The “52 Cousins” series of biographical sketches are Artificial Intelligence (AI) compiled narratives of selected individuals from my Genealogical database. The selected AI will used the RootsMagic Individual Summary from my Genealogical Software, Roots Magic. All genealogical data is my research material acquired over the past 46 years of research. Today's Biography of Huldah Ann Rivers Baldwin (1856-1932) was compiled with the assistance of Claude Sonnett 4 and is entitled:
Huldah Ann Rivers Baldwin: A Winston County Mother's Story
Early Life and Family Origins
Huldah Ann Rivers was born on April 4, 1856, in Warrior, Jefferson County, Alabama, to Frederick W. Rivers (1817-1890) and Synthia Matilda Knight (1824-1902). Her parents had both been born in South Carolina and made their way to Alabama, where they established their family in the growing region around Birmingham.
Huldah grew up as one of several children in the Rivers household. Her siblings included Margaret Matilda Rivers Tidwell (1844-1913), Synthia Jane Rivers Waid (1860-1909), Marcus C. Rivers (1862-1945), and Richard M. Rivers (1866-1944). The 1860 census shows young Huldah, then just three years old, living with her family in the Blackburns area of Jefferson County. By 1870, when she was fourteen, the family had moved to the Mt. Pinson area, still in Jefferson County.
Marriage and Moving to Winston County
On February 14, 1874—Valentine's Day—seventeen-year-old Huldah Ann married Lewis William Baldwin in Houston, Winston County, Alabama. Lewis, born December 8, 1855, in Ashville, St. Clair County, was the son of Irvin C. Baldwin (1814-1864) and Sydney S. Willoughby (1816-1864). Both of Lewis's parents had passed away when he was just a young boy, leaving him and his siblings to make their own way in the world.
The young couple settled in Houston, a small community in Winston County—an area known as the "Free State of Winston" for its opposition to secession during the Civil War. This rugged, independent region in Alabama's hill country would be their home for most of their married life.
Growing a Family
Huldah and Lewis wasted no time starting their family. Over the next eighteen years, they would welcome eleven children into the world, though tragically, not all would survive to adulthood. Their children were:
Matilda Frances Baldwin (December 29, 1874 - 1974), who married Grant U. Burdick on Christmas Day 1890
Tempie Jane Baldwin (February 7, 1877 - May 31, 1958), who married Thomas Jefferson McClellan on Christmas Day 1894
Margaret Elizabeth Baldwin (January 3, 1879 - August 10, 1961), who married Robert Coatney Bradfield on October 22, 1899
Joanna Elizabeth Baldwin (March 10, 1881 - March 21, 1942), who married William Jasper Dunlap on December 17, 1899
George H. Baldwin (August 21, 1882 - July 14, 1972), who married Ada Lauvernia Thornton on April 8, 1906
Hulda Henrietta Baldwin (March 20, 1884 - February 27, 1953), who first married Ross E. Thornton in 1901, and later married William Jasper Dunlap (her sister's widower) in 1943
Lillie Alice Baldwin (January 25, 1886 - December 20, 1971), who married George Washington Blevins on May 10, 1902
Richard Andrew Nathaniel Baldwin (April 14, 1888 - June 15, 1968), who married Lillian Horsely on December 27, 1919
Esther Izora Baldwin (March 25, 1890 - July 7, 1964), who married Burvil Angress Sides on October 10, 1909
Cynthia Jane Baldwin (August 19, 1892 - April 26, 1953), who married Oscar C. Johnson on September 24, 1911
Jonnie Harrison Baldwin (August 19, 1892 - September 23, 1897), who died at just five years old
The loss of little Jonnie in 1897 must have been heartbreaking for Huldah and Lewis, but they continued to raise their remaining children in the close-knit community of Houston.
Life as a Farmer's Wife
The census records paint a picture of Huldah's life over the decades. In 1880, the family was living in Township 11, Beat 1 of Winston County. Lewis worked as a farmer, and at just 23 years old, Huldah already had three young daughters—Matilda (age 5), Tempa (age 3), and Margaret (age 1).
By the 1900 census, the family was still in Houston, and the household was bustling. Huldah, now 44, had been married for 26 years and had given birth to ten children, with nine still living. The census that year captured daughters Hulda, Lillie, Esther, and Jane still at home, along with son Richard and nephew George H. Terry.
Life in rural Alabama during this period meant hard work for everyone. Huldah would have been responsible for cooking, cleaning, preserving food, making clothes, tending gardens, and caring for her large brood—all without modern conveniences. Meanwhile, Lewis worked the land to provide for his growing family.
By 1910, the family had moved to Walker County, Alabama, specifically to Precinct 5. The household had gotten smaller, with most of the older children married and gone. The census shows that Huldah and Lewis had been married for 26 years (though it was actually 36 by then), and only their youngest children, Andrew and Janie, were still at home.
Historical Context: Life in Alabama (1856-1932)
Huldah lived through some of the most transformative periods in American history. She was born just five years before the Civil War began. Although she was too young to remember much of the war itself, she certainly grew up hearing stories about it and experiencing its aftermath during Reconstruction.
The region where she lived—Winston County—was unique in Alabama. It had attempted to remain neutral during the Civil War, with many residents opposing secession. This independent spirit shaped the community where Huldah and Lewis raised their family.
During Huldah's lifetime, Alabama transitioned from an agricultural economy devastated by war to one beginning to industrialize, particularly in the Birmingham area where she had grown up. The state struggled with poverty, the sharecropping system, and Jim Crow laws, but also saw the development of coal mining and iron production.
Widowhood and Later Years
After 43 years of marriage, Huldah's life changed dramatically when Lewis died on November 28, 1918, in Jasper, Walker County. He was 62 years old. Lewis was buried at New Prospect Baptist Church Cemetery in Jasper. His death came at the end of World War I, during the devastating Spanish Flu pandemic that swept the world.
The 1920 census shows 64-year-old Huldah, now widowed and going by "H. A. Baldwin," living in Motes, Winston County. Her son Andrew, age 30, and his wife Lillian, age 21, were living with her—likely helping to care for her and maintain the household.m
In an interesting twist of fate, about 1922, at the age of 66, Huldah married James Owen Farley, who was 77 years old. James was the widower of Elizabeth A. Baldwin—Lewis's own sister. This type of marriage between in-laws was not uncommon in rural communities, where practical considerations and existing family connections often influenced such decisions.
Final Years
Huldah spent her final years in Walker County, Alabama. She passed away on March 21, 1932, in Falls City, Walker County, at the age of 75. She was laid to rest beside Lewis at New Prospect Baptist Church Cemetery in Jasper.
She died during the depths of the Great Depression, having witnessed enormous changes in American life—from the horse-and-buggy era to the age of automobiles and radio, from the Civil War's aftermath to the modern industrial age.
Legacy
Huldah Ann Rivers Baldwin's legacy lived on through her children and their descendants, who scattered across Alabama and beyond to California and Illinois. Her daughters and sons carried forward the resilient, independent spirit of Winston County, raising their own families and contributing to their communities. Through hard work, dedication to family, and perseverance through difficult times, Huldah exemplified the strength of women who built families and communities in rural Alabama during one of the most challenging periods in American history.
Huldah Ann Rivers Baldwin is my 1st Cousin 4X Removed.
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1. Irvin Baldwin Family, G. Edward Stahlnecker (g.stahlnecker@worldnet.att.net), Irvin Baldwin Family Bible (http://www.freestateofwinston.org/baldwinbible2.txt : Downloaded 4 August 2011), Lewis William BALDWIN, BIRTH, 8 December 1855.
2. 1880 U. S. Census, Winston County, Alabama, population schedule, Township 11, Beat 1, Winston County, Alabama, enumeration district (ED) #287, Page 535C; Line 46, Dwelling 24, Family 24, Household of Lewis W. BALDWIN; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com : viewed 4 August 2011); citing National Archives Microfilm T9_0035.
3. 1900 U. S. Census, Winston County, Alabama, population schedule, Houston, Winston County, Alabama, enumeration district (ED) #157, Page: 247A; Line 24, Dwelling 43, Family 43, Household of Louis BALDWIN; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com : viewed 4 August 2011); citing National Archives Microfilm T623_44.
4. 1910 U. S. Census, Walker County, Alabama, population schedule, Precinct 5, Walker County, Alabama, enumeration district (ED) #0175, Page: 107A & 107B; Line 50-53, Dwelling 537, Family 551, Household of Louis W. Baldwyn; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com : viewed 4 zug 2011); citing National Archives Microfilm T624_35.
5. Family, Irvin Baldwin Family Bible, Lewis William BALDWIN, DEATH, 28 November 1918.
6. Family, Irvin Baldwin Family Bible, Lewis William BALDWIN, MARRIAGE, 14 February 1874.
7. Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database and digital images, (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed July 2024); Memorial page for Huldah Ann Rivers Baldwin; (4 April 1856–21 March 1932); Find a Grave memorial # 80429161, Citing New Prospect Baptist Church Cemetery; Jasper, Walker County, Alabama, USA.
8. 1860 U. S. Census, Jefferson County, Alabama, population schedule, Blackburns, Jefferson County, Alabama, Page: 676, Line 5-15, Household 232/217, Household of Frederic W. RIVERS; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 23 July 2011); citing National Archives Microfilm M653_12.
9. 1870 U. S. Census, Jefferson County, Alabama, population schedule, Township 14 Range 3, Jefferson County, Alabama, Page: 288A, Line 17-28, Dwelling/Family 246/254, Household of Frederic W. RIVERS; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com : viewed 23 July 2011); citing National Archives Microfilm M593_21.
10. 1910 U. S. Census, Walker County, Alabama, population schedule, Precinct 5, Walker County, Alabama, ED #0175, Page: 107A & 107B; Line 50-53, Dwelling 537, Family 551, Household of Louis W. Baldwyn.
11. 1920 U. S. Census, Winston County, Alabama, population schedule, Motes, Winston County, Alabama, enumeration district (ED) #131, Page: 198B, Line 51, Dwelling 101, Family 101, Household of H. A. Baldwin; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com : viewed 4 August 2011); citing National Archives Microfilm T625_43.
12. Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database, "Record, Huldah Ann Rivers Baldwin (4 April 1856–21 March 1932), Memorial # 80429161.
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