John Ballantyne was born in Montréal in 1944. His earliest painting classes were with Alfred Pinsky (1921-1999) and Arthur Lismer (1885-1969). Following High School he studied civil engineering but left these studies in 1967 to return to painting. In 1968, he joined the New School of Art in Toronto. After one year he left to work in Nice, France and there he worked in "Centre artistique de rencontres internationales" , part of "L'École nationale d'art décoratif de Nice". In 1970, he was offered a studio in the village of Cagnes near Nice. His work quickly evolved from colour-field through photo-realism into a soft, quiet style of realism called by critics "hyper-surrealism". Following some early successes in England and France, John returned to Québec in late 1973. He set a studio outside of Sutton in order to develop his work in an isolated environment. From Sutton his works have found their way around the world and into collections across Canada, the United States, France, England and Denmark.
Stanley Ball (regt. no. 133118) was born on October 12, 1891 and lived in Knowlton, Quebec where he worked as a machinist (N.B. His discharge papers list his profession as “florist”). He enlisted in Montreal on November 5, 1915 and was posted to the 73rd Battalion (Royal Highlanders of Canada) as a private. He arrived in England on April 9, 1916 and arrived in France on August 13, 1916. On November 19, 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, he received a gun-shot wound to the chest and left shoulder. He was returned to England and the 1st Quebec Reserve Depot in March 1917 after a stay in the No. 1 General Hospital in Étaples and the 2nd Southern General Hospital in Bristol. In Montreal, he was sent to the Royal Victoria Hospital for convalescence where the attending doctors noted that his gun-shot wound resulted in a “foreign body in apex of left lung” but that “there is no treatment that would be of any avail.” Moreover, his discharge papers describe him as having a “small foreign body” in the left elbow. He was deemed “3/5” incapacitated for a period of 6 months. He was discharged as medically unfit in December 1917 with 35% compensation for twelve months.
Lawrence Ball was born in Lake Megantic on 5 October 1911 and came to Sherbrooke in 1917. He studied at Sherbrooke High School and Dudley Pitman's Shorthand and Business School. From 1936 to 1973, he worked for Bell Canada in Sherbrooke (until 1939), Trois-Rivières, Montreal, St-Jean, St-Jérôme, Drummondville and Québec City. Good at sports, Ball was a member of the Sherbrooke Athletic Club before moving away in 1939. Throughout his career, he worked with many service and community organizations, including the Rotary Club, the Kinsmen, the chambers of commerce of Drummondville and St-Jean, and historical societies in Drummondville and Sherbrooke. On his retirement in 1973, Ball returned to Sherbrooke. He died on 27 February 1986.
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Willis Keith Baldwin, known more commonly as Keith, was born 27 December 1922 in Baldwin's Mills, the eldest son of Harold F. Baldwin and Ruth S. May. He attended high school at Stanstead College, a private boys school in Stanstead, Quebec, which he graduated from in 1940. Keith served with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) during the Second World War. He became a metallurgical engineer and moved to Lennoxville with his wife, Evelyn Rowe (1923-2015). Together they had four children: Bill, David, Nancy, and Dale. Keith gifted the land which now comprises the Parc H. F. Baldwin in Baldwin’s Mills to the Town of Barnston (now Coaticook) to create a nature reserve with public access. The park land includes the Barnston Pinnacle and is named after Keith's father, Harold F. Baldwin
Willis Keith Baldwin, better known as simply W. K., was born 17 March 1857 in Barnston and was the youngest son of John Percival Baldwin and Jeanette Baker. W. K. studied for some time at Stanstead Wesleyan College but was also a self-taught learner. He was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1913. Included among his numerous business and political activities, he succeeded his father as owner of the Baldwin family's mills, was a director of both the Canadian Crocker Wheeler Company and Southern Canada Power, contributed funds to construct roads in the Townships of Barnston and Stanstead, and was an extensive land owner throughout the Eastern Townships and Vermont. He also was elected as a Member of Parliament as a Liberal from 1917 to 1930, when he retired from politics. As the Member of Parliament for Stanstead County and a devout Methodist, W.K. Baldwin lobbied for the union of the Methodist, Congregationalist, and Presbyterian Churches and was instrumental in the passing of the "Act incorporating The United Church of Canada in 1924."
W. K. Baldwin married Lill Mead Ferrin (1859-1935), of Holland, Vermont, 17 March 1881. They had two children: Harold Ferrin and Mead Haskell. W. K. Baldwin was murdered at his general store by Kenneth Brown, on 18 April 1935. He is buried at the Lakeview Cemetery in Baldwin's Mills.
Ruth Stevens May was born 11 August 1890 in Baldwin's Mills, the second youngest daughter of Darius May and Emma J. Stevens. As a young woman, Ruth was a teacher in Barnston and also worked as dressmaker. She married Harold F. Baldwin on 26 January 1921 and they had seven children together: Ruby May, Willis Keith, Elvyn Mead, Eunice Ruth, Alice Lill, Harold Richard and Lester Stevens.
Ruth died 28 September 1971 and was buried at the Lakeview Cemetery in Baldwin's Mills.
Percival Arthur Baldwin was born on the Baldwin farm in Judd’s Mills, Stanstead, Quebec in 1874 to parents Eugene Arthur Baldwin (1853–1916) and Lenna Adelle Wilcox (1855–1945) who lived in the area for many years as some of the earliest pioneers in that region. He married Florence L. Ives (1876–1966) on November 28, 1894 in Stanstead and had two children; a son, Sidney Ives Baldwin (1899–1972) and daughter, Jessie Adele Baldwin (1908–1964).
He lived for six years in Barnston, Quebec during his early married life. After that time, however, he lived the rest of his life in Baldwin Mills where he opened a grist mill until it was destroyed by flooding in 1927 where the mill was later sold. He was a member of the Centenary United Church in Stanstead. He passed away at his home in East Stanstead, on July 13, 1946 at the age of 72 after having declining health for many months.
Mead Ross Baldwin is the oldest son and the third of five children of Elvyn Baldwin and Jane Ross. He was born on January 6, 1955 at the Sherbrooke Hospital. He married Joyce Hamilton. He is a minister in the United Church of Canada.
Mead Haskell Baldwin was born 28 September 1891 in Baldwin's Mills, the youngest son of Willis K. Baldwin and Lill M. Ferrin. He attended the Holmes Model School in Stanstead for his elementary education. By the early 1910s, he had moved to the United States to study and work as a book-keeper. Mead served as a soldier with the American Expeditionary Force in World War I. He never married.
Mead Baldwin passed away in Baldwin's Mills 17 February 1921 and was buried at the Lakeview Cemetery in Baldwin's Mills.
Louise Lill Baldwin is the youngest daughter of Elvyn Baldwin and Jane Ross. She was born December 8, 1956 at the Sherbrooke Hospital. She traveled extensively during her early adulthood. Louise married Brant LeBaron.
Lill Mead Ferrin, the daughter of Martin C. Ferrin (1816-1892) and Sarah Mead (1828-1870), was born 13 October 1859 in Holland, Vermont. She married Willis K. Baldwin 17 March 1881, which took place in Holland. Subsequently, Lill moved to Baldwin's Mills where she and W. K. had two sons: Mead Haskell and Harold Ferrin. Later in life, Lill traveled extensively in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, both with her husband as well as on her own. Lill died 20 April 1935 in Richmond, Virginia, while traveling south, just a day after her husband's murder in Baldwin's Mills. She is buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Baldwin's Mills.
Lester Stevens Baldwin was born 9 October 1933, the youngest son of Harold F. Baldwin and Ruth S. May. He attended Stanstead College, a private boarding school in Stanstead, Quebec. He married Jacqueline Péloquin and has four children: Judy, Cynthia, Linda and Lisa.
Lester Stevens Baldwin was born in Stanstead, Quebec on October 9th, 1933 to his mother, Ruth Stevens Baldwin May, and father, Harold Ferrin Baldwin. He was the youngest of seven children, his siblings being Harold Richard, Alice Lills, Eunice Ruth, Elvyn Mead, Willis Keith, and Ruby May. He graduated junior matriculation from Stanstead Wesleyan College in 1950, having taken part in junior track and field, senior football, basketball, and the corporal cadet corps. He married Jaquelin Peloquin (1938-2021), and together they had four children: Lisa, Linda, Cynthia, and Judy. The six of them lived in Pointe-Claire, Quebec for an unspecified time. His wife, Jaquelin died in Sherbrooke in 2021.
Lennie Adelle Wilcox Baldwin (née Wilcox) was born September 12th, 1855 in Barnston, Stanstead, Quebec to Pardon Bennett Wilcox and Judith Wilcox (née Allen). She was a Methodist Protestant. She was literate, being able to both read and write. She married Eugene Arthur Baldwin (1853-1916), a future Stanstead town council member, on December 25th, 1872. The couple would go on to have three children, Percival Arthur Baldwin (1874-1946), Pardon Wilcox Baldwin (1877-1955) and Blanche Jeanett Baldwin (1887-1916). Her husband purchased Judd's Mills, located in Stanstead, in 1875 and set up a flour and feed business on the property. Lennie lived on the property for the rest of her life. In late 1916, she became gravely ill from eating diseased bear meat. While she eventually overcame the illness, the poisonous meat killed her husband, as well as her daughter Blanche Jeanett and her son-in-law, Lyman Kinney Heath (1888-1916), within a span of two weeks. Her son Percival Arthur would go on to take over Judd’s Mills following her husband's death. In her later life, she maintained a correspondence with her husband's brother's wife, Lill Mead Ferrin, until the latter's death in 1935. Lennie died at Judd's Mills on May 17th, 1945 at the age of 89. She is buried in Crystal Lake Cemetery, located in Stanstead.
John Percival Baldwin was born 28 October 1822 in Barnston, Quebec. He was the son of Levi Baldwin and Abigail Mills. John moved from Barnston to a spot on Lake Lyster where he established a grist mill, the location that would eventually become Baldwin's Mills. In 1847, John married Mary Jeanette (or Jenett) Baker and they had four children together: John Edson, Eugene Arthur, Leslie Percival and Willis Keith. John Percival Baldwin died 8 August 1892 in Baldwin's Mills.
Jessie Adelle Baldwin, also known as Adelle Baldwin, was born the 28th of April 1908 in Stanstead, Que. to Percival Arthur Baldwin (1874-1946) and Florence Lucy Ives Baldwin (1876-1966). She had one older brother, Sidney Ives Baldwin (1899-1972) who died in Ayer’s Cliff, Que. Adelle grew up in Judd’s Mills, Stanstead County, Que. where she received her high school leaving from Stanstead College, in 1924. She continued her education at Bishop’s University where she studied Philosophy. During her time at Bishop’s University (1924-1928), she was on the Ladies Basketball team as defense in 1926 and a member of the Glee Club, a member of the Maths and Science Club in 1927-28, and Secretary Treasurer for the Class of ’28. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1928. After graduating, she moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where she studied at Yale School of Nursing. She graduated from Yale School in 1931 as a Registered Nurse. During her time in New Haven, she met her future husband, Ulric Alcimus Lanoue (1903-2002), who was studying at Yale Divinity School for a Missionary career. They later married at the American Church in Paris, France on the 19th of December 1931 and Jessie Adelle Baldwin then became known as Mrs. Ulric Lanoue.
The couple left shortly after for Kimpese, Belgian Congo, where they remained and worked as missionaries for four years, with one year of furlough in 1937 in New York, followed by 5 more years of continued work in Kimpese, as missionaries, for the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. They had 3 children during this time; Robert Lanoue Baldwin (1933-1967), Beverly Jean Baldwin (1939-?), and Richard E. Baldwin (1940-?). Upon their leave from the Belgian Congo in 1943, they moved to the United States of America. Adelle became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1949. During her professional career, she worked 8 months with the Victorian Order of Nurses in Montreal, followed by 18 months with the Lutheran Hospital in Hot Springs, South Dakota, then 11 years as a staff nurse for the Veterans Administrations’ Hospitals in Hot Springs, Tomah, Wisconsin, and Madison, SD. Adelle also served as the executive secretary of the Orleans County Chapter of the American Red Cross, in Newport, Vermont, for two years. In 1951, Ulric A. Lanoue formally changed his name to Russell E. Baldwin. This surname change was adopted by his wife and children too. During the years from 1955-1958, Adelle lived in Tomah, WI and then from 1958-1964 in Madison, WI.
On December 3rd, 1964, Adelle Baldwin, that is Mrs. Russell Baldwin, was tragically found deceased in Rockford, Illinois at the Inn Towne Motel. Her funeral was held at Lake Edge Congregational Church in Rockford, Illinois, and she was then buried in Monona, Wisconsin.
Harold Richard Baldwin, known more commonly as Dick, was born 30 September 1931, the second youngest son of Harold F. Baldwin and Ruth S. May. He studied Stanstead College, a private boarding school located in Stanstead, Quebec, and pursued post-secondary studies at Mount Allison Academy in Sackville, New Brunswick. He married Cecile Lefevre and had one daughter, Tanya. Dick died in 1993 and is buried at the Lakeview Cemetery in Baldwin's Mills.
Harold Ferrin Baldwin was born 9 July 1886 in Baldwin's Mills, the eldest son of Willis K. Baldwin and Lill M. Ferrin. He attended Stanstead Wesleyan College for his secondary schooling. He then pursued post-secondary studies at McGill University in Montreal and graduated in 1909. He also traveled extensively during his early adulthood. Harold married Ruth S. May, also of Baldwin's Mills, 26 January 1921. He and Ruth had seven children: Ruby May, Willis Keith, Elvyn Mead, Eunice Ruth, Alice Lill, Harold Richard and Lester Stevens.
Harold F. Baldwin passed away 2 April 1975 while in California and was buried at the Lakeview Cemetery in Baldwin's Mills.
Eva Rose Baldwin is the oldest child of Elvyn Baldwin and Jane Ross. She was born on February 19, 1953 at the Sherbrooke Hospital. She is a graduate of Bishop's University. Eva married Bill Morton and they have three children: Rose, Jane-Anne and Ian.
Eunice Ruth Baldwin was born 13 March 1926 in Baldwin's Mills to Harold F. Baldwin and Ruth S. May. During her adolescence, Eunice attended the Feller Institute, a co-educational boarding school in Grand Ligne, Quebec. Later, she went on to pursue post-secondary studies in Montreal. She died on May 19, 2020.
Born 14 May 1853 in Barnston, Eugene Arthur Baldwin was the son of John Percival Baldwin and Mary Jeanette Baker. He marred Lennie Adele Wilcox 25 December 1872. They had three children together: Percival Arthur, Pardon Wilcox and Blanche Janette.
Eugene died 30 November 1916 in Stanstead County.
Erline Jane Ross, known as Jane, was born 9 November 1924 in Kinnear's Mills to Leonard Ross and Eva May Allan. She had three sisters, Glenna Ross, Ida Hugh Ross and Ruby Donaghy and two brothers, William (Bill) Allan Ross and Charles Ross. As a young woman, Jane taught at the school house in Baldwin's Mills and boarded at the house of Harold F. Baldwin. On 8 September 1951 in Kinnear's Mills, she married Elvyn Baldwin and they had five children together: Eva, Mead, Louise, Allen and Paul. Jane died 15 November 2000 at 76 years old and is buried at the Lakeview Cemetery in Baldwin's Mills.
Elvyn Mead Baldwin was born 12 May 1925 in Baldwin's Mills, one of the four sons of Harold F. Baldwin and Ruth S. May. During his adolescence, Elvyn attended Stanstead College (in Stanstead, Quebec) and the Feller Institute (in Grande Ligne, Quebec), both boarding schools. During World War II, in about 1943, joined the Royal Canadian Navy, in which he served until around 1945. During his service, Elvyn was stationed on the HMCS Cornwallis, the HMCS Hochelaga II, the HMCS Donnacona and the HMCS St. Hyacinthe. After his time in the RCN, Elvyn pursued post-secondary studies at McDonald College in Montreal.
On 8 September 1951, Elvyn married Erline Jane Ross and together they had the following children: Eva, Mead, Louise, Allen and Paul.
Elvyn passed away 11 June 2008 in Baldwin's Mills and is buried at the Lakeview Cemetery.