Chatham County GaArchives Biographies.....Baldwin, Daniel Hoard 1825 - 1887
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 13, 2004, 5:23 pm

Author: William Harden
p. 608-610

   CAPT. DANIEL HOARD BALDWIN. Conspicuous among the enterprising and
progressive men who during the middle of the nineteenth century were most
intimately associated with the development and advancement of the mercantile
prosperity of Chatham county, Georgia, was Capt. Daniel Hoard Baldwin, one of
the foremost merchants of Savannah. A son of Tilley and Rebecca Hoard Baldwin,
he was born, March 19, 1825, in Phillipston, Worcester county, Massachusetts.
His mother dying when he was very young, his father married again, and to the
influence of the lovely, sweet-faced Christian woman who became his step-mother
he ever gave credit for all that was good in his character. His reverence and
love for her remained unbroken and helpful until her death, which came as a
great grief and loss to him after his marriage, and the birth of his first child.

   Brought up in or near his birthplace, Daniel Hoard Baldwin worked as a lad
for an uncle on a farm. A bright and cheery lad, full of life and spirits, his
fondness for fun was rather a source of amazement to the stern and rugged New
England farmer, who often called out, "There's that boy giggling again; what is
he giggling at now?” The boy's strong and independent character, and his desire
for greater advancement and advantages, lured him southward, and at the age of
eighteen years he came to Savannah, Georgia, going into the home and office of
another uncle, Mr. Loami Baldwin, head of the mercantile firm of L. Baldwin &
Company. As a clerk he steadily and faithfully performed the duties then
devolving upon him in that capacity, opening the office in the early morning,
and clearing it up, work which is now done by unskilled labor. Industrious and
persevering, he developed much business ability, making steady progress along
the path of attainments until becoming a member of the firm, which, by the death
of Loami Baldwin, was changed to the style of Brigham, Kelly & Company. The
subsequent death of Mr. Kelly caused another change in the name of the firm,
which became Brigham, Baldwin & Company, a firm which, it is said, did the
largest shipping business in Savannah up to the Civil war.

   During the war, Capt. Daniel H. Baldwin was in the commissary department,
with which he was connected until 1865, when, in the spring of that year, he
removed with his family to New York City. His former large business interests,
and close touch with the people of Georgia, suggested to him the advisability of
establishing a cotton commission business at a time when everything else was
disorganized, and, availing himself of the opportunity, he organized the New
York firm of D. H. Baldwin & Company.

   The integrity and sterling honesty of Captain Baldwin was unquestioned, as
may be evidenced by the question of some business relation coming up to which he
had "promised" his support. Someone being asked, "Has Baldwin signed the
proposition?" the response from two prominent and wealthy business men was
prompt and decisive—"No need for Baldwin to sign it if he said he would agree;
do not doubt him, his word is as good as his bond."

   About 1876 Captain Baldwin established, in Savannah, the firm of Baldwin &
Company, cotton brokers. Prior to moving to New York his Savannah home was in
the house now standing just east of Sullivan's grocery, on Congress street,
between Bull and Whitaker, that having been his home from the time of his
marriage up to the Civil war. The captain was a member of the Chamber of
Commerce; of the United States Lloyds; and served several terms as a member of
the board of managers of the Cotton Exchange.

   His large-hearted generosity and kindly sympathy were known by all his
associates, but to many of whom the world had no knowledge he stood as a strong,
helpful adviser and friend, and by whom his memory will ever be cherished. In
his domestic and family relations, Captain Baldwin was always a loving and ready
helper, and, until the sudden death, by drowning, in 1880, of his youngest son
and namesake, a blow from which he never recovered, his genial laugh and ready
entrance into all gayety and fun were proverbial.

   On September 19, 1855, Capt. Daniel H. Baldwin married Kate Philbrick, eldest
daughter of Mr. Samuel Philbrick, a well-known and highly esteemed merchant of
Savannah. Not long after the loss of his son, Captain Baldwin, on account of
failing health, retired from active business. He died in New York from a stroke
of apoplexy, June 10, 1887, leaving a widow and three children, namely: Mrs.
Walter I. McCoy, of New Jersey; Mrs. A. L. Alexander, of Savannah; and George J.
Baldwin, of Savannah.

   George J. Baldwin was born August 18, 1856, in Savannah, in the family home
on Congress street. He received superior educational advantages, in the spring
of 1877 completing a four years' special course at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, in Boston. He was subsequently superintendent of iron and gold
mines in Alabama and Georgia from July, 1877, until October, 1879, when he
became a member of the firm of Baldwin & Company, of Savannah, Georgia, dealers
in fertilizers, cotton and naval stores factors. Later he organized the Baldwin
Fertilizer Company, of Savannah, becoming its president and general manager. In
1894 Mr. Baldwin retired from active business, but resumed again in 1898,
becoming interested in electric railway and lighting plants, and is now
president of the Savannah Electric Company, and of numerous other industrial and
heavily capitalized corporations, including the following: The Gainesville
Midland Railway, a steam railroad running out of Gainesville; the Chestatee
Pyrites Company, a Georgia mining corporation; and the Electric Railway and
Lighting companies of Savannah, Georgia; Jacksonville, Florida, and Tampa, Key
West, and Pensacola, Florida.

   Mr. Baldwin is also a director in the Savannah Trust Company; the Columbus
Electric Company of Columbus, Georgia; the National Bank of Savannah; and of the
Augusta & Savannah Railroad Company. He is a member of the Savannah Cotton
Exchange, and of the Savannah Chamber of Commerce.

   In public, charitable and philanthropic movements Mr. Baldwin has long been
active and influential. He is president of the Kate Baldwin Free Kindergarten,
which was founded in 1900 by him and his mother, in whose honor it was named,
and which has since been maintained by him free of any expense to the public.
Mr. Baldwin is likewise president of the Associated Charities of Savannah; a
trustee of the Georgia, infirmary for colored people, and of the Chatham
Academy. He is curator and vice-president of the Georgia Historical Society; and
was the first chairman of the board of managers of the Savannah public library,
and for many years was a member of that board, and of the park and tree
commissioners of Savannah.

   Among the many clubs and social organizations of which Mr. Baldwin is a
prominent member mention may be made of the following ones in Savannah: The
Oglethorpe, Cotillion, Golf and Automobile clubs, and the Savannah Volunteer
Guards and Georgia Hussars. He is likewise a member of the Young Men's Christian
Associations of both Savannah and Boston, Massachusetts. Among the New York
clubs to which Mr. Baldwin belongs are the Southern Society, the Recess, the
Automobile Club of America, and the Reform Club. He likewise belongs to the
Muscogee Club, of Columbus, Georgia; the Capital City Club, of Atlanta, Georgia;
the Lake Placid Club, of Lake Placid, New York; and the Highland Lake and Flat
Rock Country clubs, of Flat Rock, North Carolina. Mr. Baldwin is also a member
of the National Geographic Society; the Sierra Club, of San Francisco; the
American Academy of Political and Social Science; the American Forestry
Association; the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, and
of various other organizations.

   Mr. Baldwin married, June 27, 1882, Lucy H. Hull, of Atlanta, Georgia, and
they have two children, namely: George H., born in Savannah, April 23, 1883; and
Dorothea C., born in this city, February 22, 1889.

   Mr. Loami Baldwin, Mr. Baldwin's great uncle, established himself in business
in Savannah prior to his marriage, Avhieh was solemnized in 1823, and since his
coming here, nearly a hundred years ago, there has been a Baldwin continuously
in business in Savannah.



Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME I
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/chatham/bios/gbs161baldwin.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/

File size: 9.1 Kb