Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Baldie, John W. 1901
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LaVonne I. Bennett lib@dogsbark.com April 17, 2010, 11:06 pm

Ionia Daily Standard
BALDIE, JOHN W.:

   Per THE IONIA DAILY STANDARD, MONDAY, MAY 13, 1901, front page:  "JOHN W.
BALDIE - FOUND DEAD IN HIS SON'S STORE AT PALO.  The News Startled and Shocked
Ionia, Where He Numbered Everybody a Friend.  At seven o'clock this morning a
telephone message to F. A. Stiven announced that John W. Baldie was a few
minutes before found dead on the floor in the store of his son-in-law, Charles
L. Kling, at Palo.
   The news was soon current on the streets of Ionia, and it startled and
shocked the community.  Mr. Stiven and a sister of deceased, Mrs. Goodall, drove
to Palo at once, and the distressing news was soon verified.  Mr. Kling reached
Ionia at 10 o'clock, and gave out the brief details as follows:  Mr. Baldie had
been ill some two weeks, and was being treated for a weak heart.  Two days of
last week he was confined to his bed.  Since taking up his temporary residence
in Palo, it has been his habit to leave his home at about 5 o'clock and go to
the store to do the work incident to opening up.  Mr. Kling was the first to
find Mr. Baldie, and concludes that he must have been dead an hour and a half
when found, as the body was cold.  Mr. Baldie left the house at five o'clock,
and Mr. Kling, after viewing the surroundings, estimates that Mr. Baldie had
worked about a half hour.  The fact that a broom stood leaning against a
counter, and deceased was lying on a mattress, is cited by Mr. Kling that Mr.
Baldie was seized with the particular neuralgiac heart-pains to which he was
subject, while sweeping, and pulling a mattress from off the counter, he lay
down, and must have expired almosed immediately.  This is the reasonable
presumption of those who knew of his health and habits, and is doubtless
approximately the true story.  There were no eye-witnesses to the sad affair. 
The last person known to have seen deceased alive, is C. H. Wilder, the stage
driver, who saw Mr. Baldie at five o'clock, on his way to the store.
   The funeral will be attended at the First Baptist church in this city, on
Wednesday morning at 10:30 o'clock, the church of which he has been almost a
lifelong member, and in whose work and councils he was ever active, consistent,
conscientious and highly valued.
   In Masonry, as in everything else with which he was connected, he was ardent
and helpful, and the bearers will be from the ranks of the Knights Templar, and
of his own choice, as expressed to Mrs. Baldie some months before his death,
viz:  A. S. Wright, H. A. Rich, Chas. E. Bigelow, R. H. Bedford, Danl. Waterbury
and W. F. Soule.
   Jno. W. Baldie was an Ionian, born and reared, and one of the very few now
living in this community who are contemporaneous with him in date and place of
birth.  He was born on September 12, 1845, in the large white frame house on the
north side of West Washington St., just west of Third St., known to many as the
Baldie house.  When a lad of fourteen years, he went to California overland,
with his father, at the time of the great gold excitement in '59, and returned
at the close of the war.  He very soon thereafter entered the employ of W. C.
Page & Co., as a day man at the elevator, and worked up through every department
of that large business until he became cashier of the bank and the junior member
of the firm.  He was systematic and painstaking in his business methods, and no
breath or suspicion ever attacked his personal honesty.  He was indeed a high
type of business man.  He is the tenth member of the Ionia County Pioneer
society to pass to the great beyond since its last meeting, on August 28th, last.
   As a business man he was cautious, and uniformly successful up to five or six
years.  In the recent years he met with several reverses which reduced his
savings, though he left a competence for the wife, and only child, Mrs. Charles
L. Kling.  He was a member of the fraternity of Maccabees, with a $2000 policy,
and also had a paid-up policy of $2500 in the Northwestern of Milwaukee.
   Mr. Baldie was married to Clara Tasker of Palo in November, 1868.  He was for
33 years a member of the Baptist society of this city, and almost continuously
either a trustee or the church treasurer.  The remains will be brought to his
home in Ionia, corner of High and Dye streets, on Tuesday, and friends wishing
to view the remains, can do so at the home from 8:30 to 10 o'clock Wednesday
morning.
   Of the deceased's immediate family, two brothers survive him, Fred and Henry,
both of the state of Washington, and two sisters, Mrs. L. A. Goodall and Miss
Maggie Baldie, both of Ionia.  In his death there passes away in every sense a
good citizen, a man highly esteemed for his intrinsic worth, and one whose every
influence upon the community was for its good."

   Per THE IONIA (MI) DAILY STANDARD, Wednesday, May 15, 1901, page 4:  "MANY
MOURNERS - AT THE FUNERAL FOR JOHN W. BALDIE.  A Fervent Farewell Went Forth
From Every Heart When They Left Him to His Dreamless Sleep.
   John W. Baldie died as he had lived, calmly and serenely.  "Like a shadow
thrown Softly and sweetly from a passing cloud, Death fell upon him."
   And it was befitting and beautiful that that same unaffected simplicity which
characterized him in his lifetime should be observed in the last sad rites as he
was being borne to the grave.
   The Baptist church was filled this morning at the funeral service for the
good citizen gone.  Mr. Baldie's immediate family connections were many, and his
wide acquaintance also contributing to the large assemblage of mourners.
   There was apparently not a person in the church drawn thither out of
curiosity.  The very atmosphere was that of an assemblage of friends come to
continue their fidelity to their correct counselor, companion and friend, even
to the graveside.
   Though deceased was a member of several fraternities, there was present as a
body only one, a contingent of forty swords from the Knights Templar, who acted
as an escort.  Many members of the Easter Star and the Maccabees were present in
the individual capacity of friend.
   The funeral discourse was by Rev. D. L. Martin, the pastor of deceased, who
began by saying it was one of those occasions when a pastor cannot bring himself
to bear to speak in the trend of a real sermon.  The discourse must necessarily
be very much personal; and while there are so many things which might be said of
deceased, Rev. Martin chose rather to speak of his church life.  Mr. Baldie was
a consistent, conscientious, and useful layman.  It is easier, declared the
speaker, to effectually fill the pulpit of any church, than to effectually fill
the chair of a useful layman.  The church needs men of the character of
deceased; men who are intelligent and energetic, and who are willing to
contribute of their money and strength to the work of the Lord.  As a church
trustee, treasurer, usher, faithful layman, Sunday school worker, Mr. Baldie was
an ocean-force.
   The singing was by Mrs. Geo. F. Brown,Misses Kate Benedict and Winnifred
Hearsey.  Miss Leah Avery, organist.
   The floral contributions were of the most beautiful sort, including very
handsome set pieces from Saladin Temple of Shriners of Grand Rapids, the Blue
Lodge, Commandery, O. E. S., and other Masonic branches, the Maccabees, from W.
C. Page & Co., and Mrs. A. O. Page, the Baptist trustees, the Baptist church and
Sunday school, etc.  A noticable remembrance of the memory of deceased was the
draping to the usher's chair where he was so wont to sit.
   There were very many persons present at the funeral from out of the city, a
list of whom it is impossible to give, but the following came under our notice:
 From Grand Rapids - Mrs. John Donnelly, Mrs. Virgil Van Vleck and son Harry,
Mrs. George A. McIntyre, Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Weatherly, a former partner in
business, Thos. E. Wyckes; and Albert Kling.  Saginaw - David B. Freeman.
   Of the visiting fraters were noticed, Sir Knights Wilson and Braley of
Saranac; Nash, Boylan, Wisner, Brower from Lowell; Earl from McBrides; Fales
from Orleans; Rundell from Edmore; Bedford from Greenville; Rumsey from Muir.
   The carriers were Sir Knights A. S. Wright, H. A. Rich, Danl. Waterbury,
Chas. E. Bigelow, Robert H. Bedford, and Louis P. Essick.
   The remains were deposited in a steel vault in Oak Hill."

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