Ledel (Baldwin) Baker
Ledel Baldwin Baker was born in 1923 to George “Clyde” and Ida (Hendrickson) Baldwin on their family ranch on Mason Creek in Crook County. She was raised on the ranch, attended a country school and later graduated from high school in Sundance.
Her father, Clyde Baldwin came to this country from eastern South Dakota with his mother and stepfather when he was 7 years old in 1889. He lived north of the Meeks place on what is now Highway 116 until he was 14 years old, when he went to work as a cowboy. He punched cattle with some of the big Texas herds that came in, the YT, 101, D and others. He homesteaded on his own place in Crook County in 1906. Ida Wilson was also born in eastern South Dakota, to immigrants from Denmark. She knew the Nels Smith family and came out to Visit Nels and Louis Smith – while here, she met Clyde Baldwin – they were married on December 5, 1911. They lived in on Mason Creek very close to the Weston County line.
She said of her life as children on the old homestead: “We made our toys if we had any. We walked a good piece to school and took lunch in lard pails that were always cold and sometimes frozen and often the old drafty schoolhouse didn’t thaw it completely out by noon. We got up early every morning to milk cows and feed calves before going to school. We came from school with the same cold chores awaiting us, besides feeding chickens, chopping wood and getting it hauled in to keep us warm.”
At the age of seventeen, she married William “Bill” Riehemann. His father, another William Riehemann, came from Germany when he was seventeen in about 1914. He worked as a barber for many years, mostly in South Dakota. He married Anna Berger from Whitewood and barbered in Deadwood. They later moved to a home in Sturgis where they farmed a little place. They lost their first child and two more burned in a home fire before Bill was born. They moved to Wyoming in 1916. Bill and Ledel were married in 1941. They moved to upper Skull Creek in Weston County, 18 miles north of Osage, living there for twenty years and raising five boys (William, Ray, Robert, Carl & Larry).
Due to ill health, Ledel moved to Upton in August of 1961. She worked at Jones Café and Jimmy’s Café until she married Paul Lamerton Baker in 1965 -- they had one son (Paul).
Paul was born to Charlie & Minnie Baker, one of three children (Paul, Ersel married Eddy Schlattman & Jessie married Jim Johnson). His father, Charlie was born in in Iowa in 1879 and came to Wyoming at an early age and worked on the railroad. He married Minnie Boyd from Missouri and homesteaded in Weston County around 1900. Charlie died in 1942 and Paul and his mother kept the home place. Paul also had a homestead of his own on Raven Creek close to his dad’s. Paul & Ledel’s son, Paul, took over the ranch later.
Ledel and Paul moved to Moorcroft in 1966 where she ran the Cowboy Motel and was a bus agent for 11 years. She retired after Paul’s death in 1984 at the age of 77, but “helped other people stay healthy and alert.”
She died in 1995 at the age of 72 of injuries she received in a vehicle-pedestrian accident in Newcastle.
Ledel Baldwin Baker was born in 1923 to George “Clyde” and Ida (Hendrickson) Baldwin on their family ranch on Mason Creek in Crook County. She was raised on the ranch, attended a country school and later graduated from high school in Sundance.
Her father, Clyde Baldwin came to this country from eastern South Dakota with his mother and stepfather when he was 7 years old in 1889. He lived north of the Meeks place on what is now Highway 116 until he was 14 years old, when he went to work as a cowboy. He punched cattle with some of the big Texas herds that came in, the YT, 101, D and others. He homesteaded on his own place in Crook County in 1906. Ida Wilson was also born in eastern South Dakota, to immigrants from Denmark. She knew the Nels Smith family and came out to Visit Nels and Louis Smith – while here, she met Clyde Baldwin – they were married on December 5, 1911. They lived in on Mason Creek very close to the Weston County line.
She said of her life as children on the old homestead: “We made our toys if we had any. We walked a good piece to school and took lunch in lard pails that were always cold and sometimes frozen and often the old drafty schoolhouse didn’t thaw it completely out by noon. We got up early every morning to milk cows and feed calves before going to school. We came from school with the same cold chores awaiting us, besides feeding chickens, chopping wood and getting it hauled in to keep us warm.”
At the age of seventeen, she married William “Bill” Riehemann. His father, another William Riehemann, came from Germany when he was seventeen in about 1914. He worked as a barber for many years, mostly in South Dakota. He married Anna Berger from Whitewood and barbered in Deadwood. They later moved to a home in Sturgis where they farmed a little place. They lost their first child and two more burned in a home fire before Bill was born. They moved to Wyoming in 1916. Bill and Ledel were married in 1941. They moved to upper Skull Creek in Weston County, 18 miles north of Osage, living there for twenty years and raising five boys (William, Ray, Robert, Carl & Larry).
Due to ill health, Ledel moved to Upton in August of 1961. She worked at Jones Café and Jimmy’s Café until she married Paul Lamerton Baker in 1965 -- they had one son (Paul).
Paul was born to Charlie & Minnie Baker, one of three children (Paul, Ersel married Eddy Schlattman & Jessie married Jim Johnson). His father, Charlie was born in in Iowa in 1879 and came to Wyoming at an early age and worked on the railroad. He married Minnie Boyd from Missouri and homesteaded in Weston County around 1900. Charlie died in 1942 and Paul and his mother kept the home place. Paul also had a homestead of his own on Raven Creek close to his dad’s. Paul & Ledel’s son, Paul, took over the ranch later.
Ledel and Paul moved to Moorcroft in 1966 where she ran the Cowboy Motel and was a bus agent for 11 years. She retired after Paul’s death in 1984 at the age of 77, but “helped other people stay healthy and alert.”
She died in 1995 at the age of 72 of injuries she received in a vehicle-pedestrian accident in Newcastle.