Isaac Baldwin

Captain Isaac Baldwin 1st Regiment, N.H. Continental Line

Isaac Baldwin was the 2nd child of Isaac Baldwin and Mary Flagg, was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts in 1738. He married Eunice Jennison, of Natick, Massachusetts; came to Hillsborough NH in 1766, being the 6th family that came into town upon its second settlement. He settled on the farm known now as the “Dutton Place”.He was a carpenter. He had been a comrade with William and John Stark in the company of Rangers commanded by Major Robert Rogers during the French and Indian War. Upon hearing the news of the Battle of Lexington he collected a band of volunteers and was given command of a company of men, attached to Col. John Stark’s regiment. As an officer of the First Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers, Captain Baldwin was assigned to cover the retreat of the Massachusetts troops after the British had twice charged Breed’s Hill in the battle of Bunker Hill. Isaac was mortally wounded at this battle and was carried from the field by Lt. John McNeil (see family of Franklin Pierce) and James Gibson. He died that evening and after his death the bullet that killed him was extracted and returned to his widow as a sad momento of that dire event, which made her a widow and her children fatherless.

Children of Isaac and Eunice were: (order and dates from Hist Hills) 1.) Eunice, b. Nov. 8,1703, at Litchfield. 2.) Juduthan, b. July 21,1766. 3.) Jeneson, b. Oct. 6,1768. 4.) Isaac Jr., b. Feb.1,1771 (see) 5.) Josiah, b. Dec 10,1773. 6.) Robert, b. July 15,1775, less than a month after his father’s death.

Sources: Charles Candee Baldwin, The Baldwin genealogy from 1500 to 1881 (Cleveland, 1881), 620, 627; George Waldo Browne, History of Hillsborough NH 1735-1921, 2:43-44; Marriage Record of Isaac Baldwin to Eunice Jennison on Dec 31,1761, in Sudbury; The Revolutionary Journal of Col. Jeduthan Baldwin 1775-1778 (Bangor, Maine, 1906), xxix, regarding the death of his brother Isaac.

Contributed by Thomas Edward Shirley, who has represented Isaac Baldwin since 2014.