Caldwell Family Biography - Honolulu County, Hawaii Genealogy

Caldwell Family Bio
The name of Caldwell is an honorable one in American annals. No family made a brighter record for patriotism and personal bravery during the war of the Revolution, and in the trying pioneer times when the states were coming into shape on new soil. From the Lakes to the Gulf and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, this family now extends, growing out of the sturdy parent stock. They have left their imprint wherever the English language is spoken, at all times and under all circumstances, and it may be truthfully said that their record has been an enviable one.
The earliest mention of the Caldwell family relates to three brothers John, Alexander and Oliver—who were seamen on the Mediterranean, in the latter part of the fifteenth century. These brothers had an estate named Mount Arid, near Toulon, in France. During the reign of Francis I. of France, they in time of religious persecution, being Huguenots, were forced to leave France for a refuge in Scotland, in which country they purchased an estate from a Bishop named Douglass, near Solway Firth. This purchase was made with consent of King James I. of England, on condition that "the said brothers, John, Alexander and Oliver, late of Mount Arid," should have their estate known as "Cauldwell," and when the king should require, they should each send a son, with twenty men of sound limbs, to aid in the wars of the king.
An heirloom is a cup, from which it is seen that the estate took its name from a watering place. The cup represents a chieftain and twenty mounted men, all armed, and a man drawing water from a well, with the words underneath, "Alexander of Cauldwell;" also a fire burning on a hill, over the words "Mount Arid," and a vessel surrounded by high waves. Joseph, John, Alexander, Daniel, David and Andrew, of Cauldwell, went with Oliver Cromwell (whose grandmother was Ann of Cauldwell,) to Ireland, of which he was the lord governor. After his promotion to the protectorate of England, they remained in his interest in Ireland until the restoration of Charles II.
John Caldwell, son of the above named John Caldwell, in about 1742 settled in Lunenburg, now Charlotte County, Virginia, where he was subsequently joined by relatives, forming what was known as "Caldwell Settlement" for many years. His son, James Caldwell, was the celebrated "Fighting Parson of the Revolution." He was born in Charlotte County, Virginia, about 1743, graduated from Princeton in 1759, and was ordained in 1762. He served as chaplain in the army of the Revolution, and acted as commissary to the troops in New Jersey. He was killed by a shot from a sentinel, at Elizabethtown Point, New Jersey, November 24th, 1781. It is of him that Bret Harte wrote:
"Nothing more did I say? Stay one moment; you've heard
Of Caldwell, the Parson, who once preached the Word
Down at Springfield? What, No? Come—that's bad, why he had
All the Jerseys aflame! And they gave him the name
Of 'the Rebel High Priest.' He stuck in their gorge,
For he loved the Lord God—and he hated King George!"
"Why, just what he did! They were left in the lurch
For the want of more wadding. He ran to the church,
Broke the door, stripped the pews, and dashed out in the road
With his arms full of hymn-books, and threw down his load
At their feet! Then above all the shouting and shots,
Rang his voice—'Put Watts into'em! Boys, give'em Watts!'
And they did. That is all. Grasses spring, flowers blow,
Pretty much as they did ninety-three years ago.
You may dig anywhere and you'll turn up a ball,
But not always a Hero like this, and that's all."
Space cannot be given in this work for even a brief mention of the different and numerous settlements of Caldwells in America, and of their intimate and honorable associations with the ecclesiastical, military, civil, industrial and commercial affairs of their country.
However, as they were among the very earliest pioneers in the settlement of the Northern Pan Handle of Virginia, it is proper to give some account of the Caldwells who settled at what is now the city of Wheeling, in Ohio County, West Virginia (formerly Virginia).
This branch of the Caldwells were from Northern Ireland, and are the descendants of one John Caldwell, a merchant at Enniskillen, Ireland, who was born at Preston, in Ayrshire. Scotland, and died in 1639. The following notes respecting the descendants of this John Caldwell were made in 1895, by Mr. Alexander W. Caldwell, grandson of Alfred Caldwell, the elder, hereinafter mentioned, who was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, but now a resident of St. Paul, Minnesota, that is to say:
"At the Revolution (of 1688-9), Sir James Caldwell's services were of the highest importance, as appears by the following case enclosed in a petition to King William.
"'The State of the Case of Sir James Caldwell. Bart.
"'That he staid in Ireland in all the late troubles at and near Enniskillen till the end of the year 1689, and raised and maintained a regiment of foot and two troops of horse at his own charge and kept the same at the great passes at Belleck and Donegal, between Connaught and the province of Ulster, which was of such consequence that it hindered communication between the enemies in the said province of Connaught (which were very numerous) from joining or recruiting those besieging Londonderry.
"'That the said Sir James Caldwell was besieged by a detached party from Col. Sarsfield of about the number of two thousand foot and three troops of dragoons about the 3rd of May, 1689, and was forced to send to Enniskillen. Castle Hume and other neighboring garrisons for relief, which came on the 8th of May and joined the forces which Sir James Caldwell had, who then fought the enemy near St. James's House and routed them, killing about a hundred and twenty and took seventy prisoners, two cannon, many small arms and about forty horses from the enemy.
"'That the said Sir James Caldwell also placed his son Hugh Caldwell in the garrison of Donegal over three companies of foot and a troop of horse, being the next garrison to Londonderry the Protestants were possessed of. which was of such consequence that, if the enemy had been masters of it, the whole country about Enniskillen must have submitted to them.
"'That the said Hugh Caldwell had several offers of money and preferment from the Duke of Berwick to surrender the place, but always told him he would defend it to the last; as appears afterwards by the defense he made against the Duke, who attacked him with 1,500 men, burnt some part of the town, but was beaten off withi considerable loss, which Col. Luttrel can give an account of, as also of the said Sir James's vigilant and faithful behavior in the defense of that country.
"That the said Sir James Caldwell went in an open boat from Donegal to Major General Kirk, by sea, forty leagues on the most dangerous coast in that kingdom, not having any other way to have communication with him, to acquaint him with the condition of that country, to which he was thet1 a stranger, and to get arms and ammunition from him, which were greatly wanting to arm the naked men in the country. Some time after the said James Caldwell was sent back with Colonel Wolseley, Colonel Tiffany and Colonel Wynne and some ammunition by the said Major General, who then gave the said Sir James a commission to be colonel of foot and a troop of horse independent, as by the said commissions will appear: that within four or five days after they landed their men were forced to fight Lieutenant General Macarty and obtained a great victory against him as has been heard.' (On comparison with Macaulay's account of this war in his History of England, it is found that the battle of Newton Butler is here referred to).
"'That the said Sir James met Duke Schomberg when he landed at Carrickfergus and staid the siege of that place; and afterwards went to Dundalk with the Duke, and staid that campaign with him till about a week before he decamped, which the now Duke Schomberg will certify.
"'That the said Sir James Caldwell expended in money, arms, provisions and other necessaries to support those troops, which were raised for the King's service, and what he lost by the destruction of his town, houses, iron-mills, stud of horses and stock of black cattle' and other essential losses amounted to about ten thousand pounds.
"'That the said Sir James's second son also suffered very much by cattle and provisions taken from him by our own army at Bally Shannon, for the maintenance of that garrison, without which they could not have sustained.
"'That the said James Caldwell had after the campaign at Dundalk a regiment of dragoons and a regiment of -foot quartered in his house and town of Belleck, which did him much damage and destroyed many things which he with so much difficulty saved from the enemy.
"'That also the said Sir James's daughter, Elizabeth, conveyed several quantities of powder from Dublin by his commands to Enniskillen and other garrisons thereabout, to the hazard of her life, as may appear by my Lord Capel's report upon a reference to him.'"
"The truth of the above statement was supported by various documents from the Lord Lieutenant and other officers of the King. His majesty, in recompense of his services, bestowed upon him in custodian for seven years the whole of the forfeited Bagnal estate, then let for £8000 per annum: at the end of which time it was to be restored to the Bagnal family and Sir James was to be otherwise provided for." Richard Ryan's ''Biographia Hibernia," vol. 1, pp. 364, et seq.
Sir James Caldwell died in 1716.— (Burke, ride infra.)
A great-grandson of John, the merchant of Enniskillen, Henry Caldwell, was lieutenant commander of the British army for the defense of Quebec. Charles, his brother, was aide-de-camp to Gen. Wolfe. Sir John of Castle Caldwell, treasurer-general of Canada, died at Tremont House, Boston, 1842. (Caldwell Records, p. 76).
The son of the last mentioned John Caldwell. James Caldwell, Esq., settled at Ross Beg, afterwards called "Castle Caldwell,'' county Fermanagh, Province of Ulster, and was created a baronet of Ireland, June 23rd, 1683. He married Catherine, daughter of Sir John Hume, Baronet of Castle Hume, county of Fermanagh. (J. B. Burke's "Peerage and Baronetage" (1851), p. 163. See "Caldwell Records" by Augustine Caldwell, p. 76).
A later Sir James Caldwell. before he succeeded to the title and estates, was a colonel of horse in the service of the Great Empress of Austria, Maria Theresa, and was by her made Count of Milan, in Italy.
The seat of the Caldwells, at Castle Caldwell. was a very beautiful one. The ruin of the castle itself at this day is one of the sights of Ireland. On one side of it. towards Lake Erne, were the gardens, and on the other was a beautifully wooded park which extended practically from the ruins of the old castle to the railroad running across Ireland from Bundoran on the west coast to Dundalk on the east. A chapel stood in the park, of which only some of the walls now remain, although the family graves are still intact in the crypt. On the side of the park, next to the railroad, is the park entrance or lodge, which, owing to the fact that the railroad track passes over the old arch gate, is still in a fine state of preservation.
During the reign of George IV, he and his court were entertained at Castle Caldwell. and the expense incurred by the then Baronet started the loss of fortune that has culminated in the whole estate passing out of the Caldwell blood and name.
A curious relic is to be seen from the railroad, opposite the station at Castle Caldwell, in the shape of a gigantic marble f1ddle that was a tomb stone in the churchyard, near the chapel, over the remains of a fiddler, who had been in the service of the later Sir James Caldwell. On this tombstone the following is inscribed:
"To the memory of Dennis McCabe, Fidler, who fell out of the St. Patrick Barge belonging to Sir James Caldwell, Bart., and Count of Milan, & was drown'd off this Point, August ye 13th, 1770.
"Beware ye Fidlers of ye Fidler fate
Ne'er tempt ye deep lest ye repent too late
You ever have been deem'd to water Foes
then shun ye lake till it with whiskey Hows,
on firm land only exercise your skill
there you may play and safely drink your fill."
Four generations of the Caldwells lived in the old castle at one time, a consideration of which causes one to cease to wonder at their loss of property.
A descendant of John Caldwell, the merchant of Enniskillen, and of his son Sir James Caldwell, was his grandson, James Caldwell, who was born in Ulster, Ireland, in 1724, and who settled at Wheeling, Ohio county, Virginia, in 1772. In 1769 such grandson left Ireland with his wife Elizabeth (nee Alexander, who was born in 1737, and to whom he was married in 1752,) with nine children, and on the long passage over, another was born to them. They landed at Havre de Grace, Maryland, in the last mentioned year, and after a short stay in that place moved to Baltimore, Maryland, at which city another son was born, who was named James, and is hereinafter described as James the younger, his father being designated as James, the elder. Among their children born in Ireland was one John, who was a young man when the family arrived in America, and who had received his education before their departure from their old home in Ulster, in the county of Tyrone, near Castle Caldwell, which is situated in the county of Fermanagh, very close to the Tyrone border. This son, John, was an engineer and surveyor by profession. Two other sons were born in this country besides James, Alexander, a distinguished lawyer, who became a judge of the United States Court, for the Western District of Virginia, and Joseph, who was born during the Revolutionary War, and who throughout a long life occupied a most prominent and honorable position in the business and social life of Wheeling.
The records of Ohio county, Virginia (now West Virginia) show that Col. Robert Woods, county surveyor, surveyed, March 28th, 1781, for James Caldwell (the elder), four hundred acres fronting on the Ohio river and Wheeling creek, including his settlement made thereon in the year 1772, and that the next day Col. Woods surveyed an adjoining four hundred acres for James Caldwell, the elder, on the south of the four hundred at the junction of the Ohio river and Wheeling creek, including the said Caldwell's settlement, made thereon in the year 1772. (See Survey Book of Ohio County, Virginia, No. 1, page 44.) These two surveys for four hundred acres each extended from Wheeling creek along the Ohio river to Caldwell's run, and embraced a large portion of the land on which the city of Wheeling now stands. In the same Survey Book, at page 19, it appears that Col. Woods surveyed for Ebenezer Zane a tract of four hundred acres, on the Ohio River, and north side of Wheeling creek, including his settlement made in the year 1774. In the same Survey Book, at page 32, it appears that Col. Woods also surveyed for Jonathan Zane one hundred and forty acres next to and north of the survey of Ebenezer Zane before mentioned, which survey for Jonathan Zane included his settlement made in 1776, and calls for a corner to a tract belonging to James Caldwell. on Wheeling creek.
It will be seen from these surveys, on the strength of which patents were granted by the Commonwealth of Virginia to James Caldwell, Ebenezer Zane and Jonathan Zane, signed by Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, that James Caldwell's actual settlement in what is now the city of Wheeling, was made in 1772, that of Ebenezer Zane in 1774, and that of Jonathan Zane in 1776.
The corner of James Caldwell, spoken of in the Jonathan Zane survey, is on Wheeling creek, in what is now the town of Fulton, James Caldwell having a right to, and subsequently receiving a patent for the land subsequently known as the Steenrod property, extending from the western line of Fulton to the Woods property, at Woodsdale.
James Caldwell, the elder, was a man of great importance in the pioneer days. As will be seen by an inspection of Order Book No. 1 of Ohio county, Virginia, at pages 1 and 2, on January 6th, 1777, at Black's Cabin (now in the village of West Liberty), Ohio county, Virginia, the first court in that county was organized, under an order of the general assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and David Sheepherd, Silas Hedge, William Scott and James Caldwell, were, by virtue of a certain writ of dedimus potestatum, sworn in as justices of the peace, and the said Sheepherd swore in Zachariah Sprigg, Thomas Waller and David McClain as justices of the peace, and the said Sheepherd, Hedge, Scott, Caldwell, Sprigg, Waller and McClain took their seats on the bench and proceeded with the business of the court. Among other things, on the said 6th day of January, 1777, and the day following, such county court proceeded to consider the subject of the organization of the militia of the county, and recommended to the governor of the state of Virginia the names of officers for the militia, from county lieutenant and colonel down to and inclusive of the ensigns.
James Caldwell, the elder, seems to have had a great desire for the acquisition of land, acquiring title to thousands of acres not only in and about the city of Wheeling but in the lower portion of what was then the county of Ohio, in the state of Virginia, along what is known as the Long Reach, now in Tyler county, and Middle Island creek and its tributaries, now in the counties of Tyler and Wetzel. He left a will dated April 22nd, 1802, in which he disposes of his large landed property as well as of his personalty. It is recorded in the office of the clerk of the county court of Ohio county, West Virginia, in Will Book No. 1, commencing at page 64.
Besides taking his oath as a justice of the peace of the commonwealth of Virginia, under the appointment of Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, James Caldwell, the elder, took about the same time, after the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, an oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth of Virginia, and of repudiation of all fealty to George III., King of Great Britain. While Virginia was in full rebellion against British rule, in January, 1777, as stated, James Caldwell, the elder, took civil office under the rebel government of that commonwealth as one of the gentlemen justices of the peace who constituted the first county court of Ohio County, Virginia, a position which he held thereafter throughout the Revolutionary War. He was active, as one of the members of that court, in the work of military organization of the people of the western section of Virginia. He was nominally a civil officer, but to be a civilian during such time in the locality where he resided, on the western border of Virginia, meant also to be a soldier engaged in more or less active warfare by day and by night, during the whole war period from 1775 to 1783, and meant in his case that he was one of what has been aptly termed by an able author: "The Rear Guard of the Revolution." During that period the region in which he lived was a constant theater of war with the Indians, armed by the British, and under their influence, and aided by them by frequent co-operating expeditions of Tory forces, and occasionally of British regulars, from the Canadian posts. These Indians were as much the mercenary soldiers of Great Britain as the Hessians and Waldeckers in the East. He took part in the defense of Fort Henry during its siege in September, 1777, together with his oldest son, John Caldwell, who helped build the Fort.
The family of James Caldwell, the elder, at the time of his emigration, consisted of his wife, Elizabeth; his son, John, born January 22, 1753; his daughter, Ann, born May 17, 1755; Mary, born May 27, 1756); Sarah, born December 28, 1758; Frances, born December 15, 1760; Jeanette, born December 10, 1762; Lovely, born April 6, 1764; Elizabeth, born August 15, 1/65; and Jane, born September 13, 1767, dying young. A son, Samuel, was born at sea, March 10, 1769, during the passage. Four more children were born in America, viz: James, born November 30. 1770, at Baltimore, Maryland: Susanna, born December 30. 1772; Alexander, born November 1, 1774; and Joseph, born August 8, 1777, making fourteen children in all.
James Caldwell, the elder, died at Wheeling, in the year 1804, at his residence on Main street, on the site of the lot now occupied by the residence of Dr. L. S. Spragg, on the east side of such street, between Eighth and Ninth streets, and directly opposite the List family homestead. His house was removed comparatively a few years ago to make way for the erection of the present residence of Dr. Spragg. The joists were of walnut logs, and the nails used in the house construction had all been forged by hand by blacksmiths, and resembled the nails used in the shoeing of horses at the present time.
His death probably occurred in August of 1804, as his will was admitted to probate on the 3rd day of September of that year, as is shown by order book of the county court of Ohio county, Virginia, No. 9, at page 261.
He was a man of determined temperament, and great courage, as is shown by the fact of his emigration from Europe to this country at so early a date as 1769, bringing with him a wife and his numerous family of children of all ages, and in moving them to what was then the extreme West, and in a country subject to incursions of hostile savages. The records of the county court of Ohio county. West Virginia, contain evidence of his resolute character.
After he had been for many years president of the county court, he was, August 2nd, 1802, acting as foreman of a grand jury therein, and the court, desiring the presence of one of his grand jurors, ordered the grand juror to come from the grand jury room into the court. The foreman, who had been so long a member of this august tribunal, the county court of Ohio county, Virginia, seemed to have had but little respect for the then members of the bench, and positively refused to permit the grand juryman to leave the jury room in obedience to the court's summons. The result was that James Caldwell, the elder, foreman of the grand jury, was fined for his contempt, by the court, in the sum of three dollars, and required to pay the costs incident to the proceedings. (See Order Book of the County Court of Ohio county, No. 8, at page 192.)
In Order Book No. 8 of the County Court of Ohio county, at page 85, appears an order authorizing the taking of the testimony of James Caldwell, the elder, in perpetual memory that his nephew, James Caldwell, son of Samuel, was the oldest son of the said Samuel, and in this order it recites that James Caldwell, the elder, was formerly of the county of Tyrone, in the Kingdom of Great Britain. On page 89 of the same Order Book, the deposition is ordered to be brought into court, and to be recorded in perpetual memory. These proceedings show that James Caldwell, the elder, came from the county of Tyrone.
Before the Revolutionary War, the British authorities erected, at intervals along the Ohio River, below Fort Duquesne, built by the French at Pittsburg, a number of forts or stockades for the purpose of holding the very desirable valley of the Ohio from the French, as well as for places of refuge in event of Indian forays against the settlers. Among these was a fort at Wheeling, constructed under the direction of Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, by John Caldwell, (son of James Caldwell, the elder), and Ebenezer Zane, the elder, the fortification being laid out by John Caldwell. The west and south sides thereof were protected by precipitous gravel banks which would expose any assailing party to the view and fire from the port. It was first called Fort Fincastle, but when the Revolution broke out the name was changed to Fort Henry in honor of Patrick Henry, the Rebel Governor of Virginia.
John Caldwell was always fond of the woods, and was a great hunter and Indian fighter. He was badly wounded in the leg on the west slope of Wheeling Hill, when scouting, during one of the Indian attacks upon Fort Henry, and this wound caused him to limp slightly for the balance of his life.
Among the other landed possessions of James Caldwell, the elder, was that portion of Wheeling Island lying south of a line running west across the Island from the center of Wheeling creek, which included all of what is now popularly known as "Stone Town" and the West Virginia Exposition Grounds. His right to this part of the Island was sold by him to Ebenezer Zane, the elder, who procured a patent for the whole of the Island, after purchasing the right of James Caldwell, the elder.
James Caldwell, the younger—one of the sons of James Caldwell, the elder, was called for his father, receiving the old Caldwell name of James. While a mere lad, he was in Fort Henry during the last siege thereof, and helped mould bullets with his mother and the other women, for the use of the riflemen who defended it against the British and Indians. He was born, as hereinbefore stated, at Baltimore, Maryland. November 30th, 1770. His death occurred at Beemer's Tavern, at the southwest corner of Main and Ninth streets, in Wheeling, in May of 1838. He left a large estate for that day, which was disposed of by his will, dated May 3rd, 1838, and which was admitted to probate and record by the circuit court of Ohio County, Virginia, on the 31st day of the same month and year.
In the latter part of the previous century, James Caldwell, the younger, left his home at Wheeling and moved to St. Clairsville, in the state of Ohio, where he pursued the business of a merchant for quite a number of years. The rapid development of the section of the country in which he lived impressed upon him the necessity for greater banking facilities, and he devoted the later years of his life exclusively to banking. He was president for quite a period and up to the time of his death, of the Merchants' and Mechanics' Bank of Wheeling, one of the predecessors of what is now the National Exchange Bank in that city.
He married Anne Bucher (anglicized to Booker), of Winchester, Virginia, the daughter of Jacob Bucher, a Revolutionary soldier of German stock, and Anna Mary Whetzel, his wife, also of the same race. Jacob Bucher or Booker was a man of means, as is shown by the public records at Winchester, Virginia, and by the distribution of his property made in his will, which is there recorded. The exact date of the marriage of James Caldwell, the younger, we cannot state.
He was a man of fine business capacity, and very highly respected both in Ohio and in the portion of Virginia, in which he died. He was a widower at the time of his death, boarding at Beemer's Hotel, and giving his attention to the management of the bank of which he was president. Being quite a politician, he filled many official positions in the state of Ohio. He was one of the members of the constitutional convention of 1802, which formulated the first constitution of the state of Ohio, and served a number of years, to wit: 1811-1812; and 1819-1824, in the senate of that state, when the capital was at Chillicothe, and was clerk of the court in Belmont County from 1806 to 1810. A Democrat in politics, he was a member from Ohio in the Thirteenth Congress, and was reelected and served during the Fourteenth, from the district of which Belmont County was a part. He was a member of the important standing committee on claims, post offices and post roads, and public expenditures. James Caldwell, the younger, and his wife, were buried at St. Clairsville, Belmont County, Ohio.

Alfred Caldwell, the elder—One of the children of James Caldwell, the younger, and Anne Booker Caldwell, his wife, was Alfred Caldwell, the elder, who was born June 4th, 1817, at St. Clairsville, Ohio. After receiving good preliminary instruction he entered Washington College, at Washington, Pennsylvania, now Washington and Jefferson University, as a sophomore, in November of 1833, and took the full remaining course, graduating from that institution with the degree of A. B., in the class of 1836. Among his classmates were the distinguished theologian, Rev. James I. Brownson, D. D., of Washington, Pennsylvania; the equally distinguished physician, Robert Hazlett Cummins, M. D., of Wheeling; the distinguished lawyer of Pittsburg, George P. Hamilton; and many others too numerous to mention. After graduation from Washington College he entered the law department of Harvard University, and at the commencement of that high institution, August 29th, 1838, received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. His diploma from Harvard is signed by his very distinguished instructors. Josiah Quincy, Joseph Story and Simon Greenleaf, men whose names are known in every civilized land.
He commenced the practice of law at Wheeling, Virginia, and had resumed practice, after an absence of about six years, at the time of his death, which occurred at his residence, in Wheeling, West Virginia, May 3rd, 1868. Although he died in his fifty-first year, his life was a most active one. Indefatigable in his efforts in the practice of his profession of law, he always occupied an important position in the community in which he lived, both socially and politically. His integrity, learning and legal ability earned him the patronage, respect and confidence of his fellow citizens, demonstrated by his repeated elections to important political offices, and the very extensive legal practice that he always enjoyed.
He was married, August 16th, 1839, to Martha, daughter of George Baird, Esq., of Washington, Pennsylvania, and after her death, which occurred in 1859, he married Miss Alice Wheat, of Wheeling, who survived him. By his first marriage he had nine children, (one of whom died in infancy), and five by his second marriage. The eight children of his first marriage who survived their father, and the five of the second, are all of them, in 1913 still living, which fact demonstrates the vigor of their race.
He was elected mayor of the city of Wheeling, Virginia, in January of 1850, defeating Hon. Sobieski Brady, who was his immediate predecessor in that office. In January of 1851 he was again elected mayor of that city, over George T. Tingle, Esq., who served for many years as secretary of the Wheeling Gas Company. Declining candidacy for the mayorality again until 1856, he was at the election of that year, as well as that of the following year, again chosen mayor of the city, serving for the years 1856 and 1857. So great was his popularity that no candidate could be induced to run against him at the last two elections. As mayor of the city of Wheeling, he rigidly administered the laws, holding mayor's court, and compelling an obedience by the rougher element to the ordinances of the city.
In 1856 Alfred Caldwell, the elder, running as an independent candidate against Col. Jones of Brooke county, a Democrat, was elected to the senate of the state of Virginia. He then had a strong sympathy with the new Republican Party, which soon ripened into a full union with it. His attendance in the senate at Richmond was a most tempestuous experience. Having previously made himself obnoxious to the dominant factions in the Virginia senate by his endorsement and circulation of Helper's "Impending Crisis," an offense which cost John Sherman the speakership of the House of Representatives at Washington. He was without support from any associate in the senate, and had only two or three of his way of thinking in the house. He ardently advocated and voted for every bill for the amelioration of the condition of the slaves, and by his bold and persistent advocacy of union principles, and denunciation of slaveholding and slave owners, earned the intense enmity of that class of Virginians which, on numerous occasions, most seriously threatened to result in personal violence to Mr. Caldwell. The war spirit had reached to its height; the forces were organized and drilled; debate was as acrimonious as it was useless; and this man, with sufficient nerve to stand up for the Union, had to forego even the courtesy of recognition, as well as encounter, scorn and danger. On almost every public question that came before the senate of Virginia, when he was a member, the journal shows votes of thirty against one, and that one, the Senator from Ohio County. He was uniformly designated in the Richmond papers as an "Abolitionist." Mr. Caldwell was a member of the delegation from Virginia in the National Republican Convention at Chicago in 1860, being selected as the chairman of such delegation. He earnestly advocated in the Virginia delegation, the selection of Mr. Lincoln rather than Mr. Seward, as the Republican Party candidate for president, on the ground that Mr. Lincoln was not a sectional man, and that he would make a better run than the courtly and distinguished William H. Seward.
Mr. Lincoln, early in 1861, appointed Mr. Caldwell consul of the United States at Honolulu, Island of Oahu, one of the Hawaiian Islands. These Islands at that time constituted the independent Kingdom of Hawaii. This consulate was one of the most important and lucrative positions in the gift of the government. At the time Mr. Caldwell was consul, which was from the summer of 1861 until that of 1867, a period of six years, the port of Honolulu was the rendezvous of the whaling fleet of the Pacific, and the place where hundreds of American whale-ships discharged cargoes and shipped men for new cruises. These vessels ordinarily staid from their home ports in New England for periods of five years at a time, shipping home in other vessels, periodically, the whale oil and bone they had succeeded in obtaining. A large marine hospital belonging to the United States government, for the aid and assistance of sick and destitute American seamen, was under the care and charge of Mr. Caldwell as consul; while, in addition, he was ex-officio navy agent, and had in his charge great quantities of coal and other naval stores belonging to his government. Broken in health, he returned to his home in Wheeling, West Virginia, in the summer of 1867, resuming in a measure the practice of his profession, but was removed by death on the 3rd day of May, 1868. His remains were interred in Mt. Wood Cemetery, in the city of Wheeling.
Before his departure for Honolulu, he earnestly advocated the formation of a new state out of what is now the state of West Virginia, and the separation of the counties now composing West Virginia from the state of Virginia. However, his absence from the United States prevented him from taking the active part that he undoubtedly would have taken in the formation of the new state. Mr. Caldwell, while at Honolulu, was not only the consular, but also in fact the diplomatic officer of the United States. During the whole period of his residence there, the minister of the United States was a gentleman little fitted for the performance of the duties of a diplomatic position, and it fell to the consul, who was, by education and legal practice, better qualified to direct the minister in all diplomatic questions that arose, and to formulate the diplomatic documents for the minister's signature. The emoluments of the consul were far greater than the salary and allowances made by the government to its minister at Honolulu, and, as may be anticipated, a better quality of public servant usually occupied the position of consul than that of minister.
During the Civil War in this country in 1864, a British warship came into the port of Honolulu and asked for a supply of coal from Consul Caldwell, out of the stores belonging to the United States government, under his control. Like all friends of the Union, he had a hearty and abiding dislike for the British at that time. He promptly refused the request of the British commander, and the British authorities at Honolulu for this coal supply, saying that he did not feel justified in giving a British ship any portion of naval stores belonging to the government of the United States. Within a week after this refusal, a Russian warship steamed into the harbor of Honolulu, short of coal. It will be recalled that Russia, during our Civil War, was the firm and consistent friend of the government of the United States. On request of the Russian commander, Consul Caldwell supplied this Russian warship with all the coal desired, and promptly reported to Secretary of State Seward, in charge of the state department, at Washington, that he had refused coal to the British ship of war, but had supplied liberally the Russian war vessel. He received a reply from the Secretary of State, containing most effusive compliments for his judgment and good sense in supplying coal to the Russian war vessel, and thereby cementing the good feeling which had always existed, as Mr. Seward stated, between the Imperial Government of Russia and the United States of America. No mention, however, was made concerning the refusal of coal to the British steamer, the emphatic approval of his action in the case of the Russian vessel being sufficient evidence to the consul that, while not putting the fact upon paper, the State Department was satisfied and admitted the propriety of his action respecting the other ship.
Mr. Caldwell, soon after his marriage in 1839, erected a residence, which, with its garden and stable yard, occupied the ground upon which now stands the Scottish Rite Cathedral, at the corner of Fourteenth and Byron streets, in the city of Wheeling.
Martha Baird, the first wife of Alfred Caldwell. the elder, was from Revolutionary stock. Her people came originally from Chester County, Pennsylvania, to the western portion of that state, and her ancestors settled at what was then called Catfish Camp, now the city of Washington, in the county of Washington and state of Pennsylvania. The Bairds were Scotch, and of that branch of the Baird family known as the Bairds of Auchmedden. Her grandfather, John Baird, resided in Chester county, Pennsylvania, just previous to 1758. He married in 1756, Catharine McClain. of Kennett Square, in that county, (who died at Washington, Pennsylvania, November 28th, 1802), and they had an only child, Absalom Baird, who was born at Kennett Square in 1757. John Baird joined the army in 1758, which moved against the French Post of Fort Duquesne, under Forbes. He was an ensign (second lieutenant) in Capt. Work's company of the Second battalion of the Pennsylvania regiment, and was present with his command, under Col. Grant of the Highlanders, at Grant's defeat and at the capture of the fort. He was severely wounded in that action. His commission as ensign was dated March 13th, 1758. (See vol. ii of the Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd series, page 481).'
He was promoted to the office of lieutenant in the same company, to date from April 13th, 1760, subsequent to the capture of Fort Duquesne. (See page 520 of the same volume). He died at a fort on the Susquehanna River. (See same volume, page 523). The only child of John Baird, Absalom Baird, was raised by his mother, who, being a lady of education, taught school for the support of herself and young son. He resided with his mother, at Kennett Square, in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and upon arriving at a suitable age was sent to a famous academy at Pequa, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, then conducted by an eminent educator, Dr. Robert Smith, where by thorough study he prepared himself to enter upon a course in medicine. The outbreak of the American Revolution found him a physician ready for practice. He, soon after the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, entered the military service in the Pennsylvania militia, as an ensign in a company raised by the physician with whom he had been studying his profession. Subsequently, he entered the service as a surgeon's mate (assistant surgeon), and served as such in the field and the hospitals established at different points along the Hudson river for the American army, and was for a long time stationed at one thereof at Fishkill, New York.
On the 2Oth of March, 1780, he became surgeon of Baldwin's Artillery Artificer Regiment in the Continental service, and retired with his regiment when it was disbanded on the 29th day of March, 1781. He died at Washington, Pennsylvania, October 27th, 1805. (See Heitman's "Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army, during the War of the Revolution, April, 1775, to December, 1783," page 71.)
His mother, Catharine McClain Baird, died at his home in Washington, Pennsylvania, on the 28th day of November, 1802.
After leaving the army, Dr. Absalom Baird married Susanna Harlan Brown, at Wilmington, Delaware, in the Old Dutch Reformed Church. His wife died at Washington, Pennsylvania, November 16th, 1802. Dr. Baird had six children, two daughters and four sons.
After his regiment was disbanded under an act of Congress, he returned to Chester County and settled at Kennett Square, and there energetically practiced medicine until November of 1786, when he moved to Washington, Pennsylvania, then called Catfish Camp. In his new location he practiced his profession and soon reached eminence as a leader in the community. He was commissioned by the governor of Pennsylvania, justice of the peace, and was colonel and county lieutenant of the militia, brigade inspector, member of the state senate and then of the house of representatives, sheriff of Washington county, and trustee of the Washington Academy, from which sprung Washington College, chartered in 1806. and which, after a union with Jefferson College in 1865, is now the Washington and Jefferson University,
Of the four sons left by Dr. Baird, John, the eldest, followed him in the medical profession, but died early. The second son was George, who was born at Kennett Square, Chester county, Pennsylvania, October 28th, 1785, and taken by his parents to their new home in Washington, at the age of eleven months. The third and fourth sons were Thomas H. and William, both of whom became eminent and successful lawyers, and the former also a distinguished judge.
Dr. Baird married a second wife, a lady named Margaret Darrah, who followed his remains to the grave in the year succeeding their marriage.
During his military career in the Revolutionary army, Dr. Absalom Baird was present with the American forces at the storming of Stony Point, under the command of General Anthony Wayne (Mad Anthony), and when the General was wounded in the assault on the British works, Dr. Baird rendered him the necessary surgical aid.
No more graphic and life like pictures of the condition of society and the people in this country and of the poverty and privations they endured in the cause of Independence can be found anywhere than in the private letters passing between Dr. Absalom Baird and his mother during and immediately after the close of the Revolutionary struggle. These letters present a view of conditions that existed far more graphic than any history of the times can do. The familiar style of the correspondence appeals strongly to the imagination and perception of any one reading it. These letters have been preserved in the family, and copies of them are possessed by many of Dr. Baird's descendants. Among these descendants was one who, like his grandfather, was distinguished in the medical profession.
Allusion is here made to Dr. George Baird, his grandson, who was a graduate of Washington College, Pennsylvania, and of the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia. He practiced his profession in the city of Wheeling, with credit to himself and the great advantage of the people of that city. No more popular man nor one more esteemed, ever lived in that community. Practically all his business life he was prominent in official positions, both in the council of the city and in the board of education, also serving as the city's mayor in 1863, His genial manner and sympathetic charity endeared him more especially to the poorer people of Wheeling, and left, on his death, lasting memories of his repeated acts of kindness.
George Baird, son of Dr. Absalom Baird, was educated both in mathematics and the classics in Washington Academy, which in 1806 became Washington College. Mr. George Baird was an instructor for a time in the early history of the college, and, owing to his scholarly attainments, he was many years afterwards invited to take place in the college faculty, as Professor of Latin, but declined it.
William Baird, son of Dr. Absalom Baird, was the father of Brevet Major General Absalom Baird, of the regular army, a graduate of West Point, who was inspector general of the United States army during Mr. Cleveland's first administration as president. During the war General Baird was full major general of volunteers, and commanded a corps under General Sherman in his campaigns in the south.
On the 25th of October, 1811, Mr. George Baird was united in marriage with Miss Jane Wilson, at Washington, Pennsylvania, the lady being the daughter of John and Catharine Wilson, of Washington. George Baird and Catharine Wilson Baird, his wife, were the father and mother of the before mentioned Martha Baird Caldwell.
The Wilsons were a Scotch-Irish family who originally belonged in the county of Derry, near Killowen, on the River Bann, just across from Coleraine, in northern Ireland. John Wilson and his wife, whose maiden name was Cunningham, emigrated to this country from Ireland with their first-born child, in 1786, leaving Ireland June 25th, 1786. Catharine Cunningham Wilson was the daughter of Christopher Cunningham and Mary, his wife, who are buried in the yard of the Episcopal church at Killowen, of which church he was a vestryman and afterwards one of the two church wardens. His name is to be found, signed by him, in the church records preserved in the safe of the old Episcopal Church at Killowen. On the slab which marks their last resting place is the coat of-arms of the Cunninghams.
After residing some three years in Philadelphia, John Wilson and wife settled in Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1789, and thereafter lived at Washington until their deaths, honored and respected by the whole community. Their numerous descendants are among the most prominent people, in almost every walk of life, in Western Pennsylvania. Mrs. Catharine Cunningham Wilson died in the eighty-ninth year of her age, on the 15th of December, 1857. She lived to be the mother of four generations of descendants. Her children numbered twelve, her grandchildren seventy-three, her great-grandchildren one hundred and twelve, and her great-great-grandchildren five, in all, making two hundred and two. Ten grandsons and two great-grandsons bore her remains to the grave, and about sixty of her descendants united with a large company of neighbors in paying her the last tribute of esteem.
Too much cannot be said of the lovely character of their daughter, Jane, the wife of George Baird, Esq. She was the mother of fourteen children. Of her it has been well said: "She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up and call her blessed; her husband, also, and he praiseth her."—(Prov. 31 :26-28). Here was a most remarkably unselfish nature, and to mention her name among those who knew her is to call forth only words of praise.
The oldest of the children of Alfred Caldwell, the elder, and Martha Baird Caldwell, his wife, is Brevet Lieutenant Colonel George Baird Caldwell, who, for a long period, practiced law at the Ohio County, West Virginia, bar. Residing in the city of Wheeling, and who has held a number of important offices, both military and civil. Graduating from Washington College as an honor man of his class, he was studying law in the office of the firm of eminent lawyers, Acheson & Wilson, at Washington, Pennsylvania, when the war broke out.
Colonel Caldwell, before attending college, attended what was known as Scott's school, in the city of Wheeling, and afterwards that excellent institution known as the Morgantown Academy, at Morgantown, Monongalia County, Virginia.
When the first call was made, at the beginning of the war, for what was known as the ''three months men" by the United States government, George B. Caldwell left his law studies and took the field as a member of the 12th Pennsylvania Regiment, being appointed a corporal in his company, and although small in size, he did his full duty during this term of enlistment. Upon returning home, his regiment having been discharged, he immediately re-enlisted at Washington in the 12th Pennsylvania Regiment, known as "The Round Head Regiment." With this regiment he went under Gen. Benham to South Carolina and took part in an abortive attempt by that general to storm the Confederate works in and about the city of Charleston. By request of the loyal governor of Virginia, Mr. Caldwell, after a service of eighteen months in the ranks, was honorably discharged from the Pennsylvania troops by proper authority, for the purpose of receiving a commission in a loyal Virginia regiment being organized, and which was afterwards known as the "Twelfth West Virginia." He was commissioned first lieutenant and adjutant of this new regiment, and served with it until practically the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged from the service on account of a reduction of the army, and entered upon the practice of his profession as an attorney-at-law in the city of Wheeling, serving, in all, nearly four years as a soldier.
While with his commanders, Gen. Thoburn and Col. Curtis of his own regiment, making reconnaissance, just before the battle of Fisher's Hill, (called Mount Hope by the Confederates), a Confederate battery of field artillery, securing the range to where this clump of Union officers was gathered on an eminence, threw a shell into their midst, which carried off one leg of the horse upon which Adjutant Caldwell was riding. The next day he went into action on foot. As he was near one end of the Union line, which had pushed forward and covered ground faster than the rest of the assailants, he was one of the earliest to scale the Confederate works, and found himself almost alone when he jumped down amid the enemy. While shouting his commands to the Confederates, who were throwing down their arms and surrendering, to get over the works in the direction from which he had come, and behind the Union lines, a private soldier, who had scaled the works long after he had done so, stooped down, right at the adjutant's feet, and picked up a Confederate flag or stand of colors, encased in a black oil-cloth case, which had been for some minutes lying at the officer's feet, unobserved by him. A sergeant of his regiment called to him and asked him to take the colors from this soldier who had picked them up, saying that they rightfully belonged to the adjutant, whose foot was almost on them, and who, as stated, had been in the works long before the man who picked the flag up. He refused to take the captured colors from the enlisted man who had picked them up, because, as he always said, he would not have it charged to him that he had exercised his power as an officer over an enlisted man in such a case, however much justification he might have for it.
Colonel Caldwell has received, under act of Congress, three brevets for his military services, to wit: the brevets rank of captain, major and lieutenant colonel.
He took part in the celebrated Hunters Raid, and for a long period served as assistant adjutant general of the second Brigade of the First Division of Gen. Crook's corps in the Shenandoah Valley, under Sheridan. He was in numerous engagements during the war, and it can be truthfully said that his military record was without reproach, and of the very highest order of merit.
After he left the army, he was for a time deputy marshal of the United States for West Virginia, and assistant district attorney of the United States for West Virginia, under Hon. Nathan Goff, United States Attorney for West Virginia, since a distinguished judge of the circuit court of appeals of the United States for the Fourth Circuit, and now a senator from West Virginia, in the United States senate. Colonel Caldwell also served as a member of the council, and for two years as city solicitor of the city of Wheeling. He was always an ardent Republican, and in the campaign of 1880 he was that party's candidate for attorney general of the state, but failed of election owing to the fact that his party was greatly in the minority at the time.
Colonel Caldwell has now retired from the practice of his profession, in which he was markedly successful, achieving a competence for himself and family.

Alfred Caldwell, the younger—Alfred Caldwell, the younger, was the fourth child and second son of Alfred Caldwell, the elder, and Martha Baird, his wife. He was born at Wheeling, Virginia, July 14th, 1847, and educated at Prof. Harding's Academy at Wheeling, in the West Liberty Academy in Ohio county, Virginia, at Oahu College, near Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, and at Yale College, taking the degree of Ph. B. at Yale in 1867. He studied law in his father's law office in Wheeling, being admitted to the Wheeling bar in 1868, a few months after attaining his majority. On September 14th, 1871, he was married to Laura Ellen Goshorn, daughter of William Scott Goshorn, and Priscilla Jane Goshorn, his wife.
[West Virginia and its people, Volume 2, 1913 – Transcribed by Therman Kellar]