Blacksmiths were once indispensable – Part II

#Middlebury #Blacksmith

George Baeder stands in the door of his blacksmith shop. Baeder operated his Middlebury blacksmith shop for 45 years. (Middlebury Historical Society photo)

By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD

Last month’s column focused on Middlebury blacksmith John T. Basham. The other “village smithy” (and perhaps the last) most often referred to in Middlebury history was George Baeder (1877-1955). Born in New Jersey, the son of a German father and Scots mother, George was the fourth of six sons born to Christian and Elizabeth (Monroe) Baeder, immigrants attempting to fulfill “the American dream.” Christian, who came to the United States when he was 15, later married and settled in Hanover Township, N.J. The six Baeder sons led active and productive lives as they created families and went to work.

George and his older brother, John (1872-1937), were by 1900 established blacksmiths in Torrington, Conn. George found a bride in Harwinton, Marian S. Buell, and became her husband in 1902; the couple left shortly to begin a new life in Middlebury. John T. Basham (see the July 2018 column) was looking for someone to take over his blacksmithing business on the Middlebury Green, and George fit the bill.

Meanwhile, Marian gave birth to Julia (1905), Lawrence (1909) and Edith (1915). When Westover was built in 1907, the blacksmith shop was moved to Store Road where a garage now stands behind Pies and Pints. Times were not always smooth; a fire devastated George’s barn in 1915, and Marian died in 1916, leaving three children, including 14-month old Edith, to raise. George married Susan Dudley (ca. 1878-1947) of Guilford four years later. Brother John, who was also a burgess in Torrington, continued to thrive as a blacksmith in Torrington.

George’s brother, Louis E. Baeder (1874-1945), settled in Newark and became a blacksmith, the third son to do so. By 1920 he was working in the automobile body industry. Another brother, William H. (b. 1875) worked for a cream separator company and lived with his family in Canada and Georgia, returning to Newark by 1940.

Son number five, Albert E. Baeder (1879-1936), joined Brooks Brothers, the men’s clothiers, in 1900 and rose from clerk to treasurer and board member by the time of his death. With his wife, Ada Pierce, and daughter Dorothy, they entered the ranks of New York City high society.

Snow falls on George Baeder’s blacksmith shop. The shop stood where a garage now stands near Pies & Pints. (Middlebury Historical Society photo)

George lived in Middlebury for 53 years, operating his blacksmith shop for 45 of those years. He also belonged to the Middlebury Grange and the Congregational Church. Middleburian Wallace Chamberlain Clark (1912-1997) used to watch Baeder at work as a boy. In Gloria Clark’s “Interviews with Descendants of Middlebury Residents” (1976),

Wallace recollected his observation about the village smithy and his shop: “It was a big, open, drafty and cold place where the farmers used to bring their horses to have them shod. They brought in wagon wheels to be repaired and metal wagon parts that had broken. On the west end of the shop was the forge where a continuous fire was kept going, and there was a big anvil near the forge; all day long one could hear the ring of metal on metal as the blacksmith worked his iron.”

Blacksmiths are no longer found in every village and town as they once were, but some still practice the craft. These days, they mainly focus on producing items such as gates, grilles, railings and light fixtures. They also create metal works of art.

Bob Rafford is the Middlebury Historical Society president and Middlebury’s municipal historian. To join or contact the society, visit MiddleburyHistoricalSociety.org or call Bob at 203-206-4717.