Susan Metzger Baldwin

In my last post, I told about how I went to the Ocean County Library to look for an obituary for Charles Metzger, who died in Lakewood, NJ.  I did not find one.  While speaking with one of the librarians, I mentioned that I thought that he had lived in Trenton area originally and was a college professor out there.  The Librarian says that they had access to the Historic Trenton Time Newspaper, but it only has access to about 1993, and he died in 1996.  But if you search for his name, you may find other articles.  The Librarian set me up on a computer and I entered Metzger in the search box.  The first search item was this:

Holy mackerel, this is Susan Metzger and in a flash I now know her married name, that she died on 4 Feb 1992, at the age of 54, and where.  Did I say where?  Garland, Maine.  Talk about a shocker, and this is a Trenton newspaper.  I never dreamed that she lived in Maine, and I never would have looked for her obit in the Trenton Times.  I had never met her, but after reading the obit, I wish I had.  Past Secretary of the Maine Trappers Association and 1987 Trapper of the Year.  Sounds like her mother, active in the Garland Recreation Program, mainly Swimming.  It then goes on to say that she is the mother of the late Joseph R Baldwin, Jr.  When I started doing the family tree, my cousin Linda gave me some file cards from an aunt of ours.  On the cards she had written notes about each family group, one card for each brother or sister and their family.  On Susan Metzger's card there was a note that said that she had a son who had committed suicide.  Now I know his name.

After printing the obit, I returned to the search results and my second result was this one:

 Another surprise.  A death in Maine listed in the Trenton Times.  I obviously never knew Joseph Jr., but after reading this he certainly sounds like the All-American Kid.  Born in Princeton, NJ, sophomore at Dexter Regional High School, on the Cross Country Team, the High School Band and Newspaper.  Not only that but he was community minded and served on the Garland Volunteer Junior Fire Department.  Sounds like a college resume, but who knows what was troubling him.  He died 25 Oct 1978, he was 15 years old.  He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Garland, ME.

I went to Find A Grave, to search for Evergreen Cemetery and found that Susan Metzger Baldwin, her husband Joseph Robbins Baldwin, Sr. and his parents: Joseph and Myrtle Baldwin are all listed there, but not Joey.  I called the cemetery and found that Joey is buried with the family, but is not listed in Find A Grave.  I tell people about Find A Grave and they look at me like I'm crazy.  I was explaining to the woman at the Evergreen Cemetery that some of the family is listed on Find A Grave, and she sounded shocked that this web site exists.  I just figured that she would have heard of it.  Anyway, Find A Grave says that Joseph R Baldwin Sr, died 13 Oct 2011 at age 74.  I googled the name and found an obituary in the Bangor Daily News. and the same obit on a website called MarineChat.com

This is from the MarineChat.com website, I liked it because it had two pictures of him.  It also says that he remarried after Susan died.  He was also a lifelong trapper, which may be how Susan became involved with trapping.  He had a brother Billy, who had passed away before him and a brother David, who is a Doctor.  I realize that I am not really related to this man, he would officially be the "husband of my second cousin", but I find it interesting to be able to learn this much about a man who I never knew.  I found out more about him in a two to four week period, than I have about some closer relations over the past eight years.

I also heard from the man who had posted the family tree that started these last two blogs.  He actually met my cousin Gertrude Valleau Metzger.  He said that "Gerty" or Aunt Gert was a very proper lady as he remembered and reminded him of Betty Davis.   He also added a few comments about Susan's family: Susan died of Lupus, young Joey committed suicide with a shotgun, and Joe Sr. was a registered Maine Guide and cut grass a cemeteries in the summer.  I have not gotten back to him yet, but will tonight.

There was also more about Charlie Metzger; Charlie Metzger was his great Uncle, and was Vice President of Trenton State at one point.  He also had an older brother George, who was killed in WWI.  One more thing about Charlie Metzger:  I was at work today, and I use Google Earth alot at work.  While on Google Earth, I "flew" to The College of New Jersey, the new name for Trenton State, and while looking down at the campus below, I  saw a street that circled the campus.  The name of the street caught my eye: Metzger Drive.  I wonder if it was named after him.

You can see it at the bottom right, it kind of parallels inside of Route 31.  Pretty cool huh?