Joseph G. Baldwin

Joseph Glover Baldwin (January 21, 1815 – September 29, 1864) was an American attorney and humor writer who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California from October 2, 1858 to January 2, 1864.

Joseph Glover Baldwin
Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
In office
October 2, 1858 – January 2, 1862
Appointed byDirect election
Preceded byHugh Murray
Succeeded byEdward Norton
State Representative in the Alabama House of Representatives
In office
1843–1849
Appointed byDirect election
Personal details
Born(1815-01-21)January 21, 1815
Winchester, Virginia, U.S.
DiedSeptember 29, 1864(1864-09-29) (aged 49)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Spouse(s)
Sidney Gaylard White
​
​
(m. 1839)​
ChildrenAlexander W. Baldwin, son

Biography

Born in Winchester, Virginia, Baldwin was educated in Stanton, Virginia.[1] He displayed precocious talents; while still a teenager he worked as a Deputy Court Clerk and a newspaper editor.[2] He read law in the office of his uncle, Judge Briscoe G. Baldwin, to become a lawyer and was admitted to the bar by age 19.[3][4][5][6] In 1836, Joseph Baldwin moved to DeKalb County, Alabama, thereafter moving to Gainesville, Alabama in 1838.[1] There, he practiced law with his brother, Cornelius C. Baldwin, and with J. Bliss.[7][8][1] Another brother, Oliver P. Baldwin, was a lawyer, newspaper editor, and speaker in Cleveland and later Richmond, Virginia.[9][10][11]

In 1843, Baldwin was elected as a Whig to the Alabama House of Representatives.[12] In August 1849, he was defeated by Democrat Samuel Williams Inge in a bid for the United States Congress by only 400 votes.[13][14][15] In 1850, Baldwin moved to Livingston, Alabama, where he continued to practice, while writing two books of humorous stories, The Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi: A Series of Sketches, published in 1853, and Party Leaders, published the following year.[16] He also saw his work published in the New York City weekly newspaper, The Spirit of the Times.

In 1854, Baldwin moved to California, where he served as counsel on a number of important cases.[6] In 1858, following the death of Chief Justice Hugh Murray, Baldwin was nominated by the Democratic Party, as well as endorsed by the Lecompton Democrat convention, and elected by the people to serve out the remainder of Murray's term on the California Supreme Court from October 2, 1858, until January 2, 1862.[17][18][19][20] Chief Justice Stephen Johnson Field praised Baldwin's opinion in Hart v. Burnett (1860),[21] concerning pueblo land grants, as a model of scholarly learning.[12][22] In July 1861, he was put forward for nomination by the Breckenridge Democratic Party for another term on the court, but he declined the nomination.[23] Edward Norton was elected to fill Baldwin's seat.[24]

After stepping down from the bench, Baldwin resumed the practice of law in San Francisco. In April 1864, he signed the loyalty oath to the Union required of attorneys that fellow Southerners Solomon Heydenfeldt and James D. Thornton refused to sign.[25]

Baldwin died in San Francisco on September 29, 1864.[26][27][1]

Personal life

In 1839, he married Sidney Gaylard White and they had at least six children. Their son, Alexander W. Baldwin, became an attorney and was appointed as a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. He died in November 1869 in a railway accident in Alameda County, California.[28][29] In 1863, during the American Civil War, another son, Joseph G. Baldwin, Jr., was accused of plotting with a group of sympathizers with the Confederate States of America to capture military posts in California.[30] He died August 14, 1864, at 20 years of age, in Warm Springs, California.[31] Their daughter, Kate S. Baldwin, married John B. Felton, who was her father's law partner and later mayor of Oakland. She died December 13, 1888, in Oakland.[32] Of the three other children: two sons, Sidney died young and John died in 1868 at age 22; and a daughter, Cornelia Baldwin, resided with her mother.[33]

References
  1. Donna R. Causey, "Biography: Joseph Glover Baldwin born 1815", Alabama Pioneers (February 4, 2014).
  2. Shuck, Oscar Tully (1870). Representative and leading men of the Pacific. Bacon and Company. p. 545. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  3. "Election of Major General". Richmond Enquirer. Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. March 17, 1836. p. 3. Retrieved August 8, 2017. Appointment of Briscoe G. Baldwin as Major General in the Virginia Militia.
  4. "The Staunton Convention". Richmond Enquirer. Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. October 4, 1839. p. 3. Retrieved August 8, 2017. General Briscoe G. Baldwin of Staunton, Whig delegate from the State at large.
  5. Mary Alice Kirkpatrick, "Joseph G. Baldwin (Joseph Glover), 1815-1864", Documenting the American South (2004).
  6. Proceedings on the Death of the Hon. Joseph G. Baldwin, Cal. Reports Vol. 26 (October 4th, 1864).
  7. "Law Notice, C. G. and J. G. Baldwin". Columbus Democrat (Columbus, MS). Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. April 28, 1838. p. 4. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  8. "The State of Mississippi, Kemper County, Circuit Court Clerk's Office". Southern Argus. Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. January 13, 1841. p. 3. Retrieved August 8, 2017. Joseph G. Baldwin v. Wm. K. Allen.
  9. "The Steam Boat Czar". Southern Telegraph. Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. October 10, 1838. p. 2. Retrieved August 8, 2017. Letter signed by Oliver P. Baldwin, Cleveland, Ohio.
  10. "The Fourth of July". Richmond Enquirer (2). Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. July 3, 1846. Retrieved August 8, 2017. The Declaration of Independence will be read in the African Church, at ten o'clock, by Oliver P. Baldwin.
  11. "The Union Spirit in Virginia". Weekly National Intelligencer (Washington, DC). Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. August 17, 1850. p. 8. Retrieved August 8, 2017. Oliver P. Baldwin, Esq., the talented editor of the Richmond Republican.
  12. Shuck, Oscar Tully (1901). History of the Bench and Bar of California: Being Biographies of Many Remarkable Men, a Store of Humorous and Pathetic Recollections, Accounts of Important Legislation and Extraordinary Cases, Comprehending the Judicial History of the State. Los Angeles, CA: Commercial Printing House. pp. 445–446. Retrieved July 31, 2017. Entry for Joseph G. Baldwin.
  13. "August Elections, Congressional, Alabama Election, 6th August". The North-Carolina Standard. Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. August 1, 1849. p. 3. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  14. "Election Returns, Fourth District". The Daily Crescent (New Orleans, LA). Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. August 13, 1849. p. 2. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  15. "Alabama". The Examiner (Louisville, KY). Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. August 25, 1849. p. 3. Retrieved August 8, 2017. S. W. Inge is elected over J. G. Baldwin in the Tuscaloosa district by about 400.
  16. "New Books". The Yazoo Democrat (Yazoo, MS). Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. January 4, 1854. p. 3. Retrieved August 8, 2017. Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi by J. G. Baldwin, alias Simon Suggs. This book is composed of a series of sketches, high amusing and instructive, and abounds with happy illustrations, dedicated to 'The Old Folks at Home.'
  17. "Democratic Nominations, For the Supreme Court, Joseph G. Baldwin". Los Angeles Star (16). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 28 August 1858. p. 2. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  18. "Lecompton Democratic Convention in Butte". Sacramento Daily Union. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 5 October 1858. p. 1. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  19. "Answers to Queries, Law and N***". San Francisco Call. 111 (1). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 1 December 1911. p. 6. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  20. "Commissioned". Los Angeles Star (24). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 23 October 1858. p. 1. Retrieved August 8, 2017. The following officers have been commissioned: Joseph G. Baldwin, for the unexpired term of Hugh C. Murray, deceased.
  21. Hart v. Burnett (1860), 15 Cal. 530.
  22. Donald Louis Stelluto, Jr. (2000). Bakken, Gordon Morris (ed.). Law in the Western United States. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 317–325. ISBN 0806132159. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
  23. "Breckenridge Democratic State Convention, Speech of Judge Baldwin". Sacramento Daily Union. 21 (3223). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 27 July 1861. p. 1. Retrieved August 8, 2017. I regard Mr. Lincoln's policy as utterly suicidal and ruinous to the interests of the country, destroying all hope of the perpetuation of that Union of which I have been the ardent friend, and which I would desire now to preserve, as the dearest aspiration of my heart, if it could be made perpetual as our fathers framed it.
  24. Johnson, J. Edward (1963). History of the California Supreme Court: The Justices 1850-1900, vol 1 (PDF). San Francisco, CA: Bender Moss Co. pp. 73–80. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 27, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
  25. "Taking the Oath of Allegiance". Daily Alta California. 16 (5171). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 29 April 1864. p. 1. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  26. "Joseph G. Baldwin". Sacramento Daily Union. 28 (4223). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 3 October 1864. p. 2. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  27. "Death of Judge J. G. Baldwin". Daily Alta California. 16 (5325). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 1 October 1864. p. 2. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  28. "Death of A. W. Baldwin". Sacramento Daily Union. 38 (5814). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 15 November 1869. p. 2. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  29. "A Tribute from the East, The Valley Virginian, published at Staunton, Virginia, makes the following reference to the death of A. W. Baldwin, in its issue of the 25th November". Sacramento Daily Union. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 10 December 1869. p. 2. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  30. "The Indictments for Treason". Sacramento Daily Union. 25 (3889). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 8 September 1863. p. 2. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  31. "Died". Sacramento Daily Union. 27 (4183). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 17 August 1864. p. 2. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  32. "The Eastern Shore, News of Alameda, Berkeley, Oakland and Environs, Death of Mrs. John B. Felton". Daily Alta California. 42 (14346). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 15 December 1888. p. 8. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  33. "Eastward Bound". Daily Alta California. 20 (6808). California Digital Newspaper Collection. 6 November 1868. p. 1. Retrieved August 8, 2017.

Selected publications

See also
Legal offices
Preceded by
Hugh Murray		 Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
1858–1862		 Succeeded by
Edward Norton
Preceded by
 State Representative in the Alabama House of Representatives
1843–1849		 Succeeded by
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