Baldwin, Ebenezer

Other names: chaplain
Birth: July 3, 1745 in Norwich, Connecticut
Death: October 1, 1776 in Danbury, Connecticut
Education

Yale, AM (1763)

Faith

Congregationalist

Nationality

Anglo-American

Occupation

clergyman, tutor, chaplain, minister

Residence(s)
  • Norwich, Connecticut (from 1745-07-03)
  • New Haven, Connecticut (from 1765 to 1770)
  • Danbury, Connecticut (from 1770 to 1776)
Marital status

Unmarried

Biography

Ebenezer Baldwin was born in Norwich, Connecticut, on July 3, 1745, to Captain Ebenezer Baldwin and Bethiah Barker. He attended Yale College, graduating in 1763, and served as a clergyman and tutor there. In this capacity, Baldwin instructed, observed, and examined several of Wheelock’s students. David McClure reports to Wheelock in 1767 that his former Moor’s students are well-liked and excelling at Yale, and specifically mentions Levi Frisbee, whom, he notes, Baldwin advised to study the works of Horace and Homer. Evidently, Baldwin had some say over boarding at Yale; David Avery writes to Wheelock in 1769 that Wheelock’s son John may ask Wheelock to write to Baldwin regarding his boarding status at Yale. Baldwin was supportive and had respect for Wheelock. In 1770, he was ordained as pastor of the First Church of Christ in Danbury, and in 1776, he entered the army as a chaplain. When he fell ill during the Revolutionary War, he returned to Danbury, where he died on October 1, 1776. His brother Simeon Baldwin was a member of the US House of Representatives and a judge.

Sources

Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College. vol. 3, 1903; Hurd, Hamilton D. History of New London County, Connecticut: With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men. Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co., 1882. Web.