Caldwell Family of Delaware
Index for Ward and Associated Families of Sassafras Neck, Cecil County, Maryland
NOTE: There is a fair amount of controversy, confusion and "tradition" over the early ancestors of the Caldwell family. I am trying to make sure this information is accurate but please note that the information contained in the newspaper article may NOT be correct but has not been changed by me.
| Caldwell family of Delaware Descendants of Andrew Caldwell in genealogy report format. (Ancestors of HENRY DAVIS WARD)
The picture to the right is of Colonel John Sipple Caldwell (1811-1878), born in Talbot County, Maryland. He is the brother of Elizabeth Caldwell (1813-1862). Elizabeth married Henry George Davis and had a daughter, Henrietta George Davis who married Thomas Ward, Sixth of Woodlawn. |
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The information below is copied from old yellowed typed pages, held together with a straight pin, and passed down in the family in an envelope marked "Caldwell".
Lineage of the Caldwells, The Origin of the Family and Its Coat of Arms.
Letters from Sun Readers on Genealogy
Among the family names rich and honorable in the United States is that of Caldwell, and the first of the name to be identified with this country was John Caldwell, who was but 19 years of age, and whose descendants are now found scattered widely over the United States, Maryland possessing a number of prominent representatives of the family.
When John Caldwell was 28 years old he married Sarah Dillingham, an orphan and heiress, of Ipswich, Mass., whose parents numbered among their intimate friends, John Winthrope, Richard Saltonstall, Samuel Appleton and Thomas Dudley.
On August 31, 1654, John Caldwell purchased as a home for his bride a house on High Street. Ipswich, that belonged to Dr. Cornelius Waldo, an ancestor of the distinguished philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson. The residence had been, at a still earlier period, the home of the Colonial Governor Bradstreet, and the roof that sheltered the earliest poetess of New England, Anne Bradstreet.
In 1654 the transaction was acknowledged before the notable warrior, Major General Daniel Denison whose signature graces the deed, and from that day until the present time over 250 years the home to which Sarah (Dillingham) Caldwell came as a bride has continued in the possession of her descendants.
Someone had said "An old house is like an old violin, the music of the past is wroth into it, and this is particularly true of the Ipswich home, which has the Caldwell family graveyard near by.
One century after the arrival of John Caldwell, of New England, other Caldwells came from England and the north of Ireland to this country and settled, one family in Central Massachusetts, another in New Hampshire, other in New Jersey, South Carolina and Georgia.
Concerning the origin of the family Dr. John Jabez Caldwell, formerly associated with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Baltimore, and at one time Health Officer of the Republic, of Baltimore, gives the following traditions:
About the year 1400 three noted brothers - John, Alexander and Oliver distinguished for bravery and a knowledge of the sea, were employed by the merchants of Lisbon, Spain, to capture the pirates that were annoying and destroying their shipping in the Mediterranean. These three brothers captured and destroyed the pirates and received compensation $20,000 each from Francis I of France. The brothers lived at Mount Arid, near the boundary of France and Italy at Toulon. Here the religious persecution of the Albigenses, Waldenses and Huguenots forced them to emigrate across the country to Solway Frith, Scotland, within the dominion of James I.
They purchased a large tract of land and sent to Toulon for their families. On their land was a notable cold well, and from it originated the name. They were known as John, Alexander and Oliver of Cold-well. They were obliged to get the King's approval of their land purchase, and before granting this he required them to sign a pledge to furnish one son each, with 20 able-bodied men, for service in defense of the Crown.
Thus the Caldwell family lived and accumulated property in the land of their adoption and intermarried with the most powerful families and landowners. They became connected with the royal family, and Queen Elizabeth was their staunch friend. Some of the Caldwells now possess as heirlooms gifts from her with their own coat of arms.
The family was also connected with Oliver Cromwell whose mother was Anne Caldwell of Solway Frith. Oliver Cromwell, with his kinsmen, Joseph, John, Andrew and David Caldwell (the latter the direct ancestor of Dr. John J. Caldwell of Baltimore) moved to the north of Ireland, of which he was Governor or Lord, and was afterward promoted to the Protectorate of England.
These Caldwells remained true to the administration of Cromwell and after the restoration of Charles II, they with their families, immigrated to America. These Caldwells landed and settled at Philadelphia or some point in Pennsylvania and from thence to other parts of the newly settled country.
The coat of arms - three ships, twenty man, a well with a man drawing water, a light on a hill - represents incidents in the acquisition of their property, the requirements of their King, their name, while the light on the hill illustrates the constant watch they kept to warn their families of the approach of the persecutors of themselves, the Huguenots, Covenanters and the followers of John Knox, the Scotch Reformer.
Dr. S. Cushman Caldwell, of New York, is the authority for interesting traditions concerning the crest borne by the Caldwell family of France, which represents a roebuck with a star on his forehead. He quotes a letter from Samuel Hamilton, of Washington, the letter also a descendant of the Caldwell family, Mr. Hamilton writes.
Sometime ago I wrote our Minister in Paris to find out if possible, the origin of the part of our coat of arms represented by a roebuck with a star on its forehead. A clerk was sent to search the record in the Heraldry Office and complaining that he was unable to find any such record, an old priest told him that it was made long prior to any herald office of which France could boast. He said it could be found among the old documents at the Cathedral of Cologne. It was found there and a copy was sent to me. The copy was destroyed by fire some years since. I can, however, give you the substance of it: In the year 496, Clovis the first King of France, while fighting the battle of Tolbiac was about to be defeated by a German tribe. He called upon his chieftains to break the ranks of the enemy, saying he would make a leader of the one who accomplished it.
The man who did this bore a roebuck on his shield as the insignia of his rank and King Clovis, then and there placed a star on its forehead making the bearer of it a Leader. No other family can be found in France or elsewhere having the roebuck and star as a coat of arms.
Concerning the John Caldwell who came to America in the early part of the eighteenth century and settled in Delaware, Dr. J.E. Porter Boulden, late dragoman at Constantinople to his uncle, Commodore Porter, United States Navy, tells the story thus.
John Caldwell was of French origin, his ancestor having been driven from their country by the fierce persecution against the Huguenots, from thence they went over to Scotland.
In the reign of James I a branch of the family went to Ireland and settled in Country Anthrim. It was from this branch that John Caldwell was descended, his father being Sir David Caldwell, of the north of Ireland. The original Hugunal name was Colville, which in the lapse of time became Anglicized into Caldwell or Cauldwell. There were three political refugees of that name, one of whom was killed while attempting to escape from France while defending the cause; one escaped to England and one to the North of Ireland. From these brothers have sprung all the Caldwells of the British Isles and their numerous descendants in the United States.
John Caldwell and his brothers landed at New Castle, Delaware, December 10, 1727. Joseph, the latter, married Miss Sipple.
Concerning the Caldwells who distinguished themselves in the battle, there was Captain Jonathan Caldwell, of Colonel Haslettes regiment of the famous Delaware Line, which fought bravely throughout the Revolutionary War. It was due to this gallant officer, whose company bore his name, that the Delaware men were known as The Blue Hen's Chickens, Captain CAldwell took with his company game chickens, which were from the brood of a blue hen celebrated in Kent county for their fighting qualities. When the officers and men of Captain Caldwell's company were not fighting the enemy they amused themselves fighting these chickens - hence the appellation of Blue Hen's Chickens to the gallant songs of Delaware, which they have to this day.
Have you heard of the Blue Hen's Chickens,
Of the brave old Delaware line?
The tale of their deeds is a record
Of courage almost devine -
A record of storms and battles
And marches in fasting and pain,
But they suffered in resolute silence -
They were never known to complain.
J.J. Caldwell
The gallantry of these men was attested at Long Island, Trenton: Princeton, Germantown, the battle of the Brandywine, on Camden's field, at Cowpens, at Eutaw and in the final triumph of Yorktown.