Ancestors

Elder Benjamin Baldwin

Benjamin Baldwin was born about 1758, by his age at death, and died at Otis, in the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts, on 24 July 1810, aged fifty two. Otis was called Loudon in his early years there. He was a Baptist minister. The Otis births call him "Rev. Benjamin" and his gravestone calls him "Eld.", and the town used both styles for the same man.

On 9 June 1790 he was ordained over the Second Baptist Church in Sandisfield, the next town. The Rev. Lewis White, writing the history of Sandisfield, said of him: "Having been useful in life, he was greatly lamented. During his ministry, there were several revivals, and two hundred and eleven added to the Church." A revival was a season of intense religious feeling in which many people joined a church at once.

His wife was Eunice Herrick. Seven of their children are in the Otis births: Billy H., or William, in 1788, Nabby, or Abigail, in 1790, Niecy in 1792, Polly in 1794, Sally in 1796, Betsey in 1798 and Caty in 1800. The Baldwin genealogy adds Benjamin, Lucy and Orphana. William settled at Ridgway in Orleans County, New York, and Abigail married Hiram Crittenden. Sally and Betsey both married Ely Strong of Granville.

He was buried in the Free Meeting House Cemetery at Otis. On 4 September 1810 administration of his estate, as "Clerk deceased", was granted to Jairus Barker of Otis, and in 1812 the estate was divided among the widow Eunice and the children. His son Benjamin was still a minor in 1826, when Bela Bancroft of Granville became his guardian. The Baldwin genealogy gives his death as 1811, a year late.

His parents are probable, not proved. The compiler of the Baldwin genealogy, "after much labor, and two or three changes of opinion", made him the eldest son of Benjamin Baldwin of Loudon, whose estate was administered in 1787. He called the placement "by no means certain, yet I think it very probable". The records support it. In 1791 "Ruth Baldwin and Benjamin Baldwin of Loudon" sold land together, and that year a guardian was named for Daniel Baldwin, "a Minor Son of Benjamin Baldwin late of Loudon". If the compiler is right, the family came to Otis from Lebanon, Connecticut, and his brothers were Samuel, a deacon at Otis who went to Granville, Ohio, Asa of Salisbury, Connecticut, and Daniel, the youngest of fourteen by family tradition.

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Cite: Heirology, "Elder Benjamin Baldwin (1758-1810)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/elder-benjamin-baldwin-1758-1810-28561f.