Baldwin, John

John Baldwin was an American Justice of the Peace and merchant in 19th century Vermont.

From the guide to the John Baldwin Papers, 1806-1849, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)

Epithet: Chief Justice of Common Pleas

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000209.0x0001cd

John Baldwin (1799-1884) was a businessman and educator in Berea, Ohio, who used his wealth to promote righteous and intellectual 1iving. Baldwin was born in North Branford, Connecticut, the son of Joseph and Rosanna (Meloy) Baldwin. He moved to the Berea, Ohio, area with his wife, Mary Chapel, in 1828 to farm 200 acres of land he had purchased. About 1833, Baldwin discovered high-quality sandstone on his property which he fashioned into a crude grindstone to sharpen tools and utensils. Baldwin leased his lands to others for the quarrying operations, and the income from the sandstone leases and the manufacture and sale of grindstones provided him with enough money to pay off his debts and to pursue his benevolent interests. Baldwin donated land in June 1836 to establish a utopian community and schools called Lyceum Village where a lifestyle of simplicity and self-denial was practiced. By 1839 the community had dwindled, and Baldwin assumed its debts and remaining assets. Still anxious to organize a school, he gave land to the North Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1845 to establish the Baldwin Institute as a co-educational preparatory school combining education and work experience for its students. Ten years later he underwrote the Institute's rechartering as Baldwin University, the predecessor of Baldwin-Wallace College. He also established schools in Baldwin, Kansas, Baldwin, Louisiana, and Bengalore, India.

View the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for John Baldwin

From the guide to the John Baldwin Papers, 1819-1890, (Western Reserve Historical Society)