From "HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY,"  Vol. I, pages 238-239.
Brant & Fuller, 1890.


THE CALDWELL FAMILY

The Caldwell family has been notable in the history of Wheeling and 
of West Virginia, from the days of the earliest settlement of the 
Pan-handle.  In 1772, James Caldwell, the elder, came to the 
beautiful country about Wheeling creek, and by virtue of two land 
patents, took possession of 800 acres running from Wheeling creek 
down to Boggs' line or Caldwell run, and made the first settlement in 
the vicinity of Wheeling.  He was a prominent man and one of the 
justices of the first county court in 1777.  His children were:  
John, a surveyor and in the land business with his father, was in 
Fort Henry at the time of the massacre, and escaped to Brownsville, 
and died in what is now Marshall county; Samuel Caldwell, James 
Caldwell, the younger; Alexander Caldwell, who became the first judge 
of the United States court for the western district of Virginia, and 
died while in office, at Wheeling; Joseph Caldwell, who served in the 
war of 1812, was for many years president of the Wheeling Exchange 
bank, and died in 1864, at the age of about eighty-seven years; Jane 
Relfe, who when a widow, married Dr. Linn, of Missouri, who served in 
the United States senate as a colleague of Thomas Benton, and 
Elizabeth Williamson. James Caldwell, the younger, removed to St. 
Clairsville, Ohio, when a young man, and engaged in merchandise; was 
successful in business and became quite wealthy.  He was in the 
United States congress from Ohio in 1825, and his brother Alex was 
appointed United States judge.  He was in congress and took part in 
the election of Jackson and Adams, voting for Jackson.  By his 
marriage to Ann Booker, he had the following children: Alfred, 
Elizabeth, who married Stephen Caldwell, of Philadelphia, and is now 
deceased; Theresa, who married John H. Langhorne, of Maysville, Ky., 
Joseph Caldwell, Jr.; James  Caldwell, Jr., of Zanesville, Ohio; 
Samuel Caldwell, now practicing medicine in Illinois; Ann Caldwell, 
who married Dr. Chaloner, of Philadelphia; Alfred Caldwell, the 
elder, was born at St. Clairsville, June 4, 1817.  In November, 1833, 
he entered Washington college as a sophomore, and graduated there in 
1836.  He then entered the law department of Harvard college, and on 
his graduation in 1838, received a diploma signed by Josiah Quincy, 
Joseph Story and Simon Greenleaf.  He began his practice at Wheeling 
in the same year, and soon acquired a fine reputation and took a high 
rank at the bar.  He was a man of large mental acquirements, and 
broad capacity for usefulness, and his talents were liberally devoted 
to the community and the state. In 1850, he was elected mayor of 
Wheeling, and was re-elected in the following year.  In 1856, he was 
again called to that office and again re-elected.  During his later 
service, the republican party had its inception, and the movement was 
looked upon with favor by Mr. Caldwell.  His sense of political 
fairness, prompted him at this time to protect the rights of the 
members of the new party to meet publicly, the first meeting having 
been broken up by a mob headed by Bolivar Ward.  In 1856, he was 
elected to the state senate, as a free soiler, and became famous 
throughout the land, as being the only prominent Virginian who boldly 
maintained the principles of the new republican party.  This brought 
upon him much denunciation and even social ostracism, but he bravely 
maintained his position and battled earnestly against the success of 
secession principles. In 1860, he was the chairman of the Virginia 
delegation to the Chicago convention, which nominated  Abraham 
Lincoln, and soon after the election of the latter to the presidency, 
he was appointed consul to Honolulu, the chief city of the Sandwich 
Islands, where he resided six years.  On May 3, 1868, the spring 
following his return, he died, and was mourned by the community as 
one of its most honored citizens, and by the profession to which he 
belonged as its leading member in this city.  He was married August 
16, 1839, to Martha, daughter of George Baird, then of Wheeling, 
later of Washington, Penn., and by this union had the following 
children:  George B.; Annie, wife of Judge George E. Boyd, of 
Wheeling; Jennie W., widow of Lieut. Thomas T. Dougherty, of the 
United States navy, now residing at Paris; Alfred; Harry, of St. 
Paul, Minn., engaged in real estate; Catherine W., wife of Frank W. 
Farrar, now residing in St. Paul, Minn.; Elinor B., in Paris; Martha 
T., of Washington Penn.  The first wife died in 1859, and on August 
16, 1860, Mr. Caldwell was married to Alice Wheat, of Wheeling.  To 
them five children were born; Joseph, of Chicago; Fannie W., wife of 
F. B. Hempstone, of Washington city; James, of St. Paul; Alice B., 
wife of George B. Atkinson, of Washington city; and Maud, of Corning, 
Iowa.  All were born at Wheeling, except Fannie, James and Alice, who 
were born at Honolulu.


(Linda Fluharty)