Vermilion county Illinois, JOHN R. BALDWIN. ==================================================================== Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives Joy Fisher ==================================================================== p.208-210 JOHN R. BALDWIN. There are few of the older residents along the western line of this county who are unfamiliar with the name which stands at the head of this biographical sketch. It is that of a man selfmade in the broadest sense of the term—one who in his young manhood resolved to make life a success if it could be accomplished by industry and wise management. Many men who are successful perhaps do not as fully realize the fact as those around them who have been less so, but the present standing of Mr. Baldwin, socially and financially, should give him an extremely comfortable feeling, for his career has been worthy of emulation. It is maintained that every man has his hobby, and Mr. Baldwin, a great lover of the equine race, has for many years given his attention to the breeding of and dealing in horses, and in this branch of business can scarcely be excelled. He is an excellent judge of this noblest of the animal kingdom, and while developing their fine points has made of the industry a profit as well as a pleasure. The farm property of Mr. Baldwin is pleasantly situated on section 17, Vance Township, and comprises a homestead furnished with all the modern improvements, both for agricultural pursuits and for stock operations. Mr. Baldwin is now past sixty-one years old, having been born March 9, 1828, and is a native of Mason County, Ky. His father, George Baldwin, who was born in Virginia is still living and in good health, although having arrived at the ripe old age of over eighty-six years. In addition to the possession of a strong constitution he has for the last thirty years especially avoided the use of liquor in any form. His life occupation has been that of a farmer, and he is now living at a comfortable home in Fairmount, where he enjoys the acquaintance of a large circle of friends. The mother of our subject was, in her girlhood, Miss Rebecca Downing. She was born in Kentucky, and was married in her native State, where the family lived until 1839. Thence they removed to Ohio, and in the fall of 1865 came to this county, and settled three miles south of Fairmount. They became the parents of seven children, four of whom are living, and the mother departed this life in 1884. The paternal grandfather of our subject emigrated from Prince Edward County, Va., to Mason County, Ky. in 1814,during the period of its earliest settlement. lie there spent the remainder of his life, dying in 1843. In the meantime he served as a soldier, in the Revolutionary War, and had a son, Pleasant Baldwin, who carried a musket in the War of 1812. The latter died in 1880. The early education of John R. Baldwin was obtained partly in Kentucky and partly in Ohio, and he remained a member of the parental household until the time of his marriage. This interesting event was celebrated Feb. 22, 1850, the bride being Miss Catherine J., daughter of Nathan Glaze, of Maryland. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin settled on a rented farm near Ripley, Ohio, where they lived until 1856. They then removed to a farm which Mr. Baldwin had purchased on Straight Creek Ridge, Ohio, and which he partly improved and sold at a good profit two years later. The next two years he operated as a renter, then purchased more land, which he sold at war prices. At the expiration of this time Mr. Baldwin, determining to see something of the Western country, came to Illinois, and after viewing the country went back home, published his sale of personal property, established his family in Ripley, mid in May, 1865, started out on another tour of investigation. This time he was accompanied by his father, they boarding a boat at Ripley which conveyed them to St. Louis and thence to Rockport Landing, Mo. They were prevented from landing at Lexington on account of the bushwhackers, who were unaware that the war was over. They next pursued their travels by stage and hack to St. Joseph, thence to Quincy and Chicago, Ill., and from there by way of Indianapolis and Cincinnati home. Having seen so many different places, and all with some advantages, our subject now found himself in a dilemma as to where it was best to settle. He finally concluded to remain in Ohio until he could get all his money together. He rented a farm and commenced dealing extensively in horses and cattle, shipping to Cincinnati and realizing handsome returns. The fall of 1868 again found him Westward bound, and passing through this county. From here he went to Southern Missouri by way of Kansas City, and gravitated back to this county via St. Louis and the Illinois Central Railroad. He found nothing in his opinion superior to this region, and accordingly rented a house in Fairmount, and returning to Ohio had collected, by the llth of March, 1869, all his money, and returned to this county. He did not then intend to invest his capital here, and in less than two weeks had loaned about $4,000. He finally purchased the land comprising his present homestead, and which was embellished with the best dwelling on the prairie. His stock shipping operations have extended as far East as Boston and Albany, N. Y., and he has probably sold more young horses than any other man in his neighborhood, these being shipped largely to Pennsylvania buyers, who come to him and make their purchases at first hands. During the last ten years Mr. Baldwin has operated as a breeder, and sold four colts of his own raising to Pennsylvania buyers for $850. He does no more shipping, but since abandoning this, has sold sixteen head of horses for over $3,400, besides three carloads at from $150 to $190 each. One remarkable circumstance in his career is the fact, that in Ohio he never lost but $10 in his horse operations. Since coming to Illinois he has handled large numbers of valuable horses without loss. In one carload he lost $262, but made it all right on the next shipment. Of the twelve children born to our subject and his estimable wife nine are living: Charles N., the eldest, married Miss Susie Gunder, is the father of three children, and lives, two and one-half miles southwest of Danville; Mary J., the wife of Barton Elliott, is the mother of three children, and they live a half mile east of Fairmount; J. Henry married Miss Lizzie Price, is the father of six children, and lives three miles south of Fairmount; Emma Belle, Mrs. William Hill, lives in Oakwood Township, and is the mother of one child; Laura E. married Edwin North, and they live in Sidell, without children; Cora L., Mrs. Lincoln Smith, has no children, and they live three and one- half miles northwest of Fairmount; Lizzie, Oscar G. and Robert L. remain at home with their parents. Mrs. Baldwin was the fifth child of her parents, and was born Aug. 31, 1829, in Brown County. Ohio. Her father, a prominent man in his neighborhood, came to Illinois in the spring of 1866, and died in Hancock County, in 1883, in the ninetieth year of his age. The mother survived her husband five years, dying in 1888, in Hancock County at the advanced age of ninety-two. Their family consisted of four daughters and six sons. Mrs. Baldwin's people on both sides of the house were largely represented, many of them living to a great age. Her grandfather on her mother's side was the father of nine children, four of whom lived to be from eighty to eighty-eight years old; their united ages being 332. Her father, Nathan Glaze, served as a soldier in the War of 1812, and was a pensioner at the time of his death. Both he and his wife were members of the Christian Church for the long period of sixty years. Mrs. Baldwin has been a member of the Baptist Church. Conservative in politics, Mr. Baldwin votes the straight Republican ticket, and recalls the fact that the largest and most enthusiastic political meeting which he ever attended, was one held in the interests of William Henry Harrison, in 1840, at Ripley, Brown Co., Ohio, when Mr. Baldwin was a lad of twelve years. He has mixed very little in public life with the exception of serving as School Director twelve years. His interests have chiefly centered in live stock, and he has been a prominent worker in the County Fair Association. His connection with this in Ohio extended from 1853 to 1867, and in Illinois from 1869 to 1886. He was for four years a member of the Board of Directors of Vermilion County Agricultural and Mechanical Association at Danville, and took an important part in the discussion of the matters pertaining' to its best interests. He is a Royal Arch Mason, belonging to Homer Lodge Chapter, and in Fairmount is a member of lodge number 590, in which lie has served as Master for two years, having passed all the Chairs. He is a stockholder in the Homer Agricultural Fair Association.