Wesley Baldwin

WESLEY BALDWIN

 Wesley Baldwin, who now lives on Campbell Drive, Ironton Route 1, recalls living on the Hecla property when John Campbell was the owner.

Wes and his brother Ed were assisting their father, Alex Baldwin, in building a small bridge near the road at Kelley’s Bridge, not far from Horseshoe Bend, when a man riding a big bay horse with a blaze on its forehead came along the road and stopped.

I knew the man with him, who was Charles F. Lane, and they were talking to my father.  My dad said, “Wesley, go to the spring and bring this gentleman a drink of that fine cool water.”

Instead of going to the spring, I told my brother to get the old man a drink. After they drove on, my father was mad and said that Mr. Campbell owned all this land, and when he asked for a drink, I should have run and got it without delay, and all the time he was talking, he was cutting a switch and he gave me a whipping.  I will never forget for not getting John Campbell a drink in a hurry.

Wesley Baldwin lived in Ironton many years later and served on the police force for several years.  He is now 75 and is looking forward to Ironton’s Centennial.