Dorson E. Baldwin

DOUGLAS, SWANEY, LATTA, GARLAND, HUTCHINSON

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 2/21/2004 at 12:32:31

There is probably no man in this county who deserves more honorable mention than he with whose name we introduce this sketch. He came to this region during the period of his early manhood, and for nearly fifty years his interests have been centered in and around the place to which he ventured when it was properly called the frontier. During a long and eventful career, he has made the most of his opportunities for mental improvement, and is frequently called a "walking encyclopedia."

Mr. Baldwin has watched the growth and development of the Hawkeye State with that interest only felt by a man of his energy, enterprise and intelligence. Providence has smiled upon his labors in most respects, and he has been especially fortunate in the selection of a life partner, Mrs. Baldwin being like one of those women spoken of in the Scriptures, an honor to her home and to her husband. They have traveled and labored side by side, lo, these many years, and have accumulated a generous amount of this world's goods. Notwithstanding this they are modest and unpretentious in their manner of living, and while surrounded by all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life, have been content to pursue their way quietly and unobtrusively, enjoying the esteem and confidence of hosts of friends. Mr. Baldwin has occupied many positions of trust and responsibility, and is the present Assessor of Van Buren Township.

The Baldwin family traces its descent to a long line of illustrious ancestry, and as far back as the time of William the Conquerer, when one of this name, a native of Normany, and closely allied to the nobility, joined the Crusaders, and in the disasters which followed, lost his kindred as well as his wealth, and for several decades succeeding, history is silent as to the subsequent fate of the representatives of this name.

The Baldwins again appear during the settlement of America, as early as 1725. About that time, one William Baldwin and two brothers, arrived upon the Massachusetts coast, where one settled, the others finally emigrating to Vermont and New York, respectively. Among their descendants was one Cyrus Baldwin, the great grandfather of our subject, who was born in Massachusetts, where he attained to man's estate, was married and became the father of a family. Among his sons was one, Eleazer, who was born in Vermont, and he in turn became the father of a son, Eleazer, Jr., the father of the subject of this sketch. He served as a soldier in the War of 1812, and was present at the battle of Plattsburg.

The male members of the Baldwin family were distinguished for their great size and physical strength, as well as their mental capacities. The father of our subject, five feet, eight inches in height, was remarkably muscular and agile, a typical son of the Green Mountain State, blessed with health and strength, and free from any habits which would impair his mental or physical capacities. He passed his boyhood years in Vermont, and married Miss Teresa Douglas, an own cousin to Stephen A. Douglas, also a native of Vermont, and a descendant of the Douglas clans, of Scotland.

The parents of our subject each belonged to a family of fifteen children. The Douglases were strong Presbyterians, while the Baldwins were quite liberal in their religious views. The parents of our subject, after their marriage, settled in St. Lawrence County, N.Y., where they resided for several years, and where their children were born. Finally they removed to what is now the Province of Ontario, Canada, but left there during the progress of the Patriot War. We next find them in Calhoun County, Mich., the father securing a tract of land in the vicinity of Marshall. Two years later, however, in 1840, he changed his residence to Illinois, and thence to this county, and settled near Van Buren, where he spent the remainder of his days.

The elder Baldwin was a tanner by trade, also a shoe-maker, which he followed while a resident of his native State of Vermont. Later he engaged in lumbering down the St. Lawrence River. After his removal to the Dominion, he took up farming which he follwed mostly during his after life. In Van Buren Township he established a comfortable homestead, and there his death took place in 1859, when he was seventy years of age; the mother survived her husband a number of years, dying at the age of eighty-three at the old homestead. She was a remarkably well-preserved old lady, and at the age of sixty traveled to Kansas in a wagon. Ten years later she greatly enjoyed traveling by rail. She was a woman of more than ordinary intelligence, exceedingly well-read and thoroughly informed upon historical and political matters, and until the eighty-first year of her age, when she suffered from a paralytic stroke, she was able to converse fluently upon the leading topics of the day. The parental household included eight children, who were reared to mature years, and of whom five are now living, namely: Charlotte, Sarah, Charles, Dorson E., our subject, and John.

The subject of this sketch was born during the sojourn of his parents in Canada, about forty-five miles from Toronto, in 1830. The scenes of his first recollections are in that romantic region, and he distinctly remembers the red coats of the British officers who often proudly paraded the streets during the Patriot War. He was a boy of ten when he came to Iowa. His first schooling was in Canada, and he afterward attended school in Michigan, Illinois and Iowa. In this State he was first harnessed into work, and assisted in opening up the new farm of his father in Van Buren Township. He was a bright and ambitious youth, and at an early age made up his mind to see something of the world. In 1849, at the age of nineteen years, he traveled on foot to California, in company with a party from Van Buren Township. His partner, Harmon Cowin, died recently near Wichita, Kan. A portion of the way they traveled alongside of a company of Mormons on their way to Utah, and young Baldwin became acquainted with Heber C. Kimball and other Mormon leaders. On the plains they encountered wild game in abundance; antelope, buffalo and elk, and many of these fell by his unerring rifle. He was the expert shot of the company, and supplied the boys with fresh meat daily. They frequently met Indians along the route, but suffered no further depredations from them than the loss of an ox.

Mr. Baldwin arrived at the mines about the middle of October, having been six months on the road. He went to work near Placerville, in El Dorado County, and continued in the mines there six months, averaging from $10 to $100 per day. He finally embarked in general merchandising with very good results, and remained in California thirteen months. On returning home, he secured passage on the brig, "John Kendall," which in the space of forty days, landed him at Port Reileajho, Central America, where among other interesting objects he witnessed the ruins of the forts built by the Spanish in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. He crossed the Isthmus at Panama, and returned home via New Orleans in 1851.

Our subject now prepared to settle down, and purchased land in Van Buren Township, this county. In addition to carrying on the cultivation and improvement of this, he dealt largely in land until his marriage. His bride was the daughter of D. S. Swaney, a very early settler, who sowed the first wheat scattered within the limits of this county. The maiden name of the mother of Mrs. Baldwin, was Sydney Latta. Her parents were American-born, but of Irish descent, and were first represented in the United States during the early part of the present century. Mr. Swaney was born near Pittsburg, in Pennsylvania, and his wife was a native of Ashland County, Ohio. They were married in Michigan, and in 1835, Mr. Swaney settled in Washtenaw County. Thence he came to Iowa in 1838, and for some time thereafter conducted a hotel on the State road. He was very hospitable and liberal, as was also his estimable wife, and they became very popular both with the travelers through that region, and among the settlers, the latter of whom they assisted whenever opportunity occurred. Mr. Swaney died in 1885, at the age of seventy-five years. Mrs. Swaney is still living, making her home in Preston, at her own home, and is now seventy-two years old.

Mrs. Baldwin was the eldest of the eight children born to her parents, and opened her eyes to the light in the vicinity of Ann Arbor, Mich. Her brothers and sisters were named respectively, James, Angeline, Mary A., Cora, Milliam, Milton and Alonzo. Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin occupied their farm in Van Buren Township, until 1885, when they retired from active labor, and took up their residence in Preston. They have both performed a large amount of hard labor, and Mr. Baldwin was considerably broken down upon leaving the farm. He has since, however, regained much of his former strength. He still keeps up his old habits of reading, and is particularly well posted in the history of the United States.

To Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin there was born a family of eight children, namely: Ellen, deceased; Austin, Byron, Eliza, Ada; John, deceased, Cora, and Gilbert. Austin is married, resides in Audubon County, Iowa, and is the father of three children, Eddie, Earl, and Jane; Byron married Miss Laura Garland, and has charge of the homestead; he has two sons, Artie and Grover; Eliza, Mrs. Leslie Garland, lives in Van Buren Township, and is the mother of four children - Benjamin, Adela, Herbert, and Byron; Ada, Mrs. A. L. Hutchinson, resides in Wisconsin, and is the mother of two children, Roy and Hubert; her husband is a writer of fine talents, and has traveled quite extensively. He took a trip to Mexico, in 1888, and described his journey in a series of very interesting articles, which were published and widely read. The other children are at home with their parents.

Politically, Mr. Baldwin is an uncompromising Democrat. He was a member of the School Board of his district a period of sixteen years, and has served as Justice of the Peace, Constable, and Collector. He traveled all through Montana in 1864, and had considerable "unpleasantness" with some of the Indians of that region. He is remarkably interesting in conversation, a man with whom it is always pleasant and profitable to converse. As one of the honored pioneers of this county, who has born an important part in its growth and development, he is amply entitled to representation in a work of this kind.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois)