Baldwin Family Tree

John BALDWIN, born c.1812 in Lower Mitton (Stourport), Worcestershire

John BALDWIN was a boat builder and a Methodist lay preacher. He was born about 1812 in Lower Mitton, Worcestershire, the son of Thomas BALDWIN. By 1836, John had married Mary JONES from Yarpole, Herefordshire.

The family moved to Greets Green in Staffordshire sometime between 1837 and 1840 but had returned to Lower Mitton (Stourport) by about 1850. J Baldwin, Stourport is listed as a boat builder in the 1850 Post Office directory.

Mary seems to have died in 1867 and John married his second wife, Fanny MOLE (formerly VINALL) on 31st December 1869 in Brompton, Middlesex. Fanny was a widow, and was 19 years younger than John with a daughter, Fanny Jane (born 1867), by her first husband, William MOLE. John and Fanny's first child, Ada Mary BALDWIN, was born on 9th March 1871 and their second child, John, was born in 1874. Fanny's occupation on the 1871 census is given as grocer and, in the 1876 Post Office directory of Worcestershire, John Baldwin, High Street, Stourport is listed as: grocer, china & glass dealer and boat builder. John died in 1889 but it seems that Fanny carried on as a shopkeeper and is listed as such in the 1892 Kelly's directory of Worcestershire. Her death, aged 60, is registered January-March 1893.

I still have some work to do on this family - I had thought that there might be a link with the family of Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister and relative of the owners of E P & W Baldwin ironworks at Wilden, where several of John's in-laws worked. Some of the grandchildren of John's daughter, Sarah,who married Isaac WILLIAMS were given the middle name 'Baldwin' but the story in the family is that this is because their godmother was a Miss Clark, who had been a nanny to Stanley Baldwin and only agreed to be a godmother to the children if they were given the name Baldwin as a middle name. This story was told to me c.1995 by Ernest WILLIAMS (1911-2005), son of John Baldwin WILLIAMS (1887-1963).

However, information from Stourport Civic Society is that the families are unlikely to be linked. According to the Society, the family of Stanley Baldwin moved to Stourport from the Corvedale area of Shropshire in the 1780s, at which time there were already Baldwins (not related) established in the town. It seems likely that 'my' John Baldwin was part of this earlier Stourport family.

BALDWIN family tree