Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Baldwin, David Clark 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 7, 2007, 8:29 pm

Author: Genealogical & Biographical Record

DAVID CLARK BALDWIN.  The life of Mr. Baldwin was inseparably associated with 
the history of Lockport.  In fact the village owed its existence in no small 
measure to his efforts, for he was one of its incorporators as well as one of 
its first officials.  During the sixty-two years of his residence here he 
witnessed the transformation of the place from a small and isolated frontier 
town to a populous and thriving commercial and agricultural center, whose 
manufacturing interests make it one of the important towns of northeastern 
Illinois.  It was his privilege to live to see what was during the '30s a 
region of almost unsettled land transformed into a finely improved country 
containing cities and villages of commercial importance.  In all of the 
arduous and stirring scenes of pioneer life he was a prominent figure.  His 
was the hand that helped in every forward movement, his the eye that discerned 
a favorable opportunity and his the mind that planned, years ago, a prosperous 
future for his home town.  There was scarcely a business measure projected in 
early days with which his name was not associated.  To illustrate his 
connection with pioneer transactions it may be stated that some wheat he 
purchased went into the first flour manufactured in Lockport, and this flour 
was sold in Chicago, entering into the shipment of the first hundred barrels 
of flour sent from that market.  At the time he came west Chicago was an 
unknown region, whose site was occupied by Fort Dearborn, with its officers' 
houses and barracks and a scattering village on Lake Michigan. As Chicago grew 
he kept in touch with its development and made many friends among the leading 
wholesale merchants of that city. For many years, and until his retirement in 
1888, he engaged in various lines of merchandising, and in this way had 
constant relations with wholesale dealers.  With them he held a high position, 
and many a busy merchant left his desk on Mr. Baldwin's entrance in order to 
enjoy a social talk with him.  His credit was the highest, and even the loss 
of his business block (a calamity that twice overtook him) failed to affect 
his credit in the least, but only served to emphasize the high confidence in 
which he was held, and brought him many offers of financial assistance.  In 
the credit book of a commercial traveler, opposite Mr. Baldwin's name, were 
the words, "Good as gold," and this statement found echo with all of his 
associates in business.

The Baldwins are an old eastern family.  Benjamin Baldwin, a native of Woburn, 
Mass., was a highly educated man.  His son, Timothy, our subject's father, was 
born at Canterbury, Conn., April 15, 1775, and died in that state in 1840.  
His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Lathrop, was born in Connecticut 
May 27, 1780, and died there in 1852.  Their son, David C., was born at 
Canterbury April 23, 1810, and at an early age began to teach school, which 
occupation he followed in Connecticut, New York, Ohio and Illinois.  It was in 
1834 that he came to Lockport.  For a time he engaged in teaching and had 
charge of the first school in Homer Township.  Later he entered business.  He 
proved himself to be a man of unusual business ability, keen, careful and 
conservative, yet energetic and progressive.  

Being the soul of honor and integrity, he retained the confidence of 
associates.  It is rare, indeed, that a man is met in whom are combined so 
many noble traits as appeared in Mr. Baldwin's character.  Of all the people 
in the town there was none but had a good word for him.  Young men venerated 
him and children were always his friends, while those more nearly his own age 
were bound to him by ties of intimate and long association.  During the latter 
years of his life he became deeply interested in floriculture and devoted much 
time to the raising of plants.  His leisure hours were spent with his 
flowers.  He was a diligent botanical student, and understood the entire 
growth of plants, from the embryo leaves and roots to the mature plants with 
their flowers. The contrast afforded between the cares of business and the 
supervision of his plants seemed restful to him and afforded him one of his 
greatest pleasures.

May 18, 1865, occurred the marriage of Mr. Baldwin to Miss Cornelia A., 
daughter of Eliasand Mary (Paine) Freer.  Her father, a native of New York, 
removed to Illinois in 1836 and settled at Forked Creek, eight miles east of 
Wilmington.  He had been a tanner in the east, but here he engaged in farm 
pursuits.  After a few years he settled in Plainfield.  In 1861 he came to 
Lockport, where he died at the age of eighty years.  He was a stanch Whig and 
an anti-slavery man.  During the latter part of the war of 1812 he enlisted in 
the American army, serving until the close.  His father, John, served in the 
Revolutionary war.  The family is of French-Huguenot descent.  The mother of 
Mrs. Baldwin was born in Bennington, Vt., removed to New York in girlhood and 
died in Lockport in 1879, when eighty-seven years of age. Both she and her 
husband were active members of the Christian Church.  They were the parents of 
nine children who reached maturity; of these Mrs. Boylan, Mrs. Baldwin and 
Mrs. Hanford are living.

At the time the family came west Mrs. Baldwin was a child of eight years.  She 
was educated under private tutors at home and in the schools of Miss Carr and 
the Misses Whiting, where she met many young ladies who afterward became 
prominent in the highest social circles of Chicago.  For years she has been 
identified with the Baptist Church, and has maintained a deep interest in 
religious work for half a century. The only child born to her marriage, Alice 
Louise, died when in her sixth year.  Afterward Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin adopted a 
daughter, Edith, who is now the wife of O. F. Russell and makes her home with 
her mother.

After an active and useful life Mr. Baldwin entered into eternal rest, 
December 19, 1896.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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