432 GEORGE RUMFORD BALDWIN. 



in a school kept by Dr. Stearns, in Medford — by accompanying his 

 father and brother in field and office work. I find among his papers 

 some " Sketches " of proposed works made by him when employed 

 by his brother Loammi on the fortifications of Boston harbor in the 

 war of 1812, he being then in his fourteenth year. 



I have in my hands the series of his diaries for more than fifty 

 years, with the daily entries upon them of his employments and 

 occupations. They contain most miscellaneous and comprehensive 

 notes of a life of marvellous industry, of wide travel and of useful 

 service. Only the most conspicuous and important of the enterprises 

 and undertakings in which he had the chief part and responsibility in 

 planning and supervising mechanical scientific and industrial schemes 

 for public improvements, can be noted here. We find him called upon 

 in all directions, on a large variety of occasions, as expert, witness, ref- 

 eree, or examiner of wharves and docks, in making surveys, drawing 

 maps and plans, exploring state and city archives, tracing estates, esti- 

 mating damages, assessing costs, consulting lawyers, instructing legis- 

 lative committees, and alone or with associates disposing of a vast 

 number of trivial or serious interests at a period when the develop- 

 ment of our railroad and manufacturing enterprises made a demand 

 for talent and skill not then easily obtained. He was instrumental in 

 forming the first associated company of engineers. It should be noted 

 hei'e, that the varied and constant demand for his presence and ser- 

 vices, especially when called upon for any utterance in public before 

 many persons, was a serious strain upon one of his peculiar tempera- 

 ment. He was naturally shy, modest, diffident, and reticent, of most 

 retiring and undemonstrative ways. His social intercourse was very 

 limited, but his domestic ties and habits drew out from him very en- 

 gaging and tender qualities. Under no stress of circumstances could 

 he have made in public a speech of advocacy or argument. His deli- 

 cacy and refinement made him personally attractive to his intimates. 



His brother Loammi, living in Charlestown in a spacious house 

 with garden and open grounds, had married the widow of Mr. Beck- 

 ford, who had been the partner of Mr. Joshua Bates, afterward the 

 London banker, when the firm had done business in Boston. Mrs. 

 Beckford had two daughters by her first marriage, but no child by 

 the second. One of these daughters, Catherine Richardson, became 

 the wife of George Rumford Baldwin, thus bringing the brothers into 

 a peculiar relationship. The younger brother had his first home in 

 Boston; but in 1842, after the death of Loammi in 1838, he moved 

 with his family to the Beckford house. Here, with occasional sojourn 



