****************************************************************************
File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
Copyright 2008, all rights reserved.

These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format 
without the written consent of the author at http://fulton.ilgenweb.net.

****************************************************************************

Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County
Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890

****************************************************************************

The Biography of William CALDWELL 

Pages 804-805, transcribed in full by Karen CRANE Goggin 

[Surnames: CALDWELL, CHAPMAN, CLEVELAND, DAY, DEWEY, DONALDSON, FIELD, KENNEDY, KING, LEEPER, LINDSEY, McCULLOUGH, McNOLD, ROLLINS, STRAIN, WARDEN, WHITE] 

    
WILLIAM CALDWELL. One by one the pioneers of Farmington and vicinity are passing away and their labors and struggles will soon be a matter of history. It is well to preserve in memory a brief account of the privations and difficulties under which they labored in laying the foundation of our material, civil and religious prosperity. For this purpose a few facts regarding the honored gentleman above named will be presented to our readers. 
    
The subject of these brief paragraphs was of Scotch and Scotch-Irish descent. His great-grandparents were John and Ann (King) Caldwell, both of pure Scotch blood. His grandparents were John and Isabel (Strain) Caldwell who emigrated to this country in 1792. They made their home in Carlisle, Pa., where Grandfather Caldwell died. In 1802 the surviving members of the family removed to Mercer County, where Samuel Caldwell, father of our subject, was married to Elizabeth Donaldson, who was of Scotch-Irish descent. On the Caldwell estate, at what is now known as New Hamburg, October 8, 1806, William Caldwell opened his eyes to the light. His boyhood and youth were passed at his native place which he left in 1828 to learn the cabinet-maker's trade in Pittsburg. He remained in the Smoky City until called home by the death of his father in 1830. 
    
January 14, of the same year, Mr. Caldwell was married to Miss Sarah Lindsey and established his home at Leeches Corners. In 1836 he came to Chicago, then in its infancy, but after sojourning there a twelvemonth returned to his former home. In 1841 he came to Farmington to settle the estate of Dr. Joseph Caldwell and the following year brought hither his family. He and his brother-in-law, Thomas Lindsey, built two flatboats, on one of which they erected a house for their family, and embarked on the Erie and Pittsburg Canal for the West. The water was very low, progress difficult, and they finally determined to sell their flatboats and complete their journey on a steamer. They sold their boats at Cincinnati, continued their journey in a steamboat to Kingston, then removed by wagon to the vicinity of Farmington. 
    
Our subject spent the winter on Mr. White's farm and in the spring took up a half-section of Government land at Uniontown. There, September 1, 1849, his companion died, leaving him with six children to care for. Of these Joseph Rollins, now living in Stewart, Iowa, is the only survivor. In the fall of 1850 Mr. Caldwell took his son Samuel, then aged sixteen, and his two daughters aged eight and six years, to Pennsylvania, spending the winter at the old homestead. March 10, 1851, he was married to Miss Rosina McNold and immediately started by boat with his wife and two daughters, his son having been apprenticed to a printer at Mercer, for his home at Uniontown, Ill. In 1855 Mr. Caldwell removed to Farmington and embarked in the sale of general merchandise with H. N. Field, being afterward associated with a Mr. Day. In common with most business men of the time Mr. Caldwell suffered severely in the financial crash which immediately preceded the war of the Rebellion. 
    
In the spring of 1860, in company with John Leeper, and his son Samuel, Mr. Caldwell made a trip to Pike's Peak, prospecting for gold, but returned in the autumn of the same year. For a time he bought grain for P. P. Chapman. In April, 1862, he was commissioned postmaster of Farmington, being the first Republican to hold office and under the first Republican President. He filled the position with honor and satisfaction to all for nearly a quarter of a century, when his successor was appointed by Grover Cleveland in 1885. Being at that time seventy-nine years of age Mr. Caldwell thought it wise to retire from business, and until his death, July 29, 1890, had no active occupation. When called from time to eternity he was eighty three years, nine months and twenty-one days old. 
    
Mr. Caldwell was in hearty sympathy with all movements of progress and reform and bore his full share in developing the material resources of this country. He was a man of unimpeachable integrity and kindness of heart and purity of motive and has left behind him the record of a long and useful life. His parents were Presbyterians but he was for a number of years a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1851 he, with the present Caldwell, united with the Congregational Church of Farmington, and in its fellowship was living when called hence. He had ten children, twenty grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, and also reared and educated William McCullough, commonly known as Will Caldwell, of Elmwood. Besides the son before mentioned two children survive--Annie Warden, now Mrs. T. L. Kennedy, of New Brighton, Pa. and Mary Isabella, wife of F. O. Dewey, of Farmington.