West Virginia and its people, Volume II, Part 2

Author: Miller, Thomas Condit, 1848-; Maxwell, Hu, joint author
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 866

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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 In- dians. 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 rec- ord 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 young- er. 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 Ger- man stock, and Anna Mary Whetzel, his wife, also of the same race. Ja- cob 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 mar- riage 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

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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 sen- ate 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 re- elected and served during the Fourteenth, from the district of which Bel- mont 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 re- ceiving 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 Univer- sity. and at the commencement of that high institution, August 29th, 1838, received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. His diploma from Har- vard is signed by his very distinguished instructors, Josiah Quincy, Jo- seph 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 pro- fession of law, he always occupied an important position in the commun- ity 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 po- litical 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 sur- vived 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 pre- decessor 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

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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 may- or'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 candi- date 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 experi- ence. Having previously made himself obnoxious to the dominant fac- tions in the Virginia senate by his endorsement and circulation of Help- er's "Impending Crisis," an offense which cost John Sherman the speak- ership 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 ques- tion 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 pa- pers 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 advo- cated 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 Ha- waii. This consulate was one of the most important and lucrative posi- tions in the gift of the government. At the time Mr. Caldwell was con- sul, 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 or- dinarily 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 hos- pital belonging to the United States government, for the aid and assist- ance 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 nav- al 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 for-

1.4

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mation 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 pre- vented him from taking the active part that he undoubtedly would have taken in the formation of the new state. Mr. Caldwell, while at Hono- lulu, 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 per- formance 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 dip- lomatic documents for the minister's signature. The emoluments of the consul were far greater than the salary and allowances made by the gov- ernment to its minister at Honolulu, and, as may be anticipated, a bet- ter 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 Hon- olulu 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 Govern- ment of Russia and the United States of America. No mention, how- ever, 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 pa- per, 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 set- tled 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 Ches- ter 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

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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 reg- iment, and was present with his command, under Col. Grant of the High- landers, at Grant's defeat and at the capture of the fort. He was severe- ly 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 Susque- hanna river. (See same volume, page 523). The only child of John Baird, Absalom Baird, was raised by his mother, who, being a lady of ed- ucation, taught school for the support of herself and young son. He re- sided with his mother, at Kennett Square, in Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, and upon arriving at a suitable age was sent to a famous acade- my at Pequa, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, then conducted by an eminent educator, Dr. Robert Smith, where by thorough study he pre- pared 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 mili- tary service in the Pennsylvania militia, as an ensign in a company raised by the physician with whom he had been studying his profession. Sub- sequently, 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 20th of March, 1780, he became surgeon of Baldwin's Artil- lery 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 Washing- ton, Pennsylvania, on the 28th day of November, 1802.

After leaving the army, Dr. Absalom Baird married Susanna Har- lan 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 re- turned to Chester county and settled at Kennett Square, and there ener- getically practiced medicine until November of 1786, when he moved to Washington, Pennsylvania, then called Catfish Camp. In his new loca- tion 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 Wash- ington 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.

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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 mar- riage.

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 corres- pondence 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 de- partment of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia. He prac- ticed 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 may- or 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 math- ematics 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 facul- ty, 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 un- der General Sherman in his campaigns in the south.

On the 25th of October, 1811, Mr. George Baird was united in mar- riage with Miss Jane Wilson, at Washington, Pennsylvania, the lady be- ing 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 maid- en name was Cunningham, emigrated to this country from Ireland with their first-born child, in 1786, leaving Ireland June 25th, 1786. Catha- rine Cunningham Wilson was the daughter of Christopher Cunningham and Mary, his wife, who are buried in the yard of the Episcopal church

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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 promi- nent 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 grand- children 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->8). Here was a most remarkably unselfish na- ture, 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 num- ber of important offices, both military and civil. Graduating from Waslı- ington 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, Monon- galia 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 com- pany, 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 100th Pennsylvania Reg- iment, 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 Vir- ginia." 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 2

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West Virginia and its people, Volume II, Part 2

Author: Miller, Thomas Condit, 1848-; Maxwell, Hu, joint author Publication date: 1913 Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 866

Author: Miller, Thomas Condit, 1848-; Maxwell, Hu, joint author
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 866