Charles E. Caldwell is engaged in the cultivation of a one hundred
and sixty acre tract of land in Staunton township that has been in his
father’s family for the greater part of a century. Mr. Caldwell was born
in the township where he now resides on the 12th of February, 1858, and
is a son of H. J. and Nancy (Griffiths) Caldwell. In the paternal line
he is of Irish extraction, being descended from George Caldwell, who was
born in County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1802. There he grew to manhood and
was educated, spending the first twenty-six years of his life in the
land of his nativity. In 1823 he was married to Miss Mary Johnson, and
soon thereafter they took passage for the United States. Upon their
arrival in this country they located at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
where they resided until 1836. There, during the period of President
Jackson’s administration, Mr. Caldwell was officially connected with the
custom house. In 1836 with his wife and family he migrated to Macoupin
county, settling on a tract of land about three miles east of Staunton,
that had been previously preempted by his brother Henry, who had been a
resident of the county for some years. Staunton at that time contained
but two or three houses, and was surrounded by unbroken prairie, which
was very sparsely settled. The nearest mill and market was at Alton,
where the settlers for miles around were forced to take their grain to
have it ground, and buy their supplies. Here Mr. Caldwell reared his
family and assisted in establishing churches, and schools, and various
public utilities. He was an enterprising, progressive man and having
implicit confidence in the future of the country applied his energies
not only toward the development of his private interests but those of
the community at large. He lived to attain a ripe old age and passed
away at the home of his son, the father of our subject, at the age of
eighty-five years. His wife had died three years previously being
seventy-five years old at the time of her demise. H. J. Caldwell was a
lad of eight years when his parents emigrated to Illinois, his birth
having occurred in Philadelphia on the 16th of March, 1828. His
education, which had been started in the public schools of his native
city, was completed in those of Macoupin county, where he grew to
manhood. He remained at home assisting his father in the cultivation of
the farm until his marriage to Miss Griffiths, which event occurred at
Hillsborough. She was born in Montgomery, Illinois, on the 6th of
September, 1832, and is a daughter of John and Harriet (Pyatt) Griffith,
the father being a native of Tennessee and the mother of North Carolina.
They began their domestic life on the farm in Staunton township where
Mr. Caldwell passed away on the 30th of May, 1904, at the age of
seventy-six years. He was always more or less prominently connected with
public affairs in Macoupin county, where he served as justice of the
peace for four years. Fraternally he was identified with the Masonic
order, holding membership in this county, and at one time he was
affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is survived by
his wife, who continues to live on the old homestead. In Mr. and Mrs.
Caldwell’s family were six children: George N., John T., and Mary, who
died in infancy; George B., who passed away at the age of nineteen
years; Charles E., the subject of this sketch; and James H., who is
operating the home farm for his mother.
Reared on the farm where
he was born, Charles E. Caldwell during his boyhood attended the
district schools of the vicinity, but later supplemented the education
therein obtained by a course in a school in St. Louis, where he studied
for a time. He subsequently returned to his father’s farm, in the
operations of which he assisted until his marriage. Immediately
following this event he settled on his grandfather’s old homestead, and
there he has ever since resided. Here he is engaged in general farming
and stock-raising, in both of which he has met with good success. In
connection with his son he also owns a tract of land in Arkansas county,
Arkansas.
In 1885 Mr. Caldwell was married to Miss Elizabeth
Voyles and they have become the parents of five children: Nellie, the
wife of John W. Hoxsey, of Staunton, by whom she has had one child, Roy
Everett; and Roy, Nona Belle, Gracie and Daisy B., all of whom are at
home.
Fraternally Mr. Caldwell affiliates with the Modern
Woodmen of America, belonging to the camp at Staunton; in politics he is
a democrat, and for over twenty years has been filling the office of
highway commissioner in his township. During the entire period of his
life he has maintained the high standard of citizenship that has
characterized his family for the three generations they have been
residents of the county, and has many stanch friends in the community
where he is living.
Extracted 18 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Macoupin County, Illinois: Biographical and Pictorial, by Charles A. Walker, published in 1911, Volume 2, pages 608-609.
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