This No. 139 is one of two Welcome Wall panels for John Baldwin - the other is No. 11. The information does not match, but the man is the same.
As the information does not match, some of it must be wrong. But there is something very odd to see Mary McDonnell born in 1829 and having a baby, Mary Ann, in 1838 at the tender age of 9 !
According to John Baldwin's army attestation, he was born in 1809; there is a record of John Baldwin's baptism at Tamworth on 24 March, 1809.
Also, John Baldwin and Mary had a third child who died on 26 March 1853...just 4 weeks before the family arrived at Fremantle on the "Pyrenees". This is an important detail recorded in the Sick List for the "Pyrenees"; this document is easily accessible on the Internet.

Tue 3 Nov 2015

I'm looking to verify some of the discrepencies in the information I have for this section of my family tree. I invite the author to contact me to discuss.

Mon 1 Jan 2018

In my Comment of 3 Nov 2015, I referred in error to a baptism record for John Baldwin in March 1809 at Tamworth, Staffordshire. I was clutching at a straw, I regret to admit, but I hope I can now establish some evidence-based facts. With that Comment, I also attached a copy of his army service record and that provides much of the evidence.
When we examine the information John Baldwin gave when he enlisted on 5 Oct 1825, we see that he was born in Newcastle, Staffordshire. The Tamworth baptism record can not be reconciled with that: Newcastle and Tamworth are at opposite ends of the county and could not possibly be confused. John swore he was born in Newcastle and he meant it. In a Dublin Criminal Court Record dated 23 Aug 1852, (see attached), when John was sentenced to 1 week for assault, he gave the same place of birth. His army service record also shows that John turned 18 on 2 Oct 1827, which means he was born on 2 Oct 1809. That would preclude a baptism on 12 Mar 1809, some 7 months before he was born.
The Tamworth baptism in the Anglican church at Tamworth was for a different John Baldwin who can be tracked through the UK Census records from 1841 to 1891. He lived out his whole life in Tamworth and certainly did not come to Fremantle in 1853.
The John Baldwin born in Newcastle on 2 Oct 1809 was a Catholic and his baptism would have been carried out quite secretly as the Catholic church in England at that time was transitioning from being highly illegal to barely tolerated. The record of John’s baptism, if there was one, may have been hidden as it may have been incriminating. There are no Catholic records accessible from the Newcastle area even now, but the absence of a record does not give us licence to clutch at another baptism record bearing the right name but wrong in so many other details.
The John Baldwin who arrived in Fremantle in 1853 was born in Newcastle, and had always been a Catholic even when that led to greater hardship for his whole family.

Tue 9 Mar 2021

I need to modify my comment of 3 Nov 2015 regarding the 1809 baptism for John Baldwin in Tamworth. That baptism was for another person of the same name.
The John Baldwin commemorated in the Welcome Wall attested when he enlisted in the British army that he was born in Newcastle, Staffordshire. His adult service as a soldier, i.e., on turning 18, commenced on 2 Oct 1827; that gives a birth date of 2 Oct 1809.
John was a Catholic. His marriage in 1842 and his children’s baptisms were conducted in the Catholic church, but his own baptism record is missing.
In 1809, Catholicism had only recently been de-criminalised in the United Kingdom and Newcastle was a very Protestant area. At that time, Catholics were still barely tolerated; their emancipation did not occur for another 20 years. John's baptism would have been very low-key, clandestine, perhaps even conducted in secret. In such conditions, it is easy to understand that records may easily have been mislaid.

Sun 21 Mar 2021

Further research has shown that the baptism of 12 Mar 1809 in Tamworth was for a different John Baldwin born about 7 months earlier than the John Baldwin who came to Fremantle and who would have been baptised as a Catholic somewhere near Newcastle - not Tamworth.
Catholic records from 1809 are not accessible. At that time, Catholicism was no longer illegal but was barely tolerated, even after the Emancipation bill of 1829. There was no Catholic church near Newcastle (not until about 1849!) but John would have been baptised even if secretly at home. He was a staunch Cathholic, as shown by his marriage and the baptisms of all his children.

Mon 19 Apr 2021