Andrew Baldinger, also known as Andreas Baldinger, is my maternal great-great-grandfather.
Born 11 Dec 1813 in Canton Aargau, Switzerland, he is, according to my dad’s research, the first Baldinger to immigrate to the US. His biography in Galveston, History Of The Island And City 1879, by Charles W. Hays says that he arrived in the US to Baltimore in 1831, at the age of 17. There’s no supporting documentation in that book for that arrival, and I haven’t yet found his immigration documents or arrival manifest.
His first few years in the States were busy. He apprenticed himself to “C. A. Medenger,” according to Hays. After looking through the Baltimore city directories between 1831 and 1837, I’ve come to believe that “C. A. Medenger” is actually Christopher Adam Medinger. Medinger appears as a baker in several entries in that era, but no one named “Medenger” does.
Hays goes on to write that Andrew worked under Medinger until the Texas Revolution broke out in 1835. “Taking a deep interest in the struggle, he left Baltimore and went to New York, where he embarked for New Orleans, and from thence, with a detachment of troops and some passengers, about sixty in all, set sail for Texas in the small brig Eldorado, commanded by Captain Lowe.”
I haven’t yet searched for information regarding this ship, though it should be relatively easy to find because of what happened.
Three days out from New Orleans on their way to Texas, the brig grounded on what Hays called “Tempelier Island,” which is likely Timbalier Island. The passengers made it to the island, stuck there for four weeks, until they were rescued by the crew of the schooner Active. Two weeks later, the Active finally made Galveston in June, 1837. Of course, the Texas Revolution had been over for a year at this point!
There wasn’t much at Galveston at this point, so Andrew headed to Houston for a month, found out there was nothing he could do regarding the war, and so returned to New Orleans to make his way back north. He traveled up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to Pittsburgh, then on back to Baltimore.
He didn’t stay there long, though, returning to Houston via New York and the brig Potomac, arriving in December 1837.
By February 1838, he was back in Galveston, working on establishing a bakery. The story goes that he and “Mr. Fox” engaged in a friendly rivalry to bake the first loaf of bread in the town. Fox hired the only brick mason in town. Andrew built his oven himself, but didn’t support it properly, and it collapsed, giving Fox the honor of “first bread.” Andrew got the “first pie” honors, though. I’m not sure why.
Andrew went on to marry Anna Catherine Wild, of Canton Glarus, Switzerland on 27 Apr 1840. They had eight children over the next 28 years, all of them surviving to adulthood. Their sixth child, Edward Emilie Baldinger, born in 1863, was my great-grandfather. His oldest son, Edward Bleike Baldinger, born in 1892, married Rebecca Florence Smith, known as “Nan. “
I assume Anna and Andrew met in the US. It’s possible they knew each other in Switzerland, as the two cantons are less than ten miles apart, but I don’t know that it’s likely.
Anna’s line is fairly well documented on FamilySearch and Wikitree and less so on Ancestry.
Andrew is not.
I have no information on him beyond his approximate arrival date of 1831 in Baltimore. My dad points out in one of his files that “Baldinger’s name, however, does not appear in the publication, Passengers Arriving in Baltimore, 1820-1834.”
I don’t yet know anything about his parents in Switzerland, or whether they ever immigrated on their own to the US. I don’t yet know if he had any siblings and where or when they might have arrived here. I’m not sure if my dad ever put much effort into looking beyond that Baltimore passenger listing.
I’ve researched a substantial amount of records in the hopes of locating specific information on Andrew’s arrival in the US and thus far have been unsuccessful.
- I’ve checked the Baltimore city directories for 1833, 1835, and 1837 at the city archives via Archive.org with no results.
- I searched Maryland, Baltimore Passenger Lists Index, 1820-1897 and Maryland, Baltimore Passenger Lists, 1820-1948 with no results. Also browsed Maryland, Baltimore Passenger Lists, 1820-1948 for 1831 with no success.
- I have located an 1867 US Passport application which refers to an 1857 passport, but I haven’t yet found the application for the 1857 passport. That should have his immigration information, including date, port, and ship.
Goals
The broad goal is to build out Andrew Baldinger’s family.
Breaking that down, I first need to establish who his parents were. Then I need to learn about any siblings he might have had. It’s been a while since I’ve looked at my Ancestry DNA Thrulines, but the last time I did, there were no results beyond Andrew. Still, some of my cousins may have more info.
I’ll do a broader search for his immigration beyond 1831 in Baltimore. Granted, Hays wrote his book while Andrew was still alive, so one would think it’s relatively accurate. But if he wanted to stay anonymous for whatever reason, giving bad information to a biographer would certainly be one way to do it.
I’ll also search more carefully for the 1857 passport.
If you’re related to Andrew Baldinger or have information about the extended Baldinger family, please contact me, either through my blog or my genealogy website.
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