Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
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.