George Baldwin Jr.

M, b. 1656, d. before 25 February 1730/31
FatherGeorge Baldwin b. b 1620, d. b 21 Dec 1681
MotherAbigail Sweet b. c 1633
     George was born in 1656 in Gravesend, New Netrherlands. In the mid 1650's, a scandel of huge porportions erupted in Hempstead. George Baldwin, husband of Abigail Sweet, was a merchant who spent most of his time away from the settlement, leaving Abigail to her own devices. Enom Benham, a man with a poor reputation as being a second-rate Don Juan, found Abigail in a vulernable position and soon a love affair had sprung up. The members of the settlement seemed to be well aware of the relationship, and eventually word reached George and divorce proceedings followed. George was granted one of the first divorces in New Netherlands. With the affair, it was not certain which man was the father of the infant George. It is clear that the boy was raised as if a son of George Sr., but there are many clues that point to the father as being Enom Benham. George, the father, did not treat the young man as a son in his will; leaving substantially more to a step-son than to George. George himself, until after the death of George Sr., referred to himself as George Baldwin alias Benham. It has also been pointed out that after the death of George Sr, the family began to treat George alias Benham as a true member of the family. This in itself does not prove that the family believed him to be a blood relative.1,2,3 Due to the love affair of George's mother with Enim Benham, his paternity is uncertain. Records make it clear that George was raised in the family of George Baldwin Sr., and from all appearences, treated as a son. There are clues though that point to Enim Benham as the father. George Sr. willed to George Jr., little as compared to his son Joseph, substantially less even than his step-son Samuel Embree. There are also many records that show George signing with his mark as George Baldwin alias Benham, until the death of George Sr., and then his signature with the same mark, as simply George Baldwin.4 George married Mary Ellison in 1678 in Hempstead Town, Queens County, Long Island, New York.5 "On 21 December 1681, he acknowledged that he had received of his brother Joseph Baldwin two oxen, a bed, some furniture, sheep and jades, as full satisfaction of his part of the estate of “my deceased father gorge ballin yt is of my part of ye sd Estate reall and Personal” of Hempstead. After this, thenceforth called George Baldwin, he returned to Hempstead, where he registered the earmarks of his cattle, 3 March, 1681."6 31 August 1698, George and Mary and his wife, [ROF:Hempstead Town] were listed on the Hempstead Town Census. Enumerated in this household were George Baldwin, Mary, --ll, Ell-, Thomas, Mary, George, Joseph, Phebe, Martha.7 George made his will on 9 January 1730/31 at Hempstead Town, Queens County, Long Island, New York.8 George departed this life. His will was probated on 25 February 1730/31 at the City, County & State of New York.

Family

Mary Ellison d. b 9 Jan 1731
Child

Citations

  1. [S119] Herbert Furman Seversmith, Colonial Families of Long Island, New York & Connecticut, page 197 - George was born at Gravesend in the New Netherlands, about 1656.
    He testified in a suit between Henry Soper and Jonathan Rogers at Huntington, New York, 1 March, 1682/3; at the time he was stated to be about 27 years, of age.
  2. [S506] Note: Gravesend (pronounced "GRAVES end", not "grave SEND") is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bordered by Bensonhurst, Sheepshead Bay, and Coney Island. Gravesend was one of the original towns in the Dutch colony of New Netherland and became one of the six original towns of Kings County in colonial New York. It was the only English chartered town in what became Kings County and was designated the "Shire Town" when the English assumed control, as it was the only one where records could be kept in English. Courts were removed to Flatbush in 1685.
  3. [S119] Herbert Furman Seversmith, Colonial Families of Long Island, New York & Connecticut, page 210, 211 - …NOTES In the Court Records at Huntington, New York, unpublished, there are several references to George Baldwin alias Benham; these give us a clue to what was undoubtedly a scandal in the - seventeenth century, and renders the paternity of George Baldwin alias Benham uncertain.
    Folio 407 of the Court Records states that on 1 March, 1682/3, in a suit between Henry Soper and Jonathan Rogers, George Baldwin testified and that he was then_about 27 years of age. This establishes his birth year as approximately 1656. In the same Records, folio 347, the following appears:
    Huntington ffebraware ye 21st 1679
    Where as their hath been a Long Diferance between Jonathan Rodgers and George Balldin Allias benum wee ye above sd parties Rodgers & balden or benam doe declare before divers witnesses yt wee are muttely agreed and have ended all matters betwixt us both from ye begining of ye world to ye date heer of
    The Agreement is as foloweth
    Jonathan Rodgers is forthwith to deliver to George balden
    a Cow ye choise of all hee now hath; and three barils     of
    marchandable sidder and Each pertie to beare their charges only 3rd (sd) to be divided betwixt them both yt is due to the Constable and ye charge of ye arbetration to be borne betwixt us both equaly to ye true and honest meaning of. ye above presents wee have sett to our hands in pressence of
    John Coe     Jonathan Rogers
    Richard Batt
    the mark of Georg 0 balden als benum
    February 2 1674…

    George Baldwin alias Benham also signs at least one other court record in the same fashion as above.
    After the death of George Baldwin the “putative father”, George Baldwin alias Benham now signs a court record acknowledging his inheritance as simply George “O” Baldin. This he continues from that time on.

    …After the death of Cleorge Baldwin of Hempstead, his putative son George Baldwin alias Benham assumed the name of George Baldwin. He is of frequent reference in the printed Town Records; these are well indexed.
    The senior George Baldwin was in 1656 a resident of Gravesend, New York, with wife Abigail and son Joseph, then about six years of age. George Baldwin was a merchant trader and away on the high seas for most of the time, leaving his wife to find such consolation as she could among the sandy dunes of the little settlement. Whatever the circumstances of her environment may have been, a love affair sprung up between Abigail and Enom Benham, who had recently come to Gravesend from Matapanient     in
    Maryland. Benham, who had left Lord Calvert's colony with the reputation of a second-rate Don Juan, took no time in consoling Abigail during the long absences of her husband. Matters progressed, and in 1656 the little village was rocking with gossip concerning the matter in which George Baldwin was being cuckolded.
    The result is still evident in the charred remains of the records of the divorce proceedings now on file at Albany, New York. This divorce is one of the earliest in the New Netherlands, and was granted by Peter Stuyvesant and his Council...
    It was believed by the court that bigamy had been practiced and that the
    infant son was of Enom Benham. From the father’s will, where much more is given to a step son than to George, it seems that he likely did not believe that the infant was his legitimate son. This also gives a rationale for George Jr. to use the alias before George Sr’s death and not after. There is evidence that after the death of the father, the Baldwin family began to treat George as a member of the family, but this in itself does not mean they believed him to be a son of George Sr.
  4. [S119] Herbert Furman Seversmith, Colonial Families of Long Island, New York & Connecticut, In the Court Records at Huntington, New York, unpublished, there are several references to George Baldwin alias Benham; these give us a clue to what was undoubtedly a scandal in the - seventeenth century, and renders the paternity of George Baldwin alias Benham uncertain.
    Folio 407 of the Court Records states that on 1 March, 1682/3, in a suit between Henry Soper and Jonathan Rogers, George Baldwin testified and that he was then_about 27 years of age. This establishes his birth year as approximately 1656. In the same Records, folio 347, the following appears:
    Huntington ffebraware ye 21st 1679
    Where as their hath been a Long Diferance between Jonathan Rodgers and George Balldin Allias benum wee ye above sd parties Rodgers & balden or benam doe declare before divers witnesses yt wee are muttely agreed and have ended all matters betwixt us both from ye begining of ye world to ye date heer of
    The Agreement is as foloweth
    Jonathan Rodgers is forthwith to deliver to George balden
    a Cow ye choise of all hee now hath; and three barils     of
    marchandable sidder and Each pertie to beare their charges only 3rd (sd) to be divided betwixt them both yt is due to the Constable and ye charge of ye arbetration to be borne betwixt us both equaly to ye true and honest meaning of. ye above presents wee have sett to our hands in pressence of
    John Coe     Jonathan Rogers
    Richard Batt
    the mark of Georg 0 balden als benum
    February 2 1674…
    George Baldwin alias Benham also signs at least one other court record in the same fashion as above.
    After the death of George Baldwin the “putative father”, George Baldwin alias Benham now signs a court record acknowledging his inheritance as simply George “O” Baldin. This he continues from that time on.
    …After the death of Cleorge Baldwin of Hempstead, his putative son George Baldwin alias Benham assumed the name of George Baldwin. He is of frequent reference in the printed Town Records; these are well indexed.
  5. [S119] Herbert Furman Seversmith, Colonial Families of Long Island, New York & Connecticut, page 198 - He married about 1680 to Mary Ellison... She is not, as has been mistakenly asserted, the Mary Demison, wife of George Baldwin who appears in the Town Records of Huntington and Babylon, vol. I, p. 124. The latter was a wife of George Baldwin Senior.
  6. [S119] Herbert Furman Seversmith, Colonial Families of Long Island, New York & Connecticut, page 198.
  7. [S183] Hemry Bainbridge Hoff, Long Island Source Records From the New Yow York Biographical & Genealogical Record.
  8. [S119] Herbert Furman Seversmith, Colonial Families of Long Island, New York & Connecticut, pages 198 - George Baldwin made a very lengthy will 9 January, l730/1; it was proved at New York city 25 February, 1730/1 and an abstract of it is printed in the Collections of the New York Historical Society, Volume III of Wills: page 18.