Thomas and Alice Baldwin's Story

Recently I was contacted by an ancestor of Thomas Baldwin who had come across his name in a blog post from 2016, thanks to a Google search. Some people refer to Family History blogs as "cousin bait" and the more I researched the Baldwins, I found we indeed are cousins!

It was in 1852 that Thomas Higginson Baldwin was born in South Mountain, Ontario to John Baldwin and Henrietta Higginson.  According to online documents, in 1883 Thomas first occupied his homestead at 10-7-27 W1 in Pipestone RM, just southeast of Reston and was still there in 1891.  Certainly he was one of the very first hardy settlers in this area of the country.  The townsite of Reston was originally a few miles north and when the railway came through, his homestead was eyed for the new town to be built.  The town would be named Baldwinville, he was promised.  It seems Thomas was not worried about notoriety and declined the offer since he felt it would break up his farm too much.  The siding was built a mile east and given the name "Reston" as the settlement north had been called at his request.

In March of 1892 his cousin Ann Boulton & her family from Ontario stayed with Thomas from March until that summer when their home was built. Ann’s mother and Thomas’ mother were sisters - daughters of Anthony and Abigail Higginson who had immigrated from Ballinderry, County Antrim, Ireland. They grew up not far from each other in the Brockville area of Ontario. 

Thomas returned to Ontario in 1894 and married Alice Maud Munro, daughter of Martin and Eliza in Inkerman, Ontario.  Five children were born to the couple:

• 1894 – John Wellington - farmed on his father's 2nd homestead across from Kinloss School.  Served in a Cyclist Battalion in  WW1 and later very involved in farmer's cooperative movement. He and his partner Mary Ann Woolfitt and their daughter Joyce lived south of Reston.  John died in 1952. 

Brandon Sun 1962

• 1897 – Albert Victor “Bert”, went overseas in WW1 – link to his service file here. He married Dorothy Alice Carey in Brandon November 25, 1926 and farmed on the homestead with his father. Bert and Dorothy had family of 5: Keith, Melvin (Peter), Enid Hall, Doreen Sharratt, Mary Gray, Fay, and Lynda Baily. 
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•  1899 – Alice Eveline, marries Richard Simonsen in Pipestone RM June 22, 1917
• 1900 – Thomas Whitney - died in flu epidemic in 1919 
• 1903 – Lillian Mabel - marries Fraser Mitchell in Brandon October 23, 1926 

The clipping above from the Winnipeg Free Press in February of 1919 tells the tragic story of the death of Thomas's wife Alice and their teenage son Whitney.  Lillian recalls waking up from a life saving surgery in their home to discover her mother and favourite brother had died. What an unimaginable event. 

Thomas continued on as a widower for 30 years before his death at 97 years old.  Interesting to see that Randy's dad Edwin was one of his pallbearers. 

Winnipeg Free Press 1949

Thanks so much to Ashlea for getting in touch.  Nice to meet you, cousin!

As always, I'm glad to hear from you with correcting and additional information.  ssimms@escape.ca