Biography

12/10/1795 - 09/07/1866

BALDWIN, Matthias William, a Representative from Philadelphia City; born, December 10, 1795 in Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth), Union County, NJ; jeweler, Fletcher & Gardner (1817-1819); silversmith; founder and board member, Franklin Institute (1824-1855, vice president, 1855-1863); engaged, printing machinery and tools business (1825-1829); steam engine and locomotive inventor; United States Patent holder: etching of steel plates (1828), the art of managing and supplying fire for generating steam in locomotive-engines (1836), improved attachment for watches (1858), improved rotary engine (1862); proprietor, M.W. Baldwin & Co. then Baldwin Locomotive Works (1831-1866); elected, delegate, Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention (1837-1838); elected as a Whig to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 1854 term; director, Academy of Fine Arts (1858-1863); director, Central National Bank (1865); died, September 7, 1866 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; interred, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.