Boyle County Genealogical & Historical Society, Inc.
John Caldwell
John Caldwell, the immigrating ancestor of the Caldwell family in Boyle County, was born 9 January 1683 in Lifford Parish, Ballyoogan, County Donegal, Ireland. His ancestry can be traced back at least five generations to Alexander Caldwell, who immigrated from Scotland to Ireland before 1600. The immigrant John married Margarette Phillips and they are the parents of Margaret Amey Caldwell, wife of James Mitchell, Sr. mentioned in another section of this program. John and Margarette Phillips Caldwell eventually made their home in the Cub Creek area of Lunenburg County, Virginia, where John, his son David, and grandson Robert were ruling elders in the Cub Creek Presbyterian Church. [Cub Creek Presbyterian Church and Congregation 1738-1838, Elizabeth Venable Gaines, page 33] John Caldwell of Scotch ancestry, but of Irish birth emigrated from Antrim, Ireland around 1727, and settled first at Chestnut Level, Lancaster Co., PA and later removed to Charlotte County, Virginia.
The seven children of John and Margarette Phillips Caldwell were:
John's granddaughter, Martha Caldwell married Patrick Calhoun and was the mother of John Caldwell Calhoun, the leading statesman and well-known Senator from the South." [Historical and Biographical Sketch of the Caldwell Family, Page 20-21] Other prominent descendants are General Samuel Caldwell, Colonel of Kentucky Troops in 1812, attorney, and first clerk of Logan County, Russellville, KY; Elias Boudinot Caldwell, clerk of the US Supreme Court for 25 years; a number of ministers and several wives of governors.
It is through the influence of the Caldwells and some of the other families who lived in the Cub Creek area of Virginia that Dr. David Rice came to the Danville area to be the pastor of the Presbyterian Church. According to Calvin Morgan Fackler’s book A Chronicle of The Old First Presbyterian Church, Danville, Kentucky, Rice had been in the Cub Creek area serving as a pastor there from 1767-1771. James Mitchell, Rice’s son-in-law had already come to Kentucky first; he may have come to reaffirm for David Rice the credit of establishing a Presbyterian Church here. Documents show that this meeting house, built on the town square, was the first in the west.
Submitted by Carolyn B. Crabtree
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