You wrote: "we were related to John C.Calhoun, we were
Scot-Irish and also French Hugenots."

My immediate thought:

Please accept my comments as reflecting a desire to clarify the documentary evidence relating to your oral genealogical history, not humiliate. If you feel I am taking a cheap shot, you can charge me $10 for having to put up with me.

John C.Calhoun's father definitely was Scot-Irish, as can readily be confirmed by a simple genealogical search on the internet.

John C.Calhoun's mother was descended from a long long line of Caldwells stretching back to am early 18th century Caldwell settlement, first in colonial Pennyslvania, then in Cub Creek, Colonial Virginia. These Caldwells were descendants of an Andrew Caldwell, b. 1692/93, Ballybogan, Lifford, Ireland, who died in 1752, in Lancaster County, Colonial Pennsylvania. Andrew Caldwell's wife was Ann Stewart. His ancestors include a Caldwell who owned Castle Caldwell in Co. Fermanagh, Ireland.

These Ulster Caldwells have traced their lineage to a lowlander Scot: John Caldwell, b. 1603, of Prestwick, Ayrshire (formerly Ayr), who died in Eniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, Ireland.

His father was Willliam Caldwell, b 1579 (depending on the genealogical source), Straiton, Ayr(shire), Scotland. You can find this lineage posted here under our sponsor's list of ancestors as well as at numerous web sites. Just use the key words: straiton -caldwell-william.

William Caldwell's father was Alexander Cauldwell, b. (about) 1558. That was the year that Elizabeth became Queen of England following the death of her father. She was, of course, Protestant. The soon to be Mary, Queen of Scots, a devout Catholic was then living in France, was soon to take a position as Queen of Scotland, which was then Protestant. Alexander Cauldwell may well have been baptized the first Protestant Caldwell of this line of Caldwells.

I have read of ancestral linkage of Straiton's William Caldwell to non-gentry English Caldwell farmers who migrated from Warwickshire, a county (shire) in the midlands of England in the 16th century.

But at this web site sponsor John Caldwell says that William is reputed to be a descendant of William Cauldwell, Prebendary of Glasgow and Lord High Chancellor of Scotland,, in the mid 14th century. (*Taken from the Belfast Times (circa 1858), "History of Ireland" by RM Sibert). John acknowledges that there is no document confifrming that the Lord High Chancellor had any surviving issue. The Plague had killed about a third of Scotland's inhabitants at the time that William became Chancellor.

By far the most publicized story identifies William as the son of Alexander Cauldwell, one of three brothers from Cold-Well, near Toulon, in southern France. This is the region that was largely inhabited by the French Protestant Huguenots, targets of a Catholic inquisition and extermination. I have counted over 75 web sites referring to this ancestry.

Plunkett Caldwell has posted on the internet this: "John Calwell of Enniskillen in the county of Fermanagh born in Preston in Ayr Scotlandson of William of Straiton. First wife daughter of Greer....in.....by whom he had issue. John Caldwell his eldest son and yet unmarried. He took a second wife Mary daughter of Anthony Sweetenham of Shadwicks in Cheshire England, gentleman and his wife Elizabeth daughter of John Hocknell of Hocknell Plott in Cheshire by which Mary he had four sons James, Roger, John and Robert and a daughter Judith all young and unmarried in 1640. The first mentioned John died at Dublin on Ash Wednesday 19th of February 1639 and was interred at St Audeons in Dublin."James who became Sir James baronet was attained as being in revolt against James the second along with Hugh Caldwell of Donegal and John Caldwell. The same James was unlikely to have been born at the Manor of Bannaghmore (Castle Caldwell) as it was not purchased until 1671 by his father John. [¶] The manor of some 4865 acres was purchased of Augustine Blennerhasset heir of Edward Blennerhasset. The Caldwells mentioned in the hearth money rolls of 1665 for co Donegal do mention a John Caldwell resident at Cloneight Barony of Raphoe which is in the parish of Lifford possibly your John. A Harrah Caldwell gentleman is mentioned as a titulados in the names in Fermanagh in 1659 A titulados is a person who has been granted title to land.There are only 26 Caldwells mentioned on the hmr, between 1663 and 1666. IN Co Derry there was a Alex Caldwell mentioned being taxed for two hearths in the townland of Gortinore Parish of Clondermott in 1663."

James Olson Carrollton, Texas, writes: "The story of Cub Creek may be said to commence 11 April 1738 when the Donegal Presbytery (Lancaster, Penna.) approved the supplication of John Caldwell "in behalf of himself and many families of our persuasion who are about to settle in the back parts of Virginia desiring that some members of the Synod may be appointed to wait upon that government to solicit their favour in behalf of our interest in that place". …John Caldwell, an elder in the Chestnut Level Presbyterian Church in Lancaster County, Penna., is the recognized founder of the Cub Creek Congregation, in which movement he was ably assisted by Andrew and Thomas Cunningham, along with 14 others who purchased land, then in Brunswick County from Richard and William Kennon." …( Records of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, embracing the Minutes of the General Presbytery and General Synod, 1706-1788, pg 138-139.) The 17 founders were David John and William Caldwell and William son of John Caldwell; Andrew and Thomas Cunningham; Thomas Daugherty; Richard Dudgeon, James Franklin, William Fuqua, William Hardwick; David and James Logan; Alexander McConnel, Israel Pickens, John Stewar, and Thomas Vernon as noted in Elizabeth Venable Gaines: "Cub Creek and Congregation, 1738-1838, p. 93. (James Olson Carrollton, Texas, The Ancestors of Katherine James, http://www. uftree. com/ UFT/ WebPages/ Katherine_James/ KEO4/d0/ i0006138.htm)

The most commonly cited reference on the web to the three brother Caldwells is a book authored by a 20th century Appalachian historian , Landon C. Bell, "The Old Free State" (A Contribution to the History of Lunenburg County and Southside Va) By Landon C. Bell. Vol II The William Byrd Press, Inc Printers, Richmond , Va 1927.

At page 182, Bell writes:

"CALDWELL

"This family is a very ancient one. It is said to be descended from Albigenses and Waldenses of the Piedmont section of Italy, who were driven into France by the Roman Catholic persecutions. Some of the Caldwells, who were living at Mount Arid, near Toulon, France, earned the enmity of Francis I, of France, and after his escape from imprisonment under Charles V, of Germany, three Caldwells, brothers, John, Alexander and Oliver emigrated to Scotland, and there with the consent of James I, purchased the estate of a Bishop named Douglas, located near`Solney Frith.`
…
"It was proved that "the said brothers, John, Alexander and Oliver, late of Mount Arid, " should have their estate known as "Caldwell" on condition that when the King should require they should each send a son with twenty men of sound limb, to aid in the wars of the King. (Account of Elsie Chapline Pheby Cross, in Journal of American History.)

"There is a cup, preserved as an heirloom, which represents a chieftain and twenty mounted men, all armed, and a man drawing water from a well, with the words underneath, "Alexander of Cauldwell." It also shows a fire burning on a hill, over the words, "Mount Arid," and also a vessel surrounded by high waves, which the latter was intended to commemorate the fact that their ancestors were common in the Mediterranean, in the latter part of the Fourteenth Century. (Id. Cross)

"Oliver Cromwell’s grandmother was Ann Cauldwell, and Joseph, John, Alexander, Daniel, David, and Andrew, of Cauldwell, went with Cromwell to Ireland, and in various capacities served his interest there, after his accession to the Protectorate. Upon the restoration of Charles II, a member of the family emigrated to America."

I was initially impressed by Bell's citation of Cross' account in The Journal of American History. The Journal is a scholarly, peer-reviewed, reputable publication. But I know nothing about Elsie Chapline Pheby Cross.

The Journal of American History is published by the Organization of American Historians, 1215 E. Atwater, Bloomington, IN 47401, Phone: 812.855.2816, Fax: 812.855.9939 | (http:// www. indiana. edu/~jah/). It was originally founded as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association in 1907. It was admitted to the American Council of Learned Socities in 1971. The Journal has been published since 1914 and has a current quarterly circulation of 12,000 (http://www. acls. org/ oah. htm.)

I have not read the account by Elsie Chapline Pheby Cross, in the Journal of American History, so I do not know what sources she may have cited. But I am sure of one thing: her account is not an original work. It repeats verbatim the story about the Caldwells published in the 19th century: "Kentucky. A History of the State, embracing a concise account of the origin and development of the Virginia Colony; its expansion westward, and the settlement of the frontier beyond the Alleghanies; the erection of Kentucky as an independent state, and its subsequent development," by W.H. Perrin, J.H. Battle, G.C. Kniffin; F.A. Battey and Company; 1887.

The Perrin publication consists of several volumes, and has gone through at least 4 editions, the latest by the Southern Historical Press. A single volume consisting of excerpts has also been published. It likely is available through interlibrary loan. Amazon dot com states the 4th edition is out of print but the 3rd edition is still available.

Rather than simply dismiss the three brothers story as buncombe, I looked into the question whether there might be any substance to the claim that that there might have been a Saxon named well in Southern France in the late 16th century called ceald wielle, the Saxon word for cold well.

I learned that in the 16th century Toulon was not in France, but was a part of the Holy Roman Empire, encompassing almost all of present day Germany and southeast France and a part of Italy. Toulon is in the Rhone Valley. German speaking people may have migrated from Calw (famous for its artesian wells), in the Black Forest region of Germany, along the navigable Rhone River, to Toulon and the rich soils and plentiful wells and streams of that region. Many would have also made pilgrames to Avignon, near Toulon, when it served as the headquarters of the Roman Papacy.