History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 43

Author: Upton, Harriet Taylor; Cutler, Harry Gardner, 1856-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago ; New York : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 886

USA > Ohio > History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II > Part 43

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in the matter of granting the franchise, and thus it devolved upon Mr. Searls to cast the deciding vote, which he did, after a careful and conscientious study of the question. In 1893 the Madison postoffice was destroyed by fire, and under the direction of Mr. Searls the new office received an excellent modern equip- ment, through means of which the handling of the business has been greatly facilitated. Since he assumed office three rural mail routes have been established with the Madison office as headquarters, and within the decade of his in- cumbency the receipts of the office have been doubled. At a local farmers' institute, in 1899, Mr. Searls read a carefully prepared paper upon the subject of the rural free delivery sys- tem, and within two years thereafter this serv- ice was instituted in this locality. He is a stal- wart in the local camp of the Republican party, and has rendered efficient service in the pro- motion of its cause. Mr. Searls was reared in the faith of the Baptist church, of which he became a member when eleven years of age, and he is an influential figure in the affairs of this denomination in Ohio. Active in all de- partments of the church work, he has served for more than sixteen years as a member of the Board of Managers of the Ohio Baptist Convention, the official board of the church in the state. In this body he has been a member of various important committees, including the Sunday school committee, the district mission- ary committee, and the evangelistic committee, of which last he is a member at the present time ( 1909). For twelve years he was mod- erator of the Ashtabula Baptist Association. the oldest in northern Ohio, and he has as- sisted in publishing a most interesting and valuable work entitled "Ninety Years of the Ashtabula Association : 1817-1907."

As a citizen Mr. Searls is essentially loyal and public-spirited, and his influence is always given in support of measures and enterprises tending to advance the civic and material wel- fare of the community. He has been a mem- ber of the Madison board of education for eleven years and is at the present time its president. He served two years as treasurer of Madison township, and was for an equal length of time a member of the village council.

Mr. and Mrs. Searls have two children. Ralph E., who was born in Burton, Geauga county, Ohio, in August, 1879, was gradu- ated in the Madison high school, after which he entered the celebrated Case School of Ap- plied Science, in the city of Cleveland, where he completed a course in civil and mechanical

DOBalchen

A. M. Buldin

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engineering, leaving to accept a position before graduating. He is now chief engineer of the Attica Bridge Company, at Attica, Indiana, and is president of the Indiana Correspondence School of Engineering, for the use of which he has prepared and published a number of valuable text-books of a technical order. He is recognized as one of the representative mem- bers of his profession and has been very suc- cessful in its practical work. Harriet C., who is assistant postmaster under her father, was graduated in the local high school, in 1902, and at Denison University, at Granville, where she was a member of the Class of 1905.

SAMUEL STRATTON .- During many years Samuel Stratton was closely associated with the life and interests of Portage county, and his death took from this community a repre- sentative citizen, widely and favorably known in agricultural circles. He was born in At- water, June 21, 1843, a son of Jared and Damras (Perkins) Stratton, from Connecti- cut. Jared Stratton came in an early day to Portage county, Ohio, and from out the vast wilderness which then constituted this part of the country made a good home for himself and family. He was the father of four sons, Eli, Almond, Jared and Samuel.

Samuel Stratton continued at home with his parents until their death, receiving his educa- tion in the Atwater schools, and during fifteen years of his early life he worked at the car- penter's trade. Purchasing then the old Strat- ton homestead in Atwater township, the farm where his parents had lived and labored for so many years, he turned his attention to agri- cultural pursuits, and there he too passed away in death, July 29, 1903, leaving behind him many friends to cherish his memory. He had married on the Ist of January, 1887, Joseph- ine Austin, who was born in Randolph town- ship, Portage county, April 25, 1855, a daugh- ter of Samuel and Elizabeth ( Henline) Aus- tin, natives respectively of Connecticut and Pennsylvania. A daughter, Eunice, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Stratton, and she is now teaching in the Atwater schools. Mrs. Strat- ton resides with her daughter on the farm left her by her husband, and she superintends its work with splendid ability. Mr. Stratton had fraternal relations with the Knights of the Maccabees, in which he held most of the of- fices, and he was a member of and an officer in the Congregational church.

THE BALDWIN FAMILY .- Among the lead- ing families of the Western Reserve none oc-

cupies a higher local standing than that of the Baldwin family of Elyria and Cleveland. For nearly three-quarters of a century the family has been represented in northern Ohio and numbered among its representatives men prominent in mercantile, banking and judicial circles. Reference is especially made to the late Seymour Wesley Baldwin, the Western Reserve pioneer, merchant, banker, philanthro- pist, highly esteemed and useful citizen ; his sons, the late Judge Charles C. Baldwin, of Cleveland, for years presiding judge of the Court of Appeals of Northern Ohio, and an author of high standing; Hon. David Candee Baldwin, successful merchant, officer in the Civil war, banker, two terms representative to the general assembly, and valued citizen ; an- other son of Seymour W. Baldwin, John Hall Baldwin, a manufacturer of New York, and still another, Wilbur R. Baldwin, of Elmira, ·New York. Samuel Prentice Baldwin, son of Judge Baldwin, is a successful attorney in Cleveland. The family is one of long standing in New England, tracing their ancestry to Richard Baldwin, who settled in Milford, Con- necticut, in 1639. Charles Baldwin, the father of Seymour W., was a farmer and resided at Meriden, Connecticut, where he died in 1818. He married Susannah Hine, who with seven children survived him. The parents were de- vout members of the Methodist church, and their home was the headquarters for the preachers of that church traveling through that country.

Seymour Wesley Baldwin was the youngest son of his parents and was born in Meriden, Connecticut, June 29, 1807. He went to dis- trict school winters, working on the farm sum- mers, and was thought to have considerable education when he attended the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire for one winter. When seventeen, Seymour commenced his business life as a peddler. This mode of life was the common and almost only one open to enter- prising and respectable young men, and many prominent citizens in after days commenced as "Connecticut peddlers." When all goods had to be carted overland, this was quite the natural mode of trade. The carriage of goods bv railroad has nearly abolished this mode of trade and vastly lowered its dignity. The field was on foot, or with horse and wagon in the New England states and Long Island, or with wagon in the south, and with regular routes and customers. Seymour soon entered into partnership with his brother Jesse, under the

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firm of J. & S. Baldwin, as a country mer- chant. in Oxford, Connecticut, then a more thriving village than at present. The busi- ness was general; while at first one of the brothers peddled, they also employed agents and manufactured silver spoons. Soon out- growing Oxford, J. & S. Baldwin removed to Middletown, Connecticut. The energy, ability and high character of the brothers had already become recognized in New York. That cele- brated New York merchant and philanthro- pist, Mr. William E. Dodge, in his little book on "Old New York," published by Dodd, Mead & Co., in 1880, selected the two brothers and a comrade, who, together, entered his store with trunks, as typical samples of Connecticut merit and success. They all became promi- nent and valued customers and friends of Mr. Dodge. MIr. Dodge mentioned that Mr. Jesse Baldwin had then been a bank president for twenty years, and the third a large manufac- turer. Mr. Dodge then spoke of the subject of this sketch at greater length and with much respect. Both brothers became, in Georgia, strong anti-slavery men-Jesse a leading Abo- litionist, while Seymour was a Whig, becom- ing an early Free-soiler. Possibly his wagons at Elyria may sometimes have traveled on the Underground Railroad, for his works were always with his faith.

In May, 1835, though the south was a more alluring field for money, Mr. Baldwin, with his young wife and an infant son, removed to Elyria. Here, with a magnificent physical constitution, he displayed great energy. At that time there was a general barter trade, and but very little money. The heavy timber was burned into ashes; ashes, pot and pearl, were considered "cash," being sent to Pitts- burg for glass manufacture and also to New York. Dry goods and groceries were bought in New York : came by canal to Buffalo ; thence by boat to Cleveland, or more commonly Black River. No goods came through in the winter, and such replenishing as took place came by Pittsburg. to Cleveland, being hauled from Baltimore and Philadelphia to the first named city. Hauling was a large business, and one spring Mr. Baldwin met, east of Pittsburg, within ten miles, as many as fifty wagons. After a while some goods were bought of the firm of Hillard & Hayes, in Cleveland. In the early spring, goods were hauled from Buf- falo west, before that harbor was opened, to Silver Creek or elsewhere, to meet the boats; and D. B. Andrews, formerly partner of Mr.

Baldwin, going, down on a steamer, was com- pelled to land in Canada, caught cold, and died in Buffalo. The cheapest goods were then in demand. There were even no ingrain carpets in Elyria until about 1845. Mr. Bald- win was at first in company with Orrin Cowles. of Meriden. They separated, and he bought out ( for the sake of the corner stand) Wilcox & Beebe, successors of the Lorain Iron Com- pany. That store long remained with MIr. Baldwin's sign, "Old New York Store."

Then commenced the very energetic com- petition which made Elyria noted for trade. H. K. Kendall, a merchant of great ability, then had the leading trade. He was first on the ground, and there had been great falls in prices, of which he had the credit. A mer- chant's life was then laborious. Mr. Baldwin used to go by stage before navigation opened in the lake-sometimes by Buffalo and some- times by Pittsburg-to New York and Phila- delphia. It was a great thing to get the first goods in the spring, and he studied the matter carefully, spending several days in Albany. He loaded the canal-boats in New York, being careful to have the boats filled with his own goods only, and early went to Albany before the canal was opened. There boats had a right to go in order of registry. For several years he offered prizes for being among the first ten boats at Buffalo. But there was dan- ger of being too early ; as, if unloaded at Buf- falo in warehouse, the lake-boats would take fresh canal-boats rather than from the ware- house, thereby saving one loading; and at the first decided triumph, when his rival had ad- vertised the first goods, Mr. Baldwin passed those first goods safely stored at Buffalo, saw his own loaded in boat, got the boat to land at Black River, and accompanied the goods to Elyria long before his rival arrived. Such single incidents seem small, but it was the many such struggles that made Elyria the cen- ter of trade for from fifteen to twenty miles east and west and twenty-five miles south. The chief competitors for this large trade went safely through the hard times of 1837 to 1840. In 1836 there was a general suspension of banks, and there was no resumption until 1840. There was "Michigan Wild Cat." the worst currency imaginable. Mr. Baldwin once hav- ing flour to sell on commission, the farmers seemed very glad to get anything for such cur- rency : and when he announced that he would charge a dollar more for currency than for barter, the money came in only the faster.

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Produce was generally taken as cash, and sold again at home without profit. It was very difficult for the farmers to get enough money to pay taxes, and Mr. Baldwin earned the last- ing gratitude of one farmer by giving him two dollars hard money at the current price for butter. The business afterward increased so that the firm of Elyria sold at times $150,000 to $200,000, and a branch at Wellington ( Bald- win, Laundon & Co.) two-thirds as much. A large share was paid in produce, the firm at Elyria handling $50,000 to $60,000 worth of butter in a year. The firms employed at one time about forty clerks. The rivalry at Elyria was famous, and a retired New York mer- chant once remarked that, as a country store, Mr. Baldwin's was as remarkable in its way as that of Mr. Stewart's in New York City. Railroads largely revolutionized the trade. Mr. Baldwin never tried to make large profits, and never lost money but one year-about 1840- the year the banks were required to resume in Ohio. He paid a Cleveland bank, which an- nounced its intention to resume, thirteen per cent premium in its own bills for a draft on New York ten days before the appointed time. The draft was paid; the bank did not resume. At that time merchants refused to sell at any price for the currency of the country.

Mr. Baldwin was a man of very unusual poise of character. With such a business, which, by its economy of labor and low profits, did the farmers of Lorain county a very large amount of saving, he himself cared not for wealth. Always fairly economical, never os- tentatious, when he came to Elyria he resolved that when he had acquired a moderate compe- tency he would retire. In 1847, in accord with that resolve, he returned to Meriden, though it is doubtful if he would have been willing to quit unless he had become the leader. He started there a ready-pay store, and be- came the president of the Home-now Home National-Bank, which post he resigned on his return to Elvria. He was also a member of the banking firm of Wick, Otis & Brownell, of Cleveland. He became acquainted with the senior member of the firm, William A. Otis, while waiting at Albany to see his goods through. In 1856 he returned to Elyria, and losses invited his return ; but he had no ambi- tion for business in large places, in 1847 hav- ing declined an invitation to become a part- ner in the leading house in Cleveland, and at other times received favorable invitations to New York. His energy and business judg-

ment would have gained him wealth and stand- ing in large places, but Mr. Baldwin had such mastery of life that he had no such ambition.

In 1870 Mr. Baldwin went abroad for travel, and afterward virtually retired from business. In 1874 he had so severe an attack of pnet- monia that his death was reported ; but a vig- orous constitution and pure life carried him through, and he lived until the fourth day of February, 1891. He continued active in his care of an invalid wife until her death in 1886; cared for his garden, gave slight attention to the business of the bank, of which he was many years director ; and engaged to some ex- tent in other private business. He was always an intelligent reader, having a strong historical taste. Mr. Baldwin was also much interested in the building of a new Methodist church, donating the lot on the public square and in other ways assisting the enterprise, giving the plans and the erection of the building much thought and time. He was a man of sturdy independence of character, with a frank tolera- tion of the opinions of others, which steadily increased with his advancing years. An inter- change of thought became a pleasure, for his interviewer was sure of a fair hearing, how- ever diverse might be his views.

Few men were wiser than Mr. Baldwin in the education of his children, for he took much pains to instruct them in general business and care of property, by conversation and early experience. He always took a deep interest in the success of the many young men with whom he was associated, and was their prac- tical and wise assistant. Said Dr. Hoyt at his funeral: "Coming as Mr. Baldwin did from Puritan stock, he early inherited some of its marked peculiarities. He had an intense an- tipathy at all times to whatever he regarded as meanness, to ingratitude and to every form and manifestation of injustice. He prized per- sonal, political and religious freedom, and he sought in every way, as he had opportunity, to protect the helpless and the oppressed and to guard against the encroachment of power."

Mr. Baldwin was always much interested in what he regarded as the best interests of Elyria in political or business matters, and in early days when railroading was a problem, was a director in the Junction Railroad-built through Elyria and now a part of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway.

On November 15, 1831, Mr. Baldwin was married (first) to Mary E. Candee, born in Oxford, Connecticut, August 2, 1813, daugh-

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ter of David and Hannah (Catlin) Candee. She was a bright, active and intelligent young woman of French Huguenot family, early set- tled in Connecticut, and descended through her mother from such worthies as William Pynchon, first treasurer of Massachusetts Col- ony and the founder of Springfield; Captain Wadsworth, who hid the famous Connecticut charter, and John Allyn, secretary of that col- ony in Andros' time. Mrs. Baldwin died at Elyria September 23, 1836, at the age of twenty-three years. Two children were born to this union : Charles Candee, who was born December 2, 1834, and died February 2, 1895, and David Candee, born September 18, 1836. Mr. Baldwin was again married on September 2, 1837, to Fidelia, daughter of Dr. Theophilus and Bertha ( Merriam ) Hall, of Meriden, Con- necticut. She was born April 20, 1810, and died October 5, 1886. The Baldwin geneal- ogy, by one of her step-sons, testifies "to the sterling worth and great kindness of as good a step-mother as ever lived." To this union two sons were born: John Hall, born August 16, 1838, who is a manufacturer in New York, and Wilbur Rice, born September 12, 1841, resides in Elmira, New York.

Hon. David C. Baldwin, second son of Sey- mour W., and the only surviving member of the family in Elyria, was born in that place September 18, 1836, and was put five days old when his mother died. His father was left with the care of two infants, the older son not yet being two years of age: David was at first cared for by Mrs. Sarah Goodwin, who had a son of the same age. Seymour W. Baldwin's second wife, Fidelia Hall, as gentle and con- scientions as any mother could be, came into the care of these two small children. She was for many years in ill health, a feeble, tender woman, strong in her past life, and in her char- acter. Her own children were far away, in distant states of the Union, and no own son could have been more attentive, thoughtful, and kind than was the step-son who lost his own mother when five days old. She should cer- tainly have loved him as tenderly as if he were her own; and she did. When David C. was ten years old his father returned to Connecti- cut where he remained about ten years. David was educated at the best schools to be found, first in Meriden with Hon. David N. Camp, distinguished in Connecticut, and Hon. H. D. Smith, also a leader; next with Daniel H. Chase, LL. D., who was one of the best known instructors in Connecticut in his day, and who

died a few years ago at an advanced age, being at the time of his death the oldest alumnus of Wesleyan University. David Baldwin closed his education at Wilbraham Academy under Dr. Paul B. Raymond, late president of Wes- leyan. His father had high hopes of his prac- tical business qualities, and he went at once into a store at Meriden in which his father was partner. On the return to Elyria he went into the store then of Baldwin, Laundon and Nel- son. Through his father he had an interest in the business, and he contributed in a large degree to the eminent success of the firm. His excellent sense and judgment, his easy tact, graceful manners and strict and high integ- rity made him an excellent salesman and an early favorite with the public. On the reor- ganization of that firm in 1872, it became D. C. Baldwin & Co., composed of his father, himself and Mr. John Lersch, he having prin- cipal charge of the very large business of the firm. The leading wholesale merchant of Cleveland once remarked that no better mer- chant entered his store than Mr. Baldwin. In time the firm became Baldwin, Lersch & Co., composed of the same partners, and later, by the death of S. W. Baldwin, Mr. Lersch took gradually a more responsible part in accord- ance with his own wishes and those of David C.

Mr. Baldwin has a fine skill and judgment in mechanics, and it is easy to see that, with his business ability, if he had remained in Meriden, he would probably have engaged in manufacturing as was indeed his first taste, and he would have become eminent. He has an excellent library, which is especially rich in archæology, and his opinions are much re- spected. He gave some months and consider- able expense to the exhibit of "Man and the Glacial Period" under the name of Professor G. F. Wright and himself in the anthropolog- ical building, at the Columbian Exposition. He has been very generous to the Western Re- serve Historical Society of Cleveland, of which his brother, Charles C., was president, having aided handsomely in the acquiring of its build- ing and still more handsomely in the objects of the society. The D. C. Baldwin Collection was the first extensive collection of archaeology donated to the society, and it is probably un- excelled by any of the same size in the United States. On the reorganization of that very successful society, in 1892, Mr. Baldwin was one of its incorporators ; he is also a patron and an honored advisor. With no wish for wealth for its own sake, and with more than

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means to gratify his wants, no one person has known his generosity. Whether as lieutenant in the Civil war, or bank director or holding other office, he has simply taken what was in the plain line of duty, with no shrinking from care, but with no desire for place besides. Deep in his heart is the idea of the Moravian prayer, "Preserve us from the unhappy desire of be- coming great." A staunch Republican in his political faith, Mr. Baldwin has ever been much interested in the success of the party, but never cared much for public office. How- ever, in 1894. he was nominated by acclama- tion and elected representative from Lorain county to the Ohio general assembly, and again was renominated by acclamation, and re-elected for the second term, serving his constituents faithfully and well. He is vice president of the National Bank of Elyria, succeeding his father. He is a companion in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, member of Elijah Hayden Post, G. A. R., member of the Elyria Chamber of Com- merce, and a member of the Congregational Society, serving a number of years as presi- dent of the same.

Mr. Baldwin was married on May 1, 1878, to Miss Josephine Staub, born in Circleville, Ohio, October 19, 1852, daughter of Rev. Henry and Margaret (Guildner) Staub, the former a clergyman of the Baptist church. Mrs. Baldwin is a lady of fine education, with a very active mind and much intellectual strength. They are both addicted to reading and to travel, having journeyed abroad thrice, as well as extensively toured this country. Mr. Baldwin's life has been quite without such in- çident as is usually mentioned in a biography. He did not adventure himself as a pioneer in a new country, or start business in a new place. To those who know him it is evident he would have been successful in any line of life he chose, as he has been in what he has chosen. He has been a prominent citizen, and especially a leader in such good deeds as need sympathy, active work and a benevolent contribution. Few men have that even poise of character that saves them from being carried away by the world, by the desire of wealth, of power or of political position. Mr. Baldwin's dis- tinction is, as was his father's before him, his character. He is successful; of ample for- tune, but not desiring large wealth ; well edu- cated by schooling, reading, by travel, and by experience ; well married; happy in society, and in his own home and abroad; hospitable,

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History of the Western Reserve, Vol. II, Part 43

Author: Upton, Harriet Taylor; Cutler, Harry Gardner, 1856- Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago ; New York : The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 886

Author: Upton, Harriet Taylor; Cutler, Harry Gardner, 1856-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago ; New York : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 886