Visualizing the world of Abel and Catherine

In an earlier post I explained some of what I know about the life of Abel Baldwin and his partner, Catherine Person. I thought you all might enjoy some images that bring their lives a bit more into focus. I do not have any photos of Abel or Catherine (but I am always on the lookout.) There might not be any. If anyone comes across something that might be them please send me a copy or pass them on to me for safe-keeping.

Map of Essex County

In the SE corner of the county just a bit inland from Whallon's Bay of Lake Champlain you will see a red label for the school house and cemetery where Abel's wife, Polly, and eldest son, Philip, are buried. The way the monument is laid out I suspect that Abel was originally intending to be buried there as well...but plans changed. To the SW of the school and cemetery is the original farm, labeled PS Baldwin. There is another Baldwin farm (probably Abel's nephew) in the same block as well as a number of Stafford farms that link with Henry Clay's wife, Augusta Stafford. Our ancestor, Frederick Henry (father of Clay and Calla) was born in the area in 1853 and and would have about three years old when all three generations loaded up the wagons for the newly opened territory in Minnesota.

Above are the house and barn of what is now called Steadfast Farm where Abel and later Philip farmed. They both appear to be the original buildings and have been very well maintained. Most certainly the children raised in the this house would have attended the school just up the road which also still stands.

The photo above is Polly King Baldwin, Abel's legal wife and the mother of his first two children. We may never know for sure why the relationship broke down and she stayed behind in New York with her elder son while the rest of the family became some of the first pioneers in Minnesota.

This is the homestead of Abel and Catherine in Forestville, Fillmore County that according to Alice Jolink was still standing when she and Al were lived in Spring Valley in the 1950s though she never saw it. I have not found the house when I have visited but the original land belonging to Abel and Henry is still beautiful farmland with lovely wooded valleys and fence rows. More on life in Fillmore County and the farm later.

The couple above are Henry Clay Baldwin and Augusta Stafford and below is their son Fred Henry who was between 3 and 4 years old when the family made the move in the Conestoga wagons (according to family lore) from the banks of Lake Champlain the bluffs of the Root River that winds through SE Minnesota.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conestoga_wagon