Biographical Sketch of Joseph H. BALDWIN (1893); Chester County, PA

Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris 
<jMcDmorris@comcast.net>.

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Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsyl- 
vania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley and 
edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Philadel- phia, 
PA, 1893, pp. 838-839.

"JOSEPH H. BALDWIN, one of the young and rising members of the Chester county 
bar, is a son of John E. and Mary G. (Hoopes) Baldwin, and was born in West 
Bradford township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, November 13, 1862.  
The name of Baldwin is to be traced back in Chester county, to 1689, when 
John Baldwin, a remote ancestor of the subject of this sketch, was a mer- 
chant of Chester.  He was an early settler of Aston township, Delaware 
county, removed to Chester county, where he acquired a considerable estate, 
and married April 4, 1689, Catharine Turner, a widow, by whom he had two 
children, Ruth and John.  John was born April 10, 1697, was a saddler, 
married Hannah Johnson April 11, 1719, and died in 1728, leaving two sons.

"One of these sons was John Baldwin, who was born at Chester, December 22, 
1719, married September 9, 1739, to Ann Peirce, a daughter of Caleb and Ann 
Peirce, of Thornbury, and died in 1788, in East Caln township, on land 
purchased by his grandfather in 1702.  He was a tinplate worker, and left 
four children: Mary, John, Caleb and Ann.

"Caleb, the third child, was born in 1749, married on December 24, 1774, to 
Charity Cope, a daughter of Samuel and Deborah Cope, of East Bradford, and 
died February 11, 1826, leaving four children: Deborah, John, Samuel and 
Jonathan C., the latter of whom was born in East Caln township, near 
Downingtown, January 30, 1792.  He was an extensive farmer and raised a
large3 number of horses for the eastern markets.  He was much interested in 
horticulture, and served for some time as president of the Chester County 
Horticulture society.  He died October 20, 1874, aged eighty-two years.  He 
married Mary Ann Jacobs, a preacher of the Society of Friends, who was a 
daughter of Richard and Lydia (Gibbons) Jacobs, of East Bradford.  
Their children were: John Erskine, Hannah, Caleb, Deborah, Caroline Cope, 
Lydia J., Richard A., James H., Charity, Susan P., Jonathan C., Rebecca S. 
Conard, Henry C. and Mary Ann.

"John Erskine Baldwin (father), was born in 1823, in East Caln township, 
where he resided until his marriage, when he removed to West Bradford, where 
he died in 1890, at sixty-seven years of age.  He was a very wealthy farmer, 
owning two hundred acres of choice land on Brandywine creek, was a whig and 
republican in politics, took an active part in local affairs, and held 
several township offices.  He was a member of the Society of Friends, and 
married Mary G. Hoopes, a daughter of William Hoopes, and who was born in 
East Goshen township.  They reared a family of nine children, of whom seven 
are living: Hannah, wife of George A. Hoffman, a farmer of West Whiteland 
township; John Erskine, jr., residing on the home farm; Phoebe, married to 
Byard (sic) Conard, a merchant of Upland, Dela- ware county; Henry C., in the 
mercantile business at Chadd's Ford; Joseph H.; Elizabeth, wife of George H. 
Fester, of Downingtown; and Emma L., who married Jacob Kendig, an extensive 
lumber dealer of Muscatine, Iowa.

"Joseph H. Baldwin grew to manhood in his native township, and after 
attending the public schools and Professor Worral's academy, entered West 
Chester State Normal school, form which he was graduated in the class of 
1883.  After graduation he engaged in teaching, which he followed for three 
years.  He read law with Thomas S. and William Barth., jr., was admitted to 
the bar in August, 1889, and since then has been actively engaged at West 
Chester in the practice of his chosen profession.

"In politics Mr. Baldwin has always been a stanch republican, and is now 
serving his second term as chairman of the Republican county committee.  
He leans toward the Society of Friends, of which so many of his ancestors 
were worthy and devoted members.  He is a member of Pocahontas Lodge, No. 
316, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of West Chester, and stands well at 
the bar, where he has won his way into a flattering and lucrative practice."