THE WAUPACA POST

December 5, 1991

 

WHEN THEN WAS NOW

By Wayne A. Guyant

 

This story has its beginning with Tyler C. Caldwell and Mary Warner, who both were natives of Vermont.  Tyler C. Caldwell was born July 11, 1798, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Caldwell.  Tyler was married in Rutland County, VT, to Mary Warner, who was born October 9, 1804, a daughter of Capt. Warner, who was a veteran of the War of 1812.

            Soon after their marriage, the couple migrated to Chautauqua County, NY.  It was there that they became the parents of seven children:  Columbia, who married Stephen P. Thresher, and died in California; Columbus, who is the main character of this story; Marette, who married Harvey S. Bowers, of the Town of Dayton,; Sophia, who married George Campbell, and died in California; Emily, who married Augustus Chandler, and died in Iola, and Harrison and Tyler, who were twins and died in infancy.

            In 1835 Tyler C. Caldwell made a trip from his home in Chautauqua, NY, to Kenosha County, Wisconsin Territory, with the intention of settling in that new frontier.  It was at this same period of time that his brother, Joseph Caldwell, also came to Kenosha County, from his home in Rutland County, VT, in search of land. Joseph had already settled at Pike River, where he was met by Tyler.

            Tyler C. returned to his home in Chautauqua County, NY, in the following spring to bring his family back to Kenosha County.  They took a boat from Buffalo, NY, to Kenosha, then only a settlement of three houses.

            The Caldwell brothers were not satisfied with their location in Kenosha County, so three years later the Caldwells moved up the Fox River to Rochester Township, Racine County, where they took out the first land claim, since that time known as “Caldwell’s Prairie.”  Tyler C. Caldwell lived there for the next 10 years, and it was there that he built the first bridge over the Fox River, on the road between Racine and Janesville.

            On October 28, 1849 this pioneer family again moved northward, this time on a long, perilous journey past the outpost of civilization.  By team they traveled through the forests from Racine County to Section 22, Township of Lind, Waupaca County. Mr. Caldwell worked his land until in January of 1861, when he made a trip to his old home in Vermont to visit his aging mother and the scenes of his childhood.  There was no mention about his father, who must by then have passed away.  One week after his arrival, he died in the home of his birthplace.  His mother lived to be 101 years of age.  There seems to be no record of Tyler C. Caldwell’s body ever being returned to the Crystal Lake Cemetery for burial.  His wife, Mary Warner Caldwell, died in February of 1888, and was buried in the Crystal Lake Cemetery, beside his daughter, Mariette (Maryette) Bowers.

When the Caldwell family was still living at Caldwell’s Prairie, young Columbus Caldwell, the only living son of Tyler C. and Mary Caldwell, was only eight years of age when he began driving a yoke of oxen, breaking up the virgin prairie sod.  He was paid $10 a month.

            In February 1852, Columbus Caldwell and his brother-in-law, Stephen P. Thresher, started for the gold fields of California, by the new Overland Route, crossing the Missouri River May 11 and reaching California on July 28.  He remained engaged in gold mining for the next seven years before returning to Wisconsin, in 1859, via the Isthmus of Panama and New York City, and resumed farming in the Township of Lind.

            He was married at Weyauwega on November 21, 1861, to Mary L. Taggart, a daughter of George W. and Eunice L. (Fulton) Taggart.  Eunice L. Fulton was a cousin of Robert Fulton, the inventor of the first steamboat.

            On December 6, 1861, less than one month after his marriage, he enlisted in Company M, First Wisconsin Cavalry, a company which he was largely instrumental in forming.  His regiment was ordered to Missouri and first saw active service at Cape Girardeau, MO, on May 15, 1862.  His regiment was responsible for ridding Missouri and Arkansas of the bushwackers that overran that part of the country during the early years of the war.

            While in Missouri Private Caldwell was commissioned quartermaster of the regiment, and when it was ordered to join Gen. Rosecran’s army at Murfreesboro, TN, in the fall of 1862, he had received his commission as second lieutenant.  Participating with the company about Murfreesboro was regiment accompanied the army to Chickamauga, TN.

            In October of 1863 Lieutenant Caldwell was taken sick, and after spending a week in the hospital at Nashville, was sent home to die.  He reached home in November 1863, but by March 1, 1864, he had sufficiently recovered enough to return to his regiment.

            While in charge of 25 men on detached duty, he and 19 of his little squad were captured on the “Duck Town Road,” 12 miles east of Cleveland, TN by Gen. Wheeler, then in command of the rebel cavalry.

            He was first sent to Andersonville Prison.  The day after his capture his commission as captain arrived at the regimental headquarters, although he had been acting as captain for some time.  The story goes that Captain Caldwell received preferred treatment.  He was permitted to eat from pieces of broken dishes, because he was an officer.  Most people did not get out of the Andersonville Prison alive, but Captain Caldwell was jailed in Macon, GA, thence sent to Savannah, GA, and on to Charleston, SC, where the prisoners were put under the fire, while the Union Army was shelling the city.

            He remained a prisoner until being exchanged on March 1, 1865.  The imprisonment and treat-ment received in his confinement has broken down his health to a point where this fine specimen of a man, six feet, one inch tall and weighing 190 pounds, was weakened to a point of not being able to walk.

            Captain Caldwell was sent home on a 30-day furlough, after spending two weeks at Annapolis, MD.  While still on furlough at his farm in the Town of Lind, Richmond fell, and the war between the states was nearly over.  He was honorably discharged from Camp Chase, Columbus, OH, May 15, 1865, and never was wounded.

            The children of Capt. Caldwell and Eunice Fulton, his first wife, were:  Minnie L. and Ida S.  His first wife died January 6, 1886, and for his second wife, he married her sister, Ida Jane Taggart. The children by this marriage were:  George T., Warner F., Otis L., Beatrice L., and Eunice.

            After his discharge, and the war was over, he returned to his farm in the Township of Lind.  Although physically unable to work, he supervised its operation.

            His fellow citizens soon honored him with a number of important offices.  For two years he was clerk of the Town of Lind, and a member of the school board.  He was elected register of deeds in 1867, and while serving in this capacity, he was elected a member of Waupaca’s City Council. In 1870 he was elected assessor for the city and the Township of Waupaca. In 1871, he returned to his farm in the Town of Lind, where he partially resumed farming.

            In 1872 and again in 1873, he was elected to the Wisconsin Legislature.  In 1880 he was one of five men appointed by the Waupaca City Council to serve on a building committee to erect a new courthouse.

            In 1882 he was elected superintendent of the Waupaca County Poor Farm, near Manawa.  He served there for nearly five years, until resigning December 1, 1887, to accept the position as commandant the Wisconsin Veterans Home.  He held this position until July 1897.  Mrs. Caldwell was a very efficient matron during those years.

            Columbus C. Caldwell died at his home in Waupaca on December 18, 1908.  His wife, Ida Jane Taggart Caldwell, born November 24, 1848, at Rochester, Racine County, died at her home in Waupaca on November 6, 1916.  They are buried on the Caldwell lot along with five other members of the Caldwell family in the Oakwood cemetery in Weyauwega.

            There are to grandsons of Mr. and Mrs. Columbus C. Caldwell living today in the area.  They are Clifford Caldwell, still living on his place in the Town of Belmont, Portage County, and Gilbert (Gibb) Caldwell, formerly of the Town of Farmington, who is presently convalescing in the Manawa Nursing Home.  Get well soon, Gibb.

            There are other living descendents through the Warner F. Caldwell and the Mrs. Walter L. (Beatrice Caldwell) Radley families.