USA > Vermont > Orange County > Bradford > A history of Bradford, Vermont : containing some account of the place of its first settlement in 1765, and the principal improvements made, and events which have occurred down to 1874--a period of one hundred and nine years. With various genealogical records, and biographical sketches of families and individuals, some deceased, and others still living > Part 11
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poison. Of the two women, one hanged herself, and the other cut her own throat. Three or four other women have in different ways attempted the fatal act, and failed. In most, or all, of these cases, the individuals were re- spectable people, in comfortable circumstances ; but who, under the various trials incident to the present life, had fallen into a state of Melancholy so criminal that, regard- less of consequences, they committed the fatal act, prob- ably, in most cases, under the false impression that it was less criminal to take their own lives than it would be to take the life of any other person. Let these sad cases be a loud warning to survivors, to guard against all gloomi- ness of mind, against every thought tending toward self- destruction. Bear the trials of life with christian sub- mission, wait quietly on God, humbly and faithfully aiming to do his pleasure, and all with you will soon be well.
9. John Dennie, the youngest member of the family of Benjamin Baldwin and wife, was born June 8, 1785. He married Abigail, daughter of Joshua Barron, of Brad- ford. In the course of his life he, like many other men, became deplorably intemperate, in the use both of whis- key and tobacco ; and is said to have been thoroughly re- formed, in a sudden and very remarkable manner. The story, as told me by a near relative, is, substantially, this : Mr. Baldwin, in the silence of night, is roused from his slumbers by a loud knocking at his bedroom door. He listens and hears, or thinks he hears, an unearthly voice saying, with authority, " John ! leave off drinking whis- key." With consternation, but firmness, he replies, "I will, if you will take away my appetite for it." A solemn pause-then, "John ! quit, entirely, the use of tobacco." His reply the same as before. Then he is left in solemn silence to reflect, with fear and trembling, on what he had heard, and the critical circumstances in which he found himselt. And, marvellous to tell, his appetite, both for intoxicating liquor and for tobacco also, from that time
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ceased ! and John became in both respects a thorough- going temperance man. My informant was inclined to think that there might not have been anything super- natural in the case. Be that as it may, the effect seems . to have been most happy. Mr. Baldwin and wife were then residing in the Western country, and had previous- ly embraced the religion of the Mormons. While making arrangements to go and unite with them, at Nauvoo, they both died, at Racine, Wisconsin, leaving one son, John, and two daughters, Julia and Lydia.'
3. Benjamin Peters Baldwin, the eldest son in this' . first family of the name of Baldwin, in Bradford, was born at Orford, N. H., April 23, 1767. At the age of eight years he came with his parents to reside in this town, then almost a wilderness, the year in which the memo- rable battle at Bunker Hill was fought ; and here contin- ued to witness, and take-an active part in, the various endeavors here made for the improvement of society, dur- ing the seventy-eight subsequent years of his life. His principal occupation was that of a farmer, on the same place which had been cultivated by his father, though he had oc- casion to attend to various other kinds of useful business. His advantages for acquiring a thorough education were, in the days of his youth, necessarily very limited; yet he so managed as to become a successful teacher of common schools, a business in which, while a young man, he took great interest, and gave good satisfaction. He also made himself well acquainted with the art of surveying ; and for many years, indeed during his subsequent life, had many calls for his services in that business, not only in this but other places. He also owned a saw-mill, at which an extensive business was for many years carried on. In town affairs, parish and educational matters, and as Jus- tice of the Peace, his advice and services were deemed almost indispensible. He was an active man, and always had his mind and hands full of business.
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Esquire Baldwin was a happy man; more happy at least than most men are ; he was accustomed to meet us with a smiling countenance ; the pressure of his warm hand was peculiarly cordial, and his words ever affection- ate and kind. He shed sunshine about him, wherever he went. He was a man of truth, of strict integrity and up- rightness in all his transactions. You might have com- mitted to him any amount of money, untold, with perfect safety. He was prudent and charitable in speaking of others : a peacemaker in society, cheerfully doing good to all, as he had opportunity. He honored the Sabbath, and was strict in his attendance on public worship; and forward to do his part, not only for the support of the gospel at home, but for its universal promulgation. He felt a lively interest in the right training of the rising generation, and watched over their progress in useful knowledge and virtuous ways, with parental solicitude and satisfaction. He was, indeed, an honor and blessing- to this community, and especially to his own family, and somewhat numerous relatives.
At the age of twenty-nine, November 17, 1796, Mr. Baldwin married Miss Mehitable Gordon, of Windham, N. H., who continued his faithful companion during the remaining fifty-seven years of his life. In the course of the year 1828, Capt. Baldwin and wife, under a deep con- viction of duty, and from love to Christ and his cause, as they trusted, made a public profession of religion, and were received into communion with the Congregational church, with which they had long been accustomed to unite in public worship. Their path, during the remnant of their days, was as the shining light; and they both finally departed this life sustained and comforted by the consolations which the gospel affords to all the truly pious. Mr. Baldwin died November 6, 1853, in the eighty- seventh year of his age ; and Mrs. Baldwin, his wife, Jan- uary 14, 1857, at the age of eighty-three years.
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This worthy couple, at their decease, left an interesting family of four sons and four daughters, of whom a brief account will now be given. One daughter and two sons had previously died in childhood.
' 1. Cynthia, born December 3, 1797, married Giles Peckett, by occupation a blacksmith, who lived in Brad- ford, and died there, leaving a family of four sons and five daughters. Their eldest daughter, Cynthia Peckett, married Lewis Brown, of St. Johnsbury; Mary, Thomas Brickett, of Boston; Frank pursued the life of a mariner, was promoted to the office of Captain, and was on board of t he Glasgow, which sailed from'Liverpool for Philadel- phia, and was lost at sea, leaving not a solitary individual to tell by what sad disaster. Ellen married Charles Browning ; and Maria, Edwin Plympton, both of Boston ; Edwin married Mary Ann Worthen, of Bradford, but removed to Boston; James also married and became a . resident of the same city ; the gentlemen all being pros- perously engaged in various commercial sorts of business ; John Wesley married and established himself in business at Brooklyn, N. Y. Louisa married Dana Patten, a liter- ary gentleman and teacher in Winchester, Mass. These various families take great pleasure in making their good mother Peckett as happy as possible. Mr. Patten has since removed to Portland, Maine, engaged in his chosen profession.
2. Louisa, the second daughter of B. P. Baldwin, born September 1,- 1800, married Epapras B. Chase, eldest son of Moses Chase, Esq., of Bradford. Her husband, General Chase, as he was afterwards styled, took up his residence in Lyndon, Vt., and was there for many years engaged in commercial, agricultural, railroad, and banking business, and was quite successful in his various pursuits. Both he and his wife were much respected, and both died giving highly satisfactory evidence of being prepared for a better world. They left at their decease two sons,
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Henry and Charles, with families of their own; and five daughters, namely, Charlotte, wife of Dr. Cahoon, since deceased, Emily, Adaline, Mary and Martha ; all, both sons and daughters, well educated and highly estimable young people, living near each other in Lyndon.
3. Susan Baldwin, born August 15, 1802, married Hor- ace Strickland, of Bradford, a gentleman for a long time engaged in the foundry business here; Town Clerk of Bradford for one year, Representative for two years, and Side Judge of Orange County for two years. They had two daughters. Miss Charlotte spent, not only in Canada but in France and Switzerland, both time and money in the diligent study of the French language and literature, and turned her acquisitions to good account, while offici- ating as a highly esteemed teacher in the Abbott Acade- my for Ladies, at Andover, Mass. Her sister, Lucy Ann, married Charles B. Botsford, a pious man, and merchant, in Boston, and took up her residence there. Both Mrs, Strickland and her daughters were beloved members of the same church in Bradford to which her parents had belonged. Mrs. S. died at Bradford, October 4, 1874, aged seventy-two years.
4. Benjamin Gordon Baldwin was born May 13, 1806. When about eight years of age he met with a sad disas- ter. One winter day, when going to the village, he joined a lumberman's team, moving in the same direction, and, full of boyish animation to catch a ride, mounted a heavy timber, the hind end of which was dragging on the ground. By some mishap one of his feet was caught between the log and frozen ground, and became horribly crushed. It was supposed at first that amputation must be the result, but the conclusion of the surgeons was to make an effort to save it, which proved successful, though the youthful sufferer ever after carried with him an effectual memento of the disaster. This event, it is believed, contributed an influence to change his whole course of subsequent life
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and to make him a more distinguished and useful man than he otherwise might have been.
Gordon, in due season, determined to acquire, if possi- ble, a liberal education, and prepare for the business of professional life. He fitted for College under the instruc- tion of his pastor and friend, Rev. S. McKeen, and gradu- ated at Dartmouth in the class of 1827. Among his class- mates were John K. Converse, Alpheus Crosby, Sewell Tenney, and others of like stamp. Mr. Baldwin studied the profession of law, and became established in honor- able and successful business at Pottsdam, N. Y. He there continued, enjoying the high esteem of his fellow citizens, to the day of his death, which occurred January, 1873, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. Among other pleasant thing's said of him, in the sermon of Rev. Mr. Furbish, at his funeral, are the following : " Benjamin G. Baldwin united with the Congregational church in Potts- dam July 5, 1835. He realized that he was not his own, but had been bought with a price, and consecrated freely his unusual powers of mind, heart and will to the Redeem- er's service."
" From this consecration resulted his rare example of Christian benevolence. He did not save his wealth for the purpose of giving it away in the hour of death ; but extraordinary benevolence, directed by great wisdom, characterized his entire life.
" Another fruit of his Christian- life was his conscien- tiousness. In whatever position of life he moved, he im- pressed all about him that he was determined, at all events, to do right. This stern, unflinching rectitude he exhibit- ed in a marked degree while practicing law, and while he held offices of trust from his fellow citizens.
" He loved the House of' God, and all its ordinances and here renewed his strength. His place was regularly filled in the Bible class, and he was a pillar in the church. He was a diligent man, and felt that he had work to per-
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form while God continued him here; work, not only for himself, but others ; and up to the hour of his last sick- ness he willingly spent, and spared not himself. May his piety, his rectitude, his patience and well-doing, be emu- lated by us all, and our town shall never cease to bless him." The memory of such a man is indeed precious. Mr. Baldwin married Miss Emeline Lamphear, of New Hampshire, an estimable and pious lady, who survived him. They had no children.
5. George Peters Baldwin, born January 22, 1808. Spent the years of his minority with his parents, engaged chiefly in agricultural and educational pursuits. When in his twenty-fourth year, he determined to leave home and make trial of the business and fortunes of a sailor. In the Summer of 1832 he engaged with Captain Briggs, of the whaleship Frances, and went on a voyage around the Cape of Good Hope, into the Indian Ocean. This voyage was so satisfactory that he went on a second, on board the same ship, and to the same ocean, in search of whales. These voyages occupied about two years. He then shipped aboard the Franklin, Captain Davis, for a voyage around Cape Horn, into the Pacific, in pursuit of sperm whales ; visited the Friendly, the Navigator's, the Galapagos, and the Sandwich Islands, the latter group three times, then went to the Northwest Coast, to Colum- bia River, and thence along the Coast at Cape Horn again, and reached home after an absence of three years and five months. He next went out as Mate, aboard the America, for a cruise in the North Atlantic, especially around the Azores, and off the coast of Guinea. This voyage occupied one year ; and the four voyages about six years and a half. On their Pacific cruise they took fifty-three sperm whales, affording two thousand and two hundred barrels of oil.
Having had satisfactory experience of the whaler's life, he returned to Bradford, and settled down again among
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his kindred and old friends. He married Miss Lydia Strickland, and, in due course of time, was blessed with an interesting family of children, of whom further mention will be made presently.
Mr. Baldwin was called by his fellow citizens, not only of Bradford, but of Orange County, to fill various official po- sitions of public trust and importance. He was Town Clerk of Bradford from 1846 to 1855, inclusive ; Representative in the State Legislature during the sessions of 1843, 1844, and +1847; State Senator in 1851 and 1852; Assistant Judge of Orange County Court for the years 1847 and 1848, and County Commissioner for Orange County under the law regulating the sale of spirituous liquors, during the years 1860, 1861, and 1862. After a release from these various public services, Mr. Baldwin sold his real estate in Bradford and bought a homestead in Concord, Mass., but in the course of a few years, his children all being settled in new homes, he returned in rather broken health, to spend with his beloved wife the evening of their days in the place of his nativity, amid old friends and fa- miliar prospects of peculiar variety and beauty.
At this writing, June, 1873, Judge Baldwin and wite have one son and three daughters, all happily married, and pleasantly situated, and what is still better, all, as well as their mother, professedly and hopefully pious. May pa- rents and children, the entire family, reach at last the haven of eternal rest.
Children of Mr. George P. Baldwin and wife. Lucy Emeline, born July 24, 1840 ; married September 5, 1861,. Edward V. R. Evans, attorney at law, then of Piermont, N. H., recently of Chelsea, Mass. Lydia Angeline, born September 30, 1841; married Thomas Stanton Brownell, of Colchester, Vt., by occupation a farmer.
Benjamin George Baldwin, born .February 17, 1847, married Miss Ella Nutt, and is a merchant in Hartford, Conn.
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Julia Isabelle, born June 11, 1848, married August 22, 1869, Amos H. Brown, and resides at Fitchburg, Mass.
Two sons and two daughters, whose names are not here given, died in childhood.
6. James Whitelaw Baldwin, the next son of Benja- min P. Baldwin, and probably named for his father's friend, James Whitelaw, the Surveyor General of Ver- mont, was born September 12, 1810. His youthful days were spent at home, in Bradford. He married Miss Han- nah C. Bean, of Piermont, N. H., November 18, 1835. He has been long and successfully engaged in the mark- eting business of Boston, and owns and occupies a beau- tiful residence in North Cambridge. He was an original director in the Bank of Commerce, also for several years President of the Fanieul Hall Bank, both in Boston. Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin had a family of ten children. Of these, one daughter and two sons died in their childhood.
Helen Maria, born November 18, 1837, married J. Hen- ry Nason, of Cambridge, and died in the thirty-fourth year of her age.
Benjamin Gordon, born February 29, 1840, was at this writing in Colorado, engaged in mining business.
Annie Warren, born October 16, 1846; married Henry W. K. Cutter, of Cambridge, subsequently of Chicago.
Edward Everett, born August 7, 1848, is of the firm of C. Wright & Co., lard refiners and oil manufacturers, Bos- ton. He married Caroline M. Prichard, of Bradford, Vt., September 1, 1874.
Eugene, born December 2, 1850, is with C. & D. Cox, wholesale shoe dealers, Boston.
James W., born August 1, 1853, is with H. Mayo & Co., fish dealers, Boston. And Miss Hattie Parks, the young- est member of the family, born January 4, 1856, was, at the same time, 1873, pursuing her course of education at Abbott Female Academy, Andover, Mass.
7. Charles Cotesworth Pinkney, the next son of .
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Benjamin P. Baldwin, was born December 28, 1812. He married Miss Sarah Ann Woodward, of Haverhill, N. H. They long resided in Bradford village, where she died, January 8, 1867, in the fifty-fifth year of her age. They had a family of seven daughters and three sons. Of these, one son and one daughter died in their childhood, at Brad- ford. In the autumn of 1867 Mr. Baldwin removed, with his family, to Jessup, in the State of Iowa, where he con- tinues to reside. Of his family, it may be remarked that at this time, June, 1873, Sarah Mehitabel, born July 8, 1837, is there, living with her married sister, Mrs. Gates; Lucy Adelaide, born September 1, 1839, is teaching in New Jersey ; Mary Elizabeth, born September 11, 1841, married Theodore White, and lives at Spencer, Iowa; Jane Hitta, born March 31, 1844, teaching near home ; Helen Caroline, born - 17, 1846, married Willis H. Gates, of Sibley, Iowa; James Whitelaw, born April 3, 1850, is married and living with his father; Susan, the youngest daughter, who is also a teacher, and Charles, the youngest son, remain with their father, who has a second wife.
Mr. C. C. P. Baldwin, while resident in his native State, was for several years High Sheriff of Orange County, and also for a time United States Marshal for the District of Vermont.
8. Lucy, the youngest daughter of Benjamin P. Bald- win, born January 30, 1815, having a decided taste for literature, acquired a fine education, and devoted several of the best years of her life to the giving of instruction to young ladies, in different Seminaries of high respecta- bility. She was for some time Principal of the female department of the Academy, at Meriden, N. H., and sub- sequently teacher of French, Geometry, and Botany, in the Ohio Female College, near Cincinnati. November 10, 1842, Miss Baldwin married Mr. Alphonso Wood, a gradu- ate of Dartmouth College, a licensed preacher of the Con-
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gregational order, and at that time a teacher in the Acad- emy, at Meriden, N. H. Mr. Wood subsequently pre- pared and published a valuable work on Botany, and was for some years Professor of natural history and ancient languages, in the Female College of Ohio, and finally President of the same. To advance the cause of useful learning and evangelical religion, and thus do good to all, as they had opportunity, appears to have been the perse- vering endeavor of both Mr. and Mrs. Wood, in the vari- ous stations which they were called to occupy. Mrs. Wood died at West Farms, near New York, where he, again married, has continued to reside. She left with her husband one son and one daughter. The son, Frank Wood, a graduate of the University of the city of New York, is a missionary under the patronage of the Presby- terian Board in Syria, and the daughter, Lilia, a christian young lady, and teacher of music, remains with her father at West Farms, N. Y. Mrs. Lucy B. Wood died June 6, 1868, in the fifty-fourth year of her age, and her remains repose with those of her kindred dead, in Brad- ford, Vt.
9. William Edwin, the fifth son of Benjamin P. Bald- win, born March 1, 1817; died at the early age of eight years. One other son and a daughter died in their infancy.
Here we take our leave of this large family of the Baldwins, with emotions both of joy and sadness; of gratitude and cordial good will, in remembrance both of the living and the deceased.
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CHAPTER VIII.
Deacon Reuben Martin and Family-Deacon Joseph Clark and Family-Rev. Dr. Martin Ruter-The Fifield Boy who was Lost and Found.
DEACON REUBEN MARTIN AND FAMILY.
Reuben Martin must have taken up his residence in this town within twenty years after its first settlement. The precise date has not been ascertained.by the writer. He came, while a young man, from New Hampshire, it is believed from Weare, or some town in its immediate vi- cinity. He made for himself a farm on the highest ele- vation over which the old South road from Bradford Vil- lage to Corinth Center now passes ; where he long lived, and finally died. His brother Samuel, father of Rev. Solon Martin, now of West Fairlee, occupied a farm a little further West. Reuben Martin was for several years a Deacon of the first and only Calvinistic Baptist church in Bradford, whose meeting house stood at the North end of the Upper Plain, nearly opposite to where Mrs. James McDuffee now lives. Both the church and their house of worship had disappeared long before his decease; but he. held fast his integrity, and honorably sustained his eccle- siastical title to the day of his death.
The wife of Deacon Reuben Martin was Sarah White, a daughter of Hon. Noah White, for some time one of the Judges of Orange County Court. Her parents emigrated from Haverhill, Mass., in 1763. They passed through the then trackless wilderness between Concord, N. H., and Newbury, Vt., bringing their infant Sarah in their arms, and camping out at night on the ground, with no roof over their heads but the star spangled canopy of the heavens. The family remained at Newbury for a few years only, when they removed to Bradford, where this daughter sub-
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sequently united with the Baptist church, married Dea. Reuben Martin, and became the mother of four sons and . seven daughters ; all of whom lived to years of maturity, and nearly all married and had respectable families of their own. This mother in Israel having lived in Brad- ford a little over seventy-two years, on 7th of June, 1840, at the age of seventy-nine years and nine months, passed away, sustained and cheered by the hope of a glorious immortality.
The early settlers with large families were sometimes reduced to what we should now think rather straightened circumstances. On one occasion, as we are told, Deacon Martin, to obtain bread for his family, traveled to Weare, N. H., a distance of one hundred miles or over, and brought home, on his horse's back, one bushel of rye and two bushels of corn.
Dea. Reuben Martin died at his old home, in Bradford, May 23, 1841, aged eighty-six years, one month and four days.
The children of these parents were,
1. William Martin, born December 5, 1782, a man of excellent moral character, and a highly esteemed physi- cian, who for several years practiced in this town. His residence was on the South road, some half or three- quarters of a mile East of his father's. He married Hul- dah Kidder, of West Fairlee ; and died October 22, 1841, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, leaving her with four children. Both the Doctor and his wife were members of the Congregational church in this place.
2. Daniel Martin, born November 6, 1784 ; he remain- ed through life a worthy citizen of Bradford, and died March 7, 1870, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. I give here some extracts from an obituary notice, which I prepared for publication soon after his decease.
Daniel Martin, Esq., married Sophia Tyler, a worthy woman of Randolph, Vt., with whom he lived happily for
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a little over fifty-six years, and who bore to him three sons and three daughters, and departed from this life Jan- uary 17, 1870, only eight weeks before his own decease. These parents, thus united in life and in death, left but one surviving child, their daughter Britana, now Mrs. Samuel T. Shaw ; and one grand-daughter, by an older sister of Mrs. Shaw, who married Micah Norcross, Esq. This grand-daughter is now the wife of Mr. Prescott Davis. To these two ladies Esquire Martin is understood to have bequeathed his property, to their entire satisfac- tion. He was a man of correct habits, who wished to have all matters of business rightly transacted and settled.
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