Background
He was born on January 10, 1744 at North Woburn, the son of James Baldwin, and Ruth, daughter of Joseph Richardson of Woburn.
He was born on January 10, 1744 at North Woburn, the son of James Baldwin, and Ruth, daughter of Joseph Richardson of Woburn.
He was educated at North Woburn. He was early apprenticed to the trade of cabinet making, and worked at it for several years. That he later became a land surveyor and engineer, and, as recorded, "man of learning, " was due to his own ambition and his interest in higher education. With his friend, Benjamin Thompson, famous in after-life as Count Rumford, he was accustomed to walk several times weekly from Woburn to Cambridge, to attend lectures on mathematics and physics by Prof. John Winthrop of Harvard. On their return home the young men constructed rude apparatus to illustrate the principles expounded.
At the beginning of the Revolution, Baldwin was already established in the practise of civil engineering, but responded to the call to arms by enlisting in the 38th Foot, Samuel Gerrish. Within a few weeks he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel and on Gerrish's retirement succeeded him in command. In the reorganization of the army, the regiment was renamed the 26th, and the number of its companies was increased from eight to ten. Its first year of service was in the vicinity of Boston, but in April 1776 it was transferred to Washington's army and ordered to New York City. There Baldwin commanded the main guard, and was in the retreat to the Delaware River, also in the memorable attack on Trenton, December 25, 1776, when Washington surprised and captured the Hessian commander, Rapp, and 1, 000 men. In 1777, because of continued ill health, he was honorably discharged and returned home.
During 1778-79, Baldwin was representative for Woburn in the General Court, being the first to hold the dignity, after the adoption of the state constitution (1779). He was high sheriff of Middlesex County for several years after 1780. The outbreak of Shays's Rebellion, in 1786, found him earnest in his support of the state authority, and one of thirty-seven to protest against Woburn's refusal to help suppress the disorder. He was again a member of the General Court from 1800 to 1804. In the intervals between official engagements, Baldwin probably continued professional practise, although not conspicuously until 1794, when he appeared as a leading projector and chief engineer of the Middlesex Canal. This work, authorized by legislature in 1793, to connect the Charles and Merrimac Rivers, was in process for ten years. During this period Baldwin attained distinction in an entirely new field. While surveying for the canal, near Wilmington, Massachussets, he encountered a seedling appletree, which according to report had been vigorously assaulted by woodpeckers. The fruit, however, proved so excellent that in the following season Baldwin cut scions for grafting on his own trees. The result was the noted "Baldwin" apple, called also "Pecker, " "Woodpecker, " and "Steele's Red Winter. " The hardiness of the trees, the quantity and good average uniformity of their yield, and the firmness of the fruit enabling it to be readily transported and preserved, render this variety "the standard winter apple of Eastern America".
Baldwin was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He married twice: in 1772 Mary Fowle; and in 1791 Margery Fowle, a cousin of his first wife.
His five sons, Cyrus Baldwin (1773–1854), Benjamin Franklin Baldwin (1777–1821), Loammi Baldwin, Jr. (1780–1834), James Fowle Baldwin (1782–1862), and George Rumford Baldwin (1798–1888) were also well-known engineers.