George Rumford Baldwin (North Woburn, January 26, 1798 – North Woburn, October 11, 1888) an early American civil engineer who worked with his father

Loammi Baldwin Colonel Loammi Baldwin (January 10, 1744 – October 20, 1807) was 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 ...

and brothers Loammi Baldwin, Jr. Cyrus Baldwin,

Benjamin Franklin Baldwin Benjamin Franklin Baldwin (December 15, 1777 – October 11, 1821) was one of the five sons of Loammi Baldwin of Woburn, Massachusetts. Baldwin held the office of captain in the militia from 1800 to 1805, of major from 1807 to 1811, and of lie ...

, and

James Fowle Baldwin James Fowle Baldwin (April 29, 1782 – May 20, 1862) was an early American civil engineer who worked with his father and brothers on the Middlesex Canal, surveyed and designed the Boston and Lowell Railroad and the Boston and Albany Railroad, the ...

, on the

Middlesex Canal The Middlesex Canal was a 27-mile (44-kilometer) barge canal connecting the Merrimack River with the port of Boston. When operational it was 30 feet (9.1 m) wide, and 3 feet (0.9 m) deep, with 20 locks, each 80 feet (24 m) long and between 10 and ...

and other projects. His later works included surveying and engineering the Boston, Hartford, and Erie Railroad, the

Buffalo and Mississippi Railroad Buffalo most commonly refers to: * Bubalina, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York Buffalo or buffaloes may also refer to: Animals * Bubalina, a subtribe of the t ...

, and the gas and water systems for the City of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Baldwin Mansion

The Baldwin Mansion, also known as

Baldwin House (Woburn, Massachusetts) The Baldwin House, also known as the Loammi Baldwin Mansion, is a Colonial American mansion located in Woburn, Massachusetts. On October 7, 1971, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It is currently a restaurant called Sich ...

was built in 1661 by Henry Baldwin and still stands today, although not on the original site having been moved to accommodate commercial real estate development and the construction of U.S. Rt 95 . The following description of the house and contents predates the transition of the house from Baldwin family ownership in the 20th century. "The land of the original Henry Baldwin held by his descendant George R. Baldwin at the time of this death in 1888, included between and . The mansion is on the noteworthy survivals of our earliest times in size, arrangement, adornment, and in its well preserved relics. Within it are to be found implements, household utensils, paintings, ornaments, and sundry furnishings, with luxurious appliances, gathered by the generations which have occupied it from birth to death. Piles of trunks and boxes contain their private papers and settlements of estates. Most interesting among its contents is a large, select, and valuable library of many thousand volumes, collected principally by the father and brothers of George R. Baldwin and by himself, giving evidence of their scientific and literary tastes. Learned tomes in many languages, costly illustrated works, series of scientific publications on construction and engineering, and sumptuous editions of the best writers in various departments of literature, are among its treasures. This library later went to the Baker Library at MIT. The house and its contents is a memorial of one of the oldest and most distinguished families of its citizens."Woburnites: The Family of Baldwin, http://www.yeoldewoburn.net/Baldwin.htm His father,

, was the earliest civil engineer in Massachusetts, and a leading promoter, surveyor, designer, and engineer of the

, chartered in 1793. Its course lay through his own estate, the several hundred acres belonging later to George R. Baldwin, and it was completed in 1803. The canal served its uses until superseded by the

Boston and Lowell Railroad The Boston and Lowell Railroad was a railroad that operated in Massachusetts in the United States. It was one of the first railroads in North America and the first major one in the state. The line later operated as part of the Boston and Maine R ...

Family and education

George Rumford Baldwin was born in the Baldwin mansion at North Woburn, January 26, 1798, and died there October 11, 1888, "having devoted his lengthened life, with the full possession of his faculties till its close, to the pursuits of practical science, as a surveyor, a civil engineer, and a constructor. He was the son of his father's second wife. His middle name recalled the early and continued friendship which existed between his father and

Count Rumford Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, FRS (german: Reichsgraf von Rumford; March 26, 1753August 21, 1814) was an American-born British physicist and inventor whose challenges to established physical theory were part of the 19th-century revolut ...

. When

had attained that rank and title at Munich, a correspondence began between the two which is of great personal and historical interest. In a letter following the birth of George Rumford Baldwin, the father writes to the Count, "I have had a son born to me to whom I have given your name." The father wished this boy, as he grew up, to enter Harvard College, but the son was disinclined to scholarship in that institution as its standard then was, and from his earliest years his bent was for mathematical and scientific studies, pursued by himself, and for practical out-of-door work in waterways, surveying and engineering, in the examination of mills and water-power, dams and raceways. He, as we have already noticed, had marked facilities for practice of this sort, with preliminary training in a school kept by Dr. Stearns in Medford, and by accompanying his father and brother in field and office work. In his fourteenth year he made some sketches of the fortifications of Boston harbor in the War of 1812, of which his brother Loammi Baldwin, Jr. was the chief engineer. George married December 6, 1837, the stepdaughter of his brother, Loammi Baldwin, Jr., namely, Catherine Richardson Beckford, daughter of Captain Thomas and Catherine (Williams) Beckford, of Charlestown. Her father was at one time the partner of Joshua Bates, the London banker. Mrs. Beckford had two daughters by her first marriage, but no child by her second. He had but one child, a daughter, who married, and resides mainly in Quebec.

Engineering career

A series of his diaries for more than fifty years contain daily entries of his employments and occupations. He lived a life of marvelous industry, of wide travel, and of useful service. He was called upon as expert, witness, referee or examiner in many ways, at a period when the development of our railroad and manufacturing enterprises made a demand for talent and skill. He helped form the first associated company of engineers. He was naturally shy, modest, diffident, and reticent, of most retiring and undemonstrative ways, therefore when called upon for any utterance in public before many persons it was for him a serious strain. His social intercourse was limited, and under no circumstances could he have made a speech in public of advocacy or argument. The following were some of his early engagements: 1821, built P. C. Brook's stone bridge; 1822–1823, in Pennsylvania with his brother; 1823–1825, at factories in Lowell; 1826, surveyed Charlestown Navy Yard also known as the

Boston Navy Yard The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. It was established in 1801 as part of the recent establishment of t ...

in Charlestown; executed Marine Railway; 1831–1833, in England; 1833–1834, on the

; 1834–1836, in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

; 1837, in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, on Brunswick Canal. In 1845 he was chief engineer on the route to the

. In 1846 he was employed on the examination of the water power of

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...

, and by the national government on the Dry Docks in Washington and Brooklyn. In 1847 he was summoned to

to engage on professional tasks which occupied him till he completed them in 1856. This was the introduction of gas, water, and sewer systems into Quebec. He was in full superintendence, under the mayor and a water board. In the course of the work he sailed with his family to Europe to superintend the casting of pipes, gates, etc., and to arrange for their shipment. In 1857–58, he was in Europe with his family, principally in Paris and London, with many excursions. With accomplished skill in draughting and etching, his pencil was ever busy in sketching all the objects of special interest, and his descriptions are illustrated by a mass of drawings, more or less perfected. He was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 1877. He was connected as consulting engineer with many more modern works, the most important, perhaps, being the Boston, Hartford, and Erie railroad which was later reincorporated as the

New York and New England Railroad The New York and New England Railroad (NY&NE) was a railroad connecting southern New York State with Hartford, Connecticut; Providence, Rhode Island; and Boston, Massachusetts. It operated under that name from 1873 to 1893. Prior to 1873 it was ...

. His journals show how fully every interval between these public works was improved. He was skilled in all family, horticultural, and agricultural labors, and his pen was ever busy in his own affairs, or for the service of friends. Most paragraphs in this entry are from out of copyright books referenced below.

Baldwin Mansion

Family and education

Engineering career

References

Further reading