Center for Archival Collections

Introduction | Biographical Sketch | Scope and Content | Series Description | Inventory

 Introduction

The papers of Frank A. Baldwin and related Chidester material consist of 9 linear ft. of financial and business records. The donation and transfer of these records to the Center for Archival Collections was arranged on September 22, 2006 through the cooperation of Alta Codding, who lives in the home once occupied by Frank A. Baldwin at 707 W. Wooster St., known as the Chidester-Baldwin House.

No restrictions exist on the use of this collection. Duplication is permitted for the purposes of preservation and research. The collection was processed by Ann B. Jenks and the register was compiled by Marilyn Levinson, Curator of Manuscripts in August 2006.

 Biographical Sketch

The central figure of this collection is Frank A. Baldwin, Bowling Green, Ohio attorney and judge. Born in July 30, 1854 in Geneva, New York, he was one of the 12 children of Sanford and Juliette Smith Baldwin. The family came to Wood County around 1846, settling first in Perrysburg, but then moving to Weston, Ohio where they opened the Exchange Hotel.

Attending schools in Weston and Toledo, Ohio, and a business college in Poughkeepsie, New York, Frank was admitted to the bar in 1877 after studying law in Perrysburg, Ohio with James R. Tyler and with McCauley & Pennington in Tiffin, Ohio. He moved to Bowling Green later that year after being elected as Prosecuting Attorney for Wood County. Baldwin maintained a law practice both as an individual and then later as a partner in the firm of Baldwin & Harrington, with offices over the Exchange Bank in Bowling Green. In 1907 he was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, a position he served in until 1915. During his career he was also Chairman of the Wood County Democratic Party, and on one occasion he argued a civil case at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Frank Baldwin was married twice, but in neither case did he have children. In 1879 Frank Baldwin married Clara Foote, who died in 1904, and in 1916 he married Agnetta Dell Brown Chidester, widow of M.B. Chidester, who died in 1906. She did have a son, Murray Banks Chidester, but he died in 1936. Frank Baldwin died April 27, 1930, and Agnetta lived to the age of 96, passing away on July 22, 1959.

Material related to Chidester & Company, are part of the collection through association with Agnetta Chidester Baldwin. The dry-goods firm operated at 19 S. Main Street, Bowling Green, Ohio, in the Royce Block. It was established around 1900, taking over the business of Joseph & Pope a firm dealing in dry goods, notions and furnishings, established in Bowling Green in 1899.

 Scope and Content

The strength of the Chidester-Baldwin Papers rests primarily with the view it gives of the economic life of Bowling Green, Ohio and vicinity during the boom of the oil and gas era and the early decades of the 20th century.

Within the section of material associated with Frank A. Baldwin there is a letterpress book related to his law practice and long run of receipts and vouchers dating from 1878 through 1911 covering both personal/household expenses and those that were business-related. The receipts record everything from daily grocery lists, livery services, telephone costs, materials and labor used in building or renovating property, to fees paid on account for legal services of Baldwin & Harrington.

Although he was a practicing attorney and later a judge, Frank A. Baldwin was also involved in oil-related businesses, so sprinkled through the collection are dealings with the Bowling Green Glycerine Company, the Buckeye Pipeline Company and West Side Oil Company.

Papers in the collection that reflect aspects of his real estate holdings involve property in Bowling Green that included a house at 315 E. Court Street that he shared with his widowed sister Nellie Pennington before his marriage to Agnetta Chidester and was later home to another sister, Lulu Baldwin, a house at the corner of Main Street and Clay (expenses for construction found largely in the receipts/vouchers of 1900), property of the Canistota Glass Company that later became the site of the Heinz Plant in Bowling Green, as well as an apartment building, Vendome Apartments at 2100 Madison Ave., in Toledo, Ohio, where Nellie Pennington lived for a number of years. Material related to the Vendome can be found in separate folders but also integrated into the general receipts/vouchers by date. Also of incidental interest are the letterheads from many Northwest Ohio businesses included in the receipts and other communications.

The Chidester & Company holdings in the collection also range for a number of years and provide a minute look at the material available in the store through the series of daily receipt slips running from 1901 though 1906, giving the names and buying habits of individual customers, prices typical for the period, and how a small-town dry-goods business operated through the seasons.

 Series Description

FRANK A. BALDWIN

CORRESPONDENCE

LETTERPRESS BOOK
1876-1893
Copies of outgoing correspondence related to Baldwin’s legal practice.

FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS

VOUCHERS/RECEIPTS
1878-1920
Arranged chronologically
Receipts and vouchers include those from Baldwin’s home, his law firm, Baldwin & Harrington, and his business pursuits, some of which are also detailed in the separate company files

COMPANY FILES
1898-1912
Arranged by company
Routine business papers such as notes, insurance policies, contracts, receipts, and statements from a variety of businesses that Baldwin had an interest in, including Buckeye Pipe Line, Vendome Apartments, and West Side Oil

BANK ACCOUNTS
1886-1907
Arranged chronologically
Frank Baldwin’s personal bank account books

PROPERTY RECORDS
1887-1905
Legal documents and miscellaneous papers associated with land owned by Baldwin, both in Wood County and in Bowling Green, including land that was later acquired for the Heinz plant

MISCELLANEOUS
1881-1884; 1883-1886
Register from the Exchange Hotel, Weston, Ohio; also the minutes of the Tawas Club, a fishing club.

LEGAL DOCUMENTS

COURT CASES
1907-1916
Arranged chronologically
Civil cases, two of which involve issues with the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway Company

ESTATE PAPERS
1884-1918
Arranged alphabetically
Various files related to estates for which Frank Baldwin served as executor or administrator

MAPS/CHARTS

PLATS
1889, 1894
Hand-drawn plats of property in Baldwin's Addition to Weston, Ohio, and to Baldwin's Addition to Bowling Green, Ohio, including some names of purchasers of lots. Oversize box.

CHIDESTER & COMPANY

FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS

ACCOUNT BOOKS
1899-1904
Arranged chronologically
Account books of the Chidester Dry Goods Store, located at 19 S. Main Street in the Royce Block, in Bowling Green, Ohio, giving the customer name, merchandise description and price

DAILY RECEIPTS
1901-1906
Arranged chronologically
Individual sales receipts produced at time of sale; some duplication of information from the account books

VOUCHERS/RECEIPTS
1899-1907
Receipts for services such as advertisements or for merchandise from a variety of suppliers

MISCELLANEOUS
1899-1906
Arranged chronologically
Primarily invoices from McCall & Co.; also includes minor account records of Joseph & Pope, a dry-goods firm that was apparently a predecessor of Chidester & Co.

 Inventory

Box 1: Frank A. Baldwin

Folder

1. Letterpress Book, 1876-1893
2. Receipts/Vouchers, 1878
3. Receipts/Vouchers, 1879
4. Receipts/Vouchers, 1880
5. Receipts/Vouchers, 1881
6. Receipts/Vouchers, 1882
7. Receipts/Vouchers, 1883
8. Receipts/Vouchers, 1884
9. Receipts/Vouchers, 1885
10. Receipts/Vouchers, 1886
11. Receipts/Vouchers, 1887
12. Receipts/Vouchers, 1889
13. Receipts/Vouchers, 1890
14. Receipts/Vouchers, 1891
15. Receipts/Vouchers, 1892
16. Receipts/Vouchers, 1893
17. Receipts/Vouchers, 1894
18. Receipts/Vouchers, 1895
19. Receipts/Vouchers, 1896
20. Receipts/Vouchers, 1897
21. Receipts/Vouchers, 1898
22. Receipts/Vouchers, 1899
23. Receipts/Vouchers, 1900
24. Receipts/Vouchers, 1900
25. Receipts/Vouchers, 1901
26. Receipts/Vouchers, 1901
27. Receipts/Vouchers, 1902
28. Receipts/Vouchers, 1903
29. Receipts/Vouchers, 1904
30. Receipts/Vouchers, 1905
31. Receipts/Vouchers, 1906
32. Receipts/Vouchers, 1907
33. Receipts/Vouchers, 1908
34. Receipts/Vouchers, 1909
35. Receipts/Vouchers, 1910

Box 2: Frank A. Baldwin

Folder

1. Receipts/Vouchers, 1911
2. Receipts/Vouchers, 1912
3. Receipts/Vouchers, 1913
4. Receipts/Vouchers, 1914
5. Receipts/Vouchers, 1915
6. Receipts/Vouchers, 1916
7. Receipts/Vouchers, 1916-1918
8. Receipts/Vouchers, 1919-1920
9. Letters Patent & Deed from W. R. Cochrane Railroad crossing improvement, 1896
10. Bowling Green Glycerine Company, 1900-1901
11. Buckeye Pipe Line, 1910, 1912
12. Buckeye Pipe Line - Oil Tickets, 1903-1912
13. First National Bank - Receivership Notes, 1913-1918
14. Greece Mining Company Venture, 1898-1899
15. Leonard Stove & Range Company - Insurance Policies, 1906-1907
16. Vendome Apartments - Receipts/Vouchers, 1906-1907
17. Vendome Apartments - Receipts/Vouchers, 1908-1909
18. Vendome Apartments - Receipts/Vouchers, 1914
19. West Side Oil - Account Book, 1900-1906
20. West Side Oil - Contract, 1908
21. West Side Oil - Oil Well Annuities, 1900-1911
22. West Side Oil - Receipts/Vouchers, 1899
23. West Side Oil - Receipts/Vouchers, 1900
24. West Side Oil - Receipts/Vouchers, 1901
25. West Side Oil - Receipts/Vouchers, 1902
26. West Side Oil - Receipts/Vouchers, 1903
27. West Side Oil - Receipts/Vouchers, 1904
28. West Side Oil - Receipts/Vouchers, 1905
29. West Side Oil - Receipts/Vouchers, 1906
30. West Side Oil - Receipts/Vouchers, 1907
31. West Side Oil - Receipts/Vouchers, 1908-1912
32. West Side Oil - Treasurer's Statement, 1900-1912
33. Bank Account Book, 1886-1893
34. Bank Account Book, 1893-1902
35. Bank Account Book, 1902-1906
36. Bank Account Book, 1900-1907

Box 3: Frank A. Baldwin

Folder

1. Stock Certificate - Maumee River Yacht Club, 1914
2. West Side Oil - Account Statements, 1900-1902
3. Canistota Glass Co. Land, 1894-1905
4. Fowler House - Inlots 123 & 124, 1887-1897
5. Union Hill Farm, 1898-1902
6. Grand Rapids Farm, 1896-1901
7. Poe Road Farm, 1887-1903
8. Civil Case - Rosendale vs. Rosendale, 1907-1908
9. Civil Case - Sanders vs. Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway Company, 1915-1916
10. Civil Case - Standish Admr vs. C, H & D Ry Co., 1915-1916
11. Estate - Edward Arnold, 1889
12. Estate - Sanford Baldwin, 1895-1905
13. Estate - Tobias Bossler, 1884-1903
14. Estate - Joel Foote/Bliss Stock, 1895-1901
15. Estate - John Hood Farm, Middleton Twp., 1906-1908
16. Estate - George Knauss Estate, 1908-1910
17. Estate - Morgan McKinley vs. W. S. Raydure, 1916-1918
18. Estate - Morgan McKinley vs. W. S. Raydure, 1916-1918
19. Estate - Morgan McKinley vs. W. S. Raydure, 1916-1918
20. Estate - Morgan McKinley vs. W. S. Raydure, 1916-1918
21. Estate - Morgan McKinley vs. W. S. Raydure, 1916-1918
22. Estate - Morgan McKinley vs. W. S. Raydure, 1916-1918
23. Estate - Mary M. Ross, 1884-1894
24. Estate - Mary A. Rudolph, 1907-1908
25. Estate - John E. Standish, 1915-1916
26. Estate - Samuel Sternaman, 1907-1909

Box 4: Chidester & Company

Folder

1. Account Book, ca. 1899-1900
2. Account Book, Feb 12, 1899
3. Account Book, Dec 21, 1899-Mar 5 1900
4. Account Book, March 5-May 2, 1900
5. Account Book, May 3-June 14, 1900
6. Account Book, June 15-Aug 18, 1900
7. Account Book, Aug 20-Oct 22, 1900
8. Account Book, Feb 1901
9. Account Book, 1903-1904
10. Account Book, 1904
11. Cash Book, n.d.
12. Check Registers, 1900
13. Check Registers/Check Stubs, 1900-1901
14. Check Register, 1901-1903
15. Daily Receipts, Jan 1901
16. Daily Receipts, Feb 1901
17. Daily Receipts, March 1901
18. Daily Receipts, Apr 1901
19. Daily Receipts, May 1901

Box 5: Chidester & Company

Folder

1. Daily Receipts, June 1901
2. Daily Receipts, Oct 1901
3. Daily Receipts, Nov 1901
4. Daily Receipts, Dec 1901
5. Daily Receipts, Jan 1902
6. Daily Receipts, Feb 1902
7. Daily Receipts, March 1902
8. Daily Receipts, Apr 1902
9. Daily Receipts, May 1902
10. Daily Receipts, June 1902
11. Daily Receipts, July 1902
12. Daily Receipts, Aug 1902
13. Daily Receipts, Sept 1902
14. Daily Receipts, Oct 1902
15. Daily Receipts, Nov 1902
16. Daily Receipts, Dec 1902
17. Daily Receipts, Jan 1903

Box 6: Chester & Company

Folder

1. Daily Receipts, Feb 1903
2. Daily Receipts, March 1903
3. Daily Receipts, Apr 1903
4. Daily Receipts, May 1903
5. Daily Receipts, June 1903
6. Daily Receipts, July 1903
7. Daily Receipts, Aug 1903
8. Daily Receipts, Sept 1903
9. Daily Receipts, Oct 1903
10. Daily Receipts, Nov 1903
11. Daily Receipts, Dec 1903
12. Daily Receipts, Jan 1904
13. Daily Reports, Feb 1904
14. Daily Reports, March 1904
15. Daily Reports, Apr 1904
16. Daily Reports, May 1904
17. Daily Receipts, June 1904
18. Daily Receipts, July 1904
19. Daily Receipts, Aug 1904
20. Daily Receipts, Oct 1904
21. Daily Receipts, Nov 1904
22. Daily Reports, Dec 1904
23. Daily Reports, Jan 1905

Box 7: Chidester & Company

Folder

1. Daily Receipts, Feb 1905
2. Daily Reports, March 1905
3. Daily Receipts, Apr 1905
4. Daily Receipts, May 1905
5. Daily Reports, June 1905
6. Daily Reports, July 1905
7. Daily Reports, Aug 1905
8. Daily Receipts, Oct 1905
9. Daily Receipts, Nov 1905
10. Daily Receipts, Dec 1905
11. Daily Reports, Jan 1906
12. Daily Reports, March 1906
13. Daily Reports, Apr 1906
14. Daily Receipts, May 1906
15. Daily Receipts, June 1906
16. Daily Receipts, July 1906
17. Daily Reports, Aug 1906
18. Daily Receipts, Sept 1906

Box 8

Folder

1. Receipts/Vouchers, 1899-1900
2. Receipts/Vouchers, 1901
3. Receipts/Vouchers, 1901
4. Receipts/Vouchers, 1902
5. Receipts/Vouchers, 1903
6. Invoices Paid, 1903
7. Receipts/Vouchers, 1904
8. Receipts/Vouchers, 1904
9. Receipts/Vouchers, 1905-1907
10. Joseph & Pope Account Record, March-July 1899
11. Joseph & Pope Account Record, July-Oct 1899
12. Joseph & Pope Cash Book, Aug-Dec 1899
13. Joseph & Pope Invoices Paid, 1901
14. Joseph & Pope Invoices Paid, July 1901
15. Joseph & Pope Invoices Paid, Aug 1901
16. Joseph & Pope Invoices Paid, Sept 1901
17. Chidester & Co. Account Book, 1900
18. Chidester & Co. Bank Account Books, 1902-1906
19. Cash Book, Apr-Dec 1902
20. Check StubS, 1899-1900
21. Check Stubs, Feb 1903-Sept 1904
22. Canceled checks, 1902
23. Canceled checks, 1904
24. Canceled checks, 1906

Box 9: Chidester & Company

Folder

1. McCall Co. Invoices, 1901
2. McCall Co. Invoices, 1902
3. McCall Co. Invoices, 1903
4. McCall Co. Invoices, 1906

Oversize Box and Bound Volumes: F. A. Baldwin

1. Exchange Hotel Register, Weston, Ohio, 1881-1884
2. Minutes - Tawas [Fishing] Club, 1883-1886
3. Plat - Baldwin's Addition to Weston, Ohio, 1889
4. Plat - Baldwin's Addition to Bowling Green, Ohio, 1894

Oversize Box and Bound Volumes: Chidester & Co.

1. Cash Book, 1899-1901
2. Cash Book, 1899-1903
3. Cash Book, 1904-1905
4. Cash Book, 1906
5. Account Ledger, 1900-1905
6. Account Ledger, 1904-1905

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