Baldwin, Loammi, 1744-1807

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).

Colonel Loammi Baldwin (January 10, 1744 – October 20, 1807) was a noted American engineer, politician, and a soldier in the American Revolutionary War.</p>

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.