Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/173

Rh and received the honorary degree of master of arts from Yale college. He was licensed to preach in 1883, was pastor of a church in North Branford. Conn., for several years, and made a special study of archaeology. He became editor of the "Republican," an anti-slavery journal, published in Hartford, and subsequently of the "Commonwealth," published in Boston. From 1859 he owned and edited the "Worcester Spy." He was elected to congress in 1863, and reelected twice. He published "Raymond Hill," a collection of poems {Boston, 1847); "Prehistoric Nations" (New York, 1809); and "Ancient America" (1872).

BALDWIN, Joseph G., jurist, b. in Sumter, Ala.; d. in San Francisco, Cal., 30 Sept., 1864. From 1857 to 1863 he was a judge of the supreme court of California, and he was chief justice from January, 1863, until January, 1864. He was the author "of "Flush Times in Alabama and Mississippi" (New York, 1853), a popular book, "Party Leaders" (1854), and a volume of humorous legal sketches (San Francisco, 1879).

BALDWIN, Loammi, engineer, b. in Woburn, Mass., 21 Jan., 1745 ; d. there, 20 Oct., 1807. He received a common-school education, and, subse- quentlv devoting his attention to mathematics, studied at Harvard under Prof. Winthrop, after which he became a surveyor and engineer. He was a member of the Middlesex co. convention held in August, 1774. During the revolutionary war he entered the service as a major, and was in the battle at Lexington, in the battle of Long Island, and took part in the surprise of the Hessians at Trenton; but after reaching the rank of colonel he was compelled, in 1777, to retire in consequence of failing health. From 1780 to 1794 he was sheriff of Middlesex co. He was a member of the Massachusetts state legislature from 1778 to 1779, and again in 1780. From 1794 to 1804 he was superintendent of the Middlesex canal, and one of its principal owners. He was also a member of the American Academy of Sciences.—His son, Loammi, b. in Woburn, 16 May, 1780, d. in Charlestown, Mass., 30 June, 1838, was graduated at Harvard in 1800, studied law, and became a civil engineer. The dry docks at Charlestown and at Newport were constructed under his supervision. Since his death a memorial of him, and of his father, has appeared from the pen of a grandson.—Another son, James Fowle, engineer, b. in Woburn, Mass., 29 April, 1782, d. in Boston, 20 May, 1862, was educated at the academies in Billerica and Westford, after which he entered on mercantile pursuits in Boston, but later joined his brother in the construction of the dry dock at the Charlestown navy-yard. In 1828 he was appointed one of the commissioners to make a survey for a railroad from Boston to Albany, and from 1830 to 1835 he was engaged on the construction of the Boston and Lowell railroad. He was appointed in 1837 one of the commissioners to examine and report upon the means of supplying Boston with pure water, and recommended Long Pond. His plan was adopted in 1846, and the work was completed in 1848. He was at one time state senator from Suffolk co., and also for some years water commissioner.

BALDWIN, Matthias William, manufacturer, b. in Elizabethtown, N. J.. 10 Dec, 1795 ; d. in Philadelphia, 7 Sept., 1866. Having a natural inclination for mechanical contrivances, he was apprenticed at the age of sixteen to a firm of jewellers in Frankford, Pa. On the expiration of his service he became a journeyman, and in 1819 he established his own business. While thus occupied he devised and patented a process for plating with gold, which has since been universally adopted. He then undertook the manufacture of book-binders' tools and calico-printers' rolls, and his factory was the first to render this country independent of foreign supply. About 1828 his attention was directed to the manufacture of steam-engines, and at this time he constructed a five-horse-power engine, which was employed in his own works. The commendations that the new engine received induced him to enter into the manufacture of stationary engines, and his business became extensive and profitable. In the latter part of 1830 he was permitted to see a locomotive which had just been received from England, and after four months' labor he succeeded in producing a beautiful model, which was exhibited in Philadelphia. His first locomotive, called the " Ironsides," was made for the Philadelphia and Germantown railway, and was placed on the road 23 Nov., 1832. It was a success, and "Poulson's American Advertiser" of that period contains the following notice : "The locomotive-engine, built by M. W. Baldwin, of this city, will depart daily, when the weather is fair, with a train of passenger-cars. On rainy days horses will be attached." During the next three years he received orders for nine or ten locomotives, and in 1835 he moved to the corner of Broad and Hamilton streets. His inventions and improvements in the construction of locomotives are very numerous, and among these perhaps the most important was the flexible truck locomotive, patented in August, 1842. His works have acquired a world-wide reputation, and his locomotives have been sent to nearly every foreign country. It is estimated that over 1,500 locomotives left these works completed prior to his death. Mr. Baldwin was a member of the constitutional convention of 1837, and in 1853 of the state legislature. He was also for several years president of the Horticultural Society of Philadelphia. An extended sketch of his life, by the Rev. Wolcott Calkins, has been privately printed.

BALDWIN, Robert, Canadian statesman, b. in Toronto, 12 May, 1804 ; d. at Spadina, near Toronto, 9 Dec, 1858. He entered upon the practice of law in 1825, and continued this profession during his political career; was elected to the Upper Canada assembly in 1829 as a liberal; visited England in 1836 in the interests of responsible government, and while there endeavored to impress upon Lord Glenelg the need there was of applying the English principle of responsibility to the Canadian executive. Though he found an able advocate in Lord Durham, his mission was a failure, as it was many years before Canada was granted responsible government. On 18 Feb., 1836, Mr. Baldwin was first sworn in as an executive councillor; in 1840 he became solicitor-general, and in 1842 premier and attorney-general of Upper Canada in the Hincks-Baldwin administration, which portfolio he retained until the following year. In 1848 he resumed office under the Baldwin-Lafontaine government, finally quitting official life in 1851. Though regarded as the father of the reform party in Canada, he was not an extremist, and his political views were more nearly in accord with those of the present liberal-conservatives than with those that were held by the successors of the reform party in Canada.

BALDWIN, Roger Sherman, jurist, b. in New Haven, Conn., 4 Jan., 1793; d. there, 19 Feb., 1863. He affords an admirable instance of all that is best in the intellectual and moral life of New England. By descent and education he was of genuine Puritan stock. His father, Simeon Baldwin, was descended from one of the original New Haven colonists, and