Colonel Loammi Baldwin

Col. Loammi Baldwin

The Father of Civil Engineering in America

• Find A Grave Memorial ID # 1478
• Baldwin Family Papers - Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum
• Loammi Baldwin, Sr. on Wikipedia
• George Washington from Lieutenant Colonel Loammi Baldwin, 16 August 1775
• Guide to the Loammi Baldwin Papers 1821-1842

BALDWIN, LOAMMI Ancestor #: A005316
Notice: TREAT AS NEW ANCESTOR
Service: MASSACHUSETTS
Rank(s): COLONEL
Birth: 1-21-1744 IN WOBURN, MIDDLESEX, MASSACHUSETTS
Death: 10-20-1807 WOBURN, MIDDLESEX, MASSACHUSETTS

LOAMMI 4, James 3, Henry 2, Henry 1

Baldwin was the son of James Baldwin and Ruth Richardson, was b. at Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts on January 10, 1745; died on October 20, 1807 in Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

Baldwin was the commanding officer of the Woburn militia on 19 April 1775. He established the first successful ambush on the British that day at Bloody Angle. His forces destroyed the British command by injuring 9 out of the 10 officers in the leading companies. Loammi Balwin remained in the militia, eventually being promoted to Colonel in early 1776. He led the 26th Cont'l regiment into battle at Trenton on 26 December 1776, after which he retired due to poor health.

Loammi Baldwin was a soldier in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, a civil engineer, and a state legislator from Woburn, Massachusetts. He is credited with propogating and developing, from grafts, the "BALDWIN" apple; a hardy variety of apple. A self-educated cabinetmaker he used to walk from Woburn to Cambridge to hear lectures on mathematics at Harvard. An opponent of British rule, he fought in the American Revolution at Lexington, Trenton and Concord;achieving the rank of colonel. He represented Woburn in the Massachusetts LEGISLATURE (1778-79, 1800-04) and was HIGH SHERIFF of Middlesex County 1781-1794. He was the chief engineer of the MIDDLESEX CANAL that joined Massachusetts' Merrimack and Charles Rivers (1794-1804).

A prolific author, he wrote, in addition to many publications, "An account of a Curious Appearance of the Electrical Fluid" and "Observations on Electricity and an Improved Mode of Constructing Lightning Rods". He wrote a sketch of Count Rumford which was printed in a local publication in 1805 and was the author of a report on the survey of the Boston and Narragansett Bay Canal in 1806. He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1782, and received from Harvard College the degree of Master of Arts in 1785.

Active politically and socially, he was a favorite of his townsmen and was elected to many positions in addition to that of High Sheriff. He was the first to hold office after the adoption of the state constitution; appointed to many committees, represented Woburn in the general court, and was a candidate for the offices of state senator, lieutenant-governor and presidential elector. In 1780, when the Continental Currency had hyperinflated to the point of being "Not worth a Continental" the Congress stopped authorizing the printing of paper money in its own name - but encouraged the states to issue new currency. When the resolution of Mar. 18,1780 went into effect the decision to use EDEN MILLS paper to reduce counterfeiting, was made and, working with an innovation of Benjamin Franklin, flakes of mica and threads of blue silk were added to the paper mixture. Signors of the money would be three individuals; two who were well recognized citizens, and the third to sign as guarantor. One of the signors chosen to sign the new Massachusetts money was Loammi Baldwin.

But perhaps the greatest and longest lasting accomplishment of his had nothing to do with engineering in the strictest sense. He was one day surveying land at a place called Butters' Row, in Wilmington, when he observed woodpeckers flying to a certain tree and, prompted by curiosity to discover the reason for their attraction, he found ,on the ground below the tree, apples of an excellant flavor and worth cultivating. Next spring he took scions to graft into stocks of his own. Before long others, doing likewise, grafted scions onto their own trees. He often, while attending court or on his trips around the countryside in his capacity as high sheriff, would carry scions of this apple and distribute them to those he encountered, so that soon the produce from his orchards became known, as did those of others who grafted to their own trees, as the "Baldwin" apple.....altho the original tree was blown down in 1815, the success of the grafting process which produced fruit of a consistent quality, was established.

He married 1st with MARY FOWLE, of Woburn, on July. 9,1772. Children were: Cyrus (c1774), Benjamin Franklin (1777), Loammi (1778) James Fowler (1782), and Mary (c1785).

He married 2nd with MARGARY FOWLE on May 26,1791 and they had: Clarissa (c1795), and George Rumford (1798).

Notice:TREAT AS NEW ANCESTOR (no application or supplemental application has been verified on this ancestor since the very early days of the society. As such, this means all information on this ancestor and his or her descendants must be documented using current DAR standards)

LOAMMI BALDWIN

Canal Engineer, Apple Magnate, Revolutionary War Figure. Born to James Baldwin and Ruth Richardson, Hon. Loammi Baldwin was successively Major, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Colonel of Gerrish's regment. He was present with the regiment on December 26, 1776, at Trenton, New Jersey with General Washington. He resigned his command about 1777 for ill health and returned to Woburn. He served as High Sheriff of Middlesex County, represented Woburn in the General Court 1778-1805. He received his Masters degree in 1783 from Harvard College and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was "projector" of the Middlesex Canal. The Baldwin apple was named after him. He married July 9, 1772, Mary Fowle (daughter of James Fowle, Esq and Margaret Fowle). (bio by: Ken - TN (inactive))

• http://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Middlesex/Woburn/Images/WoburnP3_M017... marriage to Mary Fowle in Woburn, both of Woburn on 7/9/1772.
• http://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Middlesex/Woburn/Images/WoburnP3_M017.... marriage to Miss Margery Fowle, both of Woburn, in Woburn, Mass. on May 26, 1791.
• http://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Middlesex/Woburn/DeathsB.shtml. Hon. Loammi, s of --, 10/20/1807, 63y
• http://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Middlesex/Woburn/Images/WoburnP2_D010...
• http://www.stacsarchive.com/biewlot.php?auction=cstore&lot=100658&a......
• http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCurrency/CurrencyText/MA-05-05-80b.html
• http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nbstdavi/baldwincurrency.html
• http://www.middlesexsheriff.org/msohistory.pdf http://ntgen.tripod.com/bw/loammi.html
• Harvard University Library Papers http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hou01081
• http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMD2FJ_Colonel_Loammi_Baldwin_Sr... Regarding Loammi and the inscriptions on the Statue in Woburn.
• http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/10/colonel-loammi-baldwi.... Statue in Woburn, Mass.
• http://tuftsgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/zachariah-tufts-revoluti...

The Baldwin Genealogy from 1500-1881 (1881)
Author: Baldwin, C.C. (Charles Candee), 1834-1895
Subject: Baldwin Family
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio [Leader printing company]
Possible Copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
Pg. 620, 627

A noted American engineer, politician, and a soldier in the American Revolutionary War.

Baldwin is known as the Father of American Civil Engineering. 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. He surveyed and was responsible for the construction of the Middlesex Canal, but today he is perhaps best remembered for the Baldwin apple which he developed at his farm, or rather he recognized its potential and propagated it throughout the northeast. The apple had been discovered on the farm of John Ball in Wilmington, Massachusetts, around 1750, and named Woodpecker by a later owner of the farm. Colonel Baldwin's promotion of the apple occurred after 1784. He was also a surveyor and plantation co-owner in Hartford, Maine, which at that time was known as East Butterfield.

Baldwin attended grammar school in Woburn, Massachusetts. Later he would walk from North Woburn to Cambridge with his younger friend and childhood neighbor, Benjamin Thompson, later Count Rumford, to attend the lectures of Professor John Winthrop at Harvard College. He and Thompson performed their own experiments at home. Baldwin received a Master of Arts degree from Harvard in 1785.

In 1774, Baldwin enlisted in a regiment, and commanded the Woburn militia at the Battle of Lexington and Concord as a major. He is recorded as having described the events of April 19, 1775 as follows, "We mustered as fast as possible. The Town turned out extraordinary, and proceeded toward Lexington." As a major at the time he continues "I rode along a little before the main body, and when I was nigh Jacob Reed's (at present Durenville) I heard a great firing; proceeded on, soon heard that the Regulars had fired upon Lexington people and killed a large number of them. We proceeded on as fast as possible and came to Lexington and saw about eight or ten dead and numbers wounded." He then, with the rest from Woburn, proceeded to Concord by way of Lincoln meeting house, ascended a hill there, and rested and refreshed themselves a little. Then follows a particular account of the action and of his own experience. He had "several good shots," and proceeded on till coming between the meeting-house and Buckman's tavern at Lexington, with a prisoner before him, the cannon of the British began to play, the balls flying near him, and for safety he retreated back behind the meeting-house, when a ball came through near his head, and he further retreated to a meadow north of the house and lay there and heard the balls in the air and saw them strike the ground. Woburn sent to the field on that day, one hundred and eighty men. At the beginning of the war, he enlisted in the 26th Continental Regiment commanded by Colonel Samuel Gerrish. Here he rapidly advanced to be lieutenant-colonel, and upon Colonel Gerrish's retirement in August 1775, he was placed in command of the regiment, and was soon commissioned colonel.

Until the end of 1775, Baldwin and his men remained near Boston, but in April 1776, he was ordered with his command to New York City. He took part in the Battle of Pell's Point on October 18, 1776. On the night of December 25–26, in the face of a violent and extremely cold storm of snow and hail, General Washington and his army crossed the Delaware to the New Jersey side, and fought the Battle of Trenton on the morning of December 26. Baldwin and his regiment participated in both the crossing and the fight. In 1777, Baldwin resigned from the army because of ill health.

Baldwin was elected to various public offices between 1780 and 1796. He was appointed high sheriff of Middlesex County in 1780, and was the first to hold office after the adoption of the state constitution. From 1778-1784, he represented Woburn in the Massachusetts General Court. In 1794, he was a candidate for election to the United States House of Representatives, and obtained all the votes cast in Woburn but one.

Baldwin married July 9, 1772, Mary Fowle (died 1786 age 39) daughter of James Fowle, Jr. and Mary Reed, and had four sons. He married again, May 26, 1791, Margaret Fowle (1747-1799), daughter of Josiah and Margery Carter, and had a son and a daughter.[3]

Howard Means in Johnny Appleseed: The Man, the Myth, The American Story, references Baldwin as a cousin of John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed.)

Loammi Baldwin papers at Harvard University - https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/24/resources/2323

Richardson Memorial - http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~billie0w/books/richardson_memorial/E...