Family Card - Person Sheet
Spouses
Marriage23 Feb 1842, Benton Co., MO
Notes for John A Baldwin
JOHN A. BALDWIN
John A. Baldwin was born in Madison County, New York December 24, 1819, the same day and year that Queen Victoria of England was born. Early in the year 1840 he started for the state of Missouri arriving in Benton County March 4th, 1840. The first night he stayed in Benton County was with the father of Alonzo Failer at the edge of the Lay Flat. The green grass was tall enough to wave in the wind and being from New York he thought he had reached Paradise. He journeyed to where the town of Fairfield now stands and was employed by George Alexander. When the first bridge was built across the Pomme de Terre at Fairfield he worked on the bridge abutments. Early in the forties he married Sarah Duren of North Lindsey Township. To this union five children were born, William, James, Thomas, Mary. and Ann, William and James were old enough to serve in the Union Army. John witnessed one of the early slickings in the Slicker War between the Turks and the Jones'. In 1854 he was elected surveyor of Benton County and when the Civil War broke out in 1861 he enlisted in the Union Army and served sixty three days. He resigned -from the army at the request of Governor Gamble to take the job as sheriff and Collector of Benton County. He served in that office till 1865 and was again elected surveyor of the county. When the war broke out the owners of the bank that was located where the county jail now stands returned to St. Louis and left the closing out of the bank to John Baldwin. His granddaughters still have some of the papers from the old bank. After the death of his first wife in the late sixties he married Sarah Miller and "to this union were born two sons, one dying in infancy, the other Lewis A. living to be ninety five years old and spending the greater part of his life on what was known as the Dick Smith Farm nine miles North of Warsaw on the old Jefferson city Springfield Road where his daughters Fyrn and Helen Baldwin still live. It has been told by old timers that John was one of the best revolver shots that was ever a resident in the county. John A. Baldwin passed away January 15, 1908 in his 89th year
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John A. Baldwin was born in Madison County, New York December 24, 1819, the same day and year that Queen Victoria of England was born. Early in the year 1840 he started for the state of Missouri arriving in Benton County March 4th, 1840. The first night he stayed in Benton County was with the father of Alonzo Failer at the edge of the Lay Flat. The green grass was tall enough to wave in the wind and being from New York he thought he had reached Paradise. He journeyed to where the town of Fairfield now stands and was employed by George Alexander. When the first bridge was built across the Pomme de Terre at Fairfield he worked on the bridge abutments. Early in the forties he married Sarah Duren of North Lindsey Township. To this union five children were born, William, James, Thomas, Mary. and Ann, William and James were old enough to serve in the Union Army. John witnessed one of the early slickings in the Slicker War between the Turks and the Jones'. In 1854 he was elected surveyor of Benton County and when the Civil War broke out in 1861 he enlisted in the Union Army and served sixty three days. He resigned -from the army at the request of Governor Gamble to take the job as sheriff and Collector of Benton County. He served in that office till 1865 and was again elected surveyor of the county. When the war broke out the owners of the bank that was located where the county jail now stands returned to St. Louis and left the closing out of the bank to John Baldwin. His granddaughters still have some of the papers from the old bank. After the death of his first wife in the late sixties he married Sarah Miller and "to this union were born two sons, one dying in infancy, the other Lewis A. living to be ninety five years old and spending the greater part of his life on what was known as the Dick Smith Farm nine miles North of Warsaw on the old Jefferson city Springfield Road where his daughters Fyrn and Helen Baldwin still live. It has been told by old timers that John was one of the best revolver shots that was ever a resident in the county. John A. Baldwin passed away January 15, 1908 in his 89th year
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