Baldwin appears to have been born in what is now northeastern Tennessee in 1770 or before. He was raised in the Cherokee indian lands below the Holston and French Broad rivers established by the 1791 Treaty of Holston, likely in what would become Blount county in 1795. He was among those removed from that area by federal troops in 1797, when the boundary was finally surveyed and settlers who were "across the line" were removed in an effort to pacify the indians. The following year he was issued a "passport" to return for livestock and provisions left behind. Sometime during this period (1790-1796), he took as wife "Elizabeth," whose surname is lost to history. Though we assume there was a legal contract of marriage, it is more than likely the reason we haven't found a record is that in those rough-and-ready times there was none, especially if Elizabeth was, as some suspect, of Cherokee blood. Baldwin and Elizabeth's first son, John, was reportedly born in Blount county in 1800.

As was the case with many men of that frontier era, Baldwin moved about, for whatever reason we don't know. But his name is found in one variation or another in a number of east Tennessee counties including Greene, 1787 and 1793; Granger 1799 and 1803; Carter 1804; and finally Sullivan 1805 to 1815. Beginning in 1813, he began to acquire land in northeastern Alabama, 260 miles farther southwest in the vicinity of Huntsville, which was just being opened up for settlement. And by 1815 he had moved his expanding family there and disposed of his Tennessee holdings.

Baldwin and his sons acquired a substantial acreage east of New Market in Madison county, Alabama, where they raised children as well as crops. Although the count varies, Baldwin and Elizabeth may have had as many as 16 children and __ grandchildren. The following list of children includes them all, from the legally proven to the only possible. Each name is followed by a possible year of birth, and in the case of females, a married surname.

Margaret (1798, Oliver)
John (1800)*
Catherine (1801, Coffman)*
Hannah (1803, Landreth)
Adam (1804)
Emily (1805, Rodgers)
Mary (1807, Jones)
Lavina (1808, Patillo)
Elijah (1810)
Michael (1811)*
Esther (1813, Cannon)
Hulda (1813)
William (1815)
Malinda (1818, Hendricks)*
Temperance 1819, Taylor)*
Rachel (1823)

Genealogical note. In recent years, as they have searched for Baldwin's ancestry, certain genealogists have conflated life events about one Archibald or Archer Howard with those about Baldwin. This would relate Baldwin to the Revolutionary Patriot Nehemiah Howard. This is provably wrong. While there may be a relationship, it is not through equating Baldwin and Archibald/Archer Howard. Baldwin lived many years in northeastern Tennessee and later in northeastern Alabama, while Archibald lived in South Carolina, and possibly though doubtfully Georgia. A similar situation exists with regard to Baldwin's wife Elizabeth, the mystery of whose life events has been "solved" by equating her with Archibald's wife Elizabeth Birdsong. Doesn't her very name sound indian? But again, Elizabeth Birdsong was a definite, unique and separate individual from Baldwin's wife Elizabeth, and this is demonstrated elsewhere.