greeted with a heartiness which made him feel welcome. The father of our subject died the succeeding fall and the family were left to struggle along as best as they could under the stress of limited means, and the hardships and difficulties of life on the frontier. The mother was a lady of more than ordinary capacity and by careful management kept her family together until they were old enough to take care of themselves. Finally, laying aside the cares and labors of life she removed to the home of her daughter in Dallas County, Iowa, where her death took place at the age of seventy-six years. The subject of this sketch acquired his education mostly in the subscription schools. When fifteen years old the mother broke up housekeeping and Franklin began working out by the day, month and job, and managed to maintain himself very comfortably, splitting wood by the cord, plowing, sowing and gathering in the harvest. In the fall of 1850, he took an important step toward establishing a home of his own, being married to Miss Editha Jane, daughter of John and Polly (Stewart) Naylor. The newly wedded pair took up their residence near Yankee Point and Mr. Baldwin occupied himself as before, until 1864, when he purchased a tract of land from which he built up a good farm and which he occupied for a period of twenty-one years. In January, 1886, he and his estimable wife decided, and wisely, they would retire from active labor, and accordingly leaving the farm removed to the new village of Sidell, of which they have since been residents. Mr. Baldwin in the fall of 1885, purchased from Sanson Rawlings a stock of hardware and has since been engaged in trade, building up a good patronage. In the year 1887, he completed a neat residence on East Market street and with ample means and all the comforts of life, is enabled to live easily and enjoy the fruits of his early industry. Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin became the parents of nine children, the eldest of whom, John M., married Miss Lucy Thornton and is farming in Carroll Township, they have three children; Perry A., married Miss Sarah E. Lawrence and occupies the homestead; they have four children—Maude, Ellen Lester, and Rosa; Charles M., married Miss Emily Crices, and they are the parents of one child; he conducts a grocery store in Sidell; William A. and Wilbur A. were twins, the former is farming in Sidell Township, and Wilbur is with his brother Charles in the grocery; Benjamin lives at the homestead; Norah E., died at the age of eighteen months; Robert W., is in Carroll Township with his brother John. The father of our subject was in his early manhood an old line Whig, and Franklin remembers the election of 1840, when the grandfather of President Harrison was elevated to the first position in the land, he cast his first Presidential vote for J. C. Fremont, and was a staunch supporter of Republican principles. James Baldwin, the father of our subject, married Miss Rachel Parry and both were natives of Brown County, Ohio. The paternal grandfather, John Baldwin, came from England prior to the War of 1812, and settled near Ripley in Brown County. Ohio. The grandfather of our subject participated in the above war, enlisting at the age of twenty-one years, after Hull's surrender. The father of our subject came to this county in the spring of 1838, and rented a part of the Draper farm, but died the ensuing fall when Franklin was a lad of six years. There were eleven other children, one of whom, the youngest born, William, died at the age of three years. The remaining children of the parental family of our subject are recorded as follows: Caroline, the eldest, is a resident of Madison County, Iowa, and is seventy-four years old; Amanda lives in Marysville, this State, and is aged seventy-two; Polly, sixty five years of age, is a resident of Georgetown, Ill.; Jane, aged fifty-five is a resident of Dallas County, Iowa; Thomas lives at Yankee Point, this county, and is fifty-nine years old. He and our subject are the only two sons living. The other children were named respectively, Elizabeth, Darius, John N., James and Elijah. Mrs. Baldwin's father was born in Ohio, and her mother in Ireland. Mrs. Baldwin was born in Vermillion County, Ind., June 11, 1840, and there spent her childhood and youth, attending the common school and being trained by an excellent mother to those housewifely duties, a knowledge of which is essential in a well-ordered household. She has stood bravely by her husband in his toils and struggles and he avers that it is owing largely to her good sense and wise counsels that he has been enabled to attain to his present position, socially and financially. They take a natural and pardonable pride in their fine family of children to whom they have given all the advantages in their power. Mr. Baldwin believes in education and has carried out his sentiments in this respect in providing his children with good schooling. The family is widely and favorably known throughout Sidell Township and vicinity where they count their friends by the score.