James Bawtinheimer

ID # 7174, (1809-1849)
Pedigree
BaptismJames Bawtinheimer was baptized in 1809. 
MarriageHe married Charlotte Kelly. 
DeathHe died on 1 January 1849. 
NoteInformation for James is limited. Craig Burtch has transcribed The Dundas Warder & County of Halton General Advertiser. A death notice for James appears in the Feb 2, 1849, edition. This tells that James Bawtinhimer of East Dumfries, farmer, aged 40, died of consumption on New Years Day.

This appears in Early Ontario Newspaper Transcription Series, The Hamilton Papers, Vol. 10., compiled by W. Craig Burtch, Global Heritage Press, 2012.

While the notice does not directly say so, he probably did indeed die in 'East Dumfries'. This was in the Township of Dumfries while it was still in the District of Gore. East Dumfries was the portion of the township east of the Grand River and appears as such in the 1832 Dumfries assessment. James property, 100 acres, lot 4, concession 6, was in what later became South Dumfries of Brant County.

When the county system came in, Dumfries was divided along the 7th concession. South Dumfries in Brant County was to the south of the 7th; North Dumfries Township in Waterloo County was to the north of the 7th. A map of South Dumfries township from an 1870s gazette indicates that the Bawtinheimer property bordered the 7th concession.

Bawtinheimer background:

In 1973, The Ancaster Historical Society published Ancaster's Heritage. A major contributor to this publication was a Mrs. E. Grimwood, a creditable genealogical researcher. Her son Paul Grimwood, in 1998, put together a second volume. This includes an extensive index for both volumes. Ancaster township is to the south west of South Dumfries and no great traveling distance. (These two volumes are currently available from Global Genealogy and a worthy addition to a bookshelf that covers Ontario genealogical interests.)

On page 229 of the first volume, Mrs. Grimwood tells of a John Bawtinheimer coming to Ancaster from Pennsylvania about 1800 and that he gained a Crown Patent for lot 30 on the 1st concession. Mrs. Grimwood also discusses John's brother Peter, a name occasionally met with in researching the Bawtinheimers. John and Paul are said to be descended from Johann Christian Badenheimer, a 'Palatiner' who came to Philadelphia in 1749.

A list of known children for John Bawtinheimer is given and this includes James M. Bawtinheimer who is said to have been born around 1808 and who married Charlotte Kelly.

Land records.

For those with access to the Archives of Ontario, Brant County Abstract Indexes may be found via an index book on the GSU series of microfilm reels. For those without access...

See onland.ca. This is the website for Ontario Land Registry Access. Here, under Historical Books, may be found Abstract Index information for township lots.

For lot 4 on the 6th concession of South Dumfries, see Book A, pages 150-301, images 224 and 225.

This Abstract Index records an entry in Liber E, instrument 236, an indenture dated April 22, 1828, and registered on May 13, 1828. The grantor was Hon. William Dickson; the grantee was James Bawtinhimer. This is simply described as 100 acres, the north half of the township lot.

A further entry in Liber H, instrument 3761, records a will. The will was dated Dec. 18, 1848, a few days before James' death. Interestingly, it wasn't registered until June 8, 1880. The grantor was James M. Bawtinhimer (whose will it was) and shows the grantee as his family. (Wills weren't always entered in land records in the 1800s. They are found rather more frequently in surrogate court records. There was a fee, however, for the surrogate court route, and so a will which was simple and transferred the property, perhaps to an oldest son, could be taken to a land record office where it then in effect became a deed.)

The property must surely have remained in the hands of the family for there is not another entry for the property until 1914 when Levi Bawtinhimer and wife sell it to John Y. Reid.

None of which tells us a great deal about James Bawtinheimer except to say that he was evidently farming. He died prior to the advent of every-person censuses and so we have little to follow by that route. We do not know where James is buried. Census information from 1851 onwards indicates that the family was Wesleyan Methodist and Charlotte is buried in St. George Cemetery. St. George is to the south of the family's property and while the cemetery is now a non sectarian cemetery, it was at first a cemetery for the local Methodist church. Charlotte is buried at St. George and she is identified as the wife of J. M. Bawtinheimer, but this does not indicate his burial here. A daughter, Elvira, an infant, died and was buried here in August of 1848. James probably is as well, but we have no sure information.

A note here with regard to John Bawtinheimer, who is shown in page 229 of volume 1 of Ancaster's Heritage.

Mrs. Grimwood, in her presentation of the family's history identifies the wife of John Bawtinheimer as Elizabeth McKinney, born Feb 5, 1773, in Maryland. She dates John Bawtinheimer's birth in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, to April 6, 1767.

By the time of the 1851 census, James Bawtinheimer is deceased. His wife Charlotte is with her children in South Dumfries, but also with them is John Bawtinheimer, age 86. The family members are all shown as Wesleyan Methodists, but old John is shown as a Presbyterian. We must believe John to be James' father.

The Hamilton branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society transcribed the West Flamborough Presbyterian Cemetery at Christie's Corners in 1988. We find here a burial for John Hawtinhimer (so transcribed) born April 6, 1767, died Feb 11, 1855, aged 87 yrs, 10 mos, 5 dys. Also in the same cemetery is buried an Elizabeth Bhimer, wife of John Bhimer. Surname aside, there are problems with the other information presented, so we cannot be sure that she is John's wife.

The above information connecting the Bawtinheimers to Ancaster is of some interest with the following:

In 1995, the Toronto branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society published Men of Upper Canada, Militia Nominal Rolls, 1828-1829. This was assembled by Bruce Elliott, Dan Walker, and Fawne Stratford-Devai. Under the lists for the 1st Regiment of Gore Militia we find (see page 62) Ja's Boltinghamer, age 20. This list of soldiers as being on strength in the company is attested to by Capt. Alexander Aikman of the 1st Regiment of the Gore Militia at Ancaster on 19th November, 1828. This would place his year of birth to approximately 1809, which roughly agrees with his age, 40, at the time of his death in 1849, as recorded in the obituary shown above. 

Children of James Bawtinheimer and Charlotte Kelly
Last Edited30 Jul 2019