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Mostly Cloudy Unraveling the story of the original Baldwins
In an informational “Meet the Baldwins” presentation given by the Baldwin Historical Society late last year, Karen Montalbano discussed the original men and women that developed the hamlet from the bottom up. Tracking the genealogy and picture records, several historical society members have been able to create a thoroughly researched timeline of people and events that changed Baldwin forever.
After manually combing through church documents and other dated material, the research done by former historical society members in the 70s showed a Baldwin family tree beginning to emerge. Dating back to the 1600’s, the first known ancestor was George Baldwin, who lived from 1624 to 1681. He was most known for traveling from Hempstead to live in Baldwin in 1665 and starting the lineage of Baldwins.
Living on Grand Avenue and Merrick Road, the family prospered, having numerous children and opening up a mercantile business on the Southwest corner of Merrick and Grand. Georges’ sixth-generation descendant Thomas Baldwin was one of the most successful Baldwins. Thomas and his wife Susanna Bedell ran a store that manufactured clothes and supplied general goods for public consumption.
Also participating in real estate, investing in gristmills, sawmills, farming and clamming, the village was officially founded as Baldwinsville in 1855 in Thomas’ honor. The town’s name however, had to be changed in 1892 to not confuse the U.S. Postal Service with another Baldwinsville in upstate New York, thus creating the Baldwin known today.
Another massively influential person stemming from Baldwin was Sarah Ann Barnum, who was politically active in a time when women couldn’t vote and considered the “best known woman on Long Island” in 1893. Montalbano explained, “It was said that Sarah could see the open meadows of the Hempstead planes from the windows of her three-story mansion on Front Street.”
Barnum convinced the town to sell the planes for profit and development and in doing so became the chairperson, and her husband Peter, the president of the Nassau County Agricultural Society.
Talking to farmers, she convinced them that two thirds of the land sold would go to education and social services, thus the Hempstead planes were sold and Garden City was created. She also built poor houses on what is now called Barnum Island, where homeless people could work on farmland.
Her political influence was massive. “It was said that any candidate she backed for election, including her brother Francis, never lost. She was sometimes called the eighth member of the board, because she had such and strong relationship with the county,” Montalbano stated, adding that Barnum later quit politics because of media ridicule.
Susan, Thomas, and other Baldwin descendants are buried in Greenfield Cemetery where a monument is dedicated to them.
Many homes that date back to when Susan and Thomas were living are no longer standing because of the development of Grand Avenue. However, there is rumblings that the Cecere Family Funeral Home may be a Baldwin home that architect Francis Baldwin owned. The impact the original Baldwins left on the community is still felt today when residents pass street signs with last names or walk the same natural trails settlers walked around Silver Lake Park.
Montalbano concluded the lecture on a sentimental and reflective note saying, “At this point we don’t know of any Baldwins who are living here actually in Baldwin, but these Baldwins did a lot, accomplished a lot in their lifetime and left us their legacy.”
