Both of the earliest published books that tell the story of the three brothers from Coldwell, were authored by Virginians. The first was by William Perrin and the second by Landon C. Bell.

Author Landon C. Bell's focused largely on the history of Lunenburg County, Virginia. (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).

I just learned that the earliest church in Lunenberg County, Virginia, was the Cub Creek Church, founded by John Caldwell in 1738. This church is about an hour's drive out of Richmond to Keysville on S.R. 360, then along S.R. 40 through Charlotte Court House. Before Phenix there is an historical marker on the left side of the road on county Road 682, that reads:.

FR 14
CUB CREEK CHURCH

SIX MILES SOUTH IS CUB CREEK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, THE OLDEST CHURCH IN THIS SECTION. THE NEIGHBORHOOD WAS KNOWN AS THE CALDWELL SETTLEMENT FOR JOHN CALDWELL, GRANDFATHER OF JOHN C. CALHOUN, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. ABOUT 1738 HE BROUGHT HERE A COLONY OF SCOTCH-IRISH AND OBTAINED PERMISSION TO ESTABLISH A CHURCH.

Taking a right on C.R. 619 brings you to a road sign that says "Cub Creek Church". There is a cemetery enclosed by a wrought iron fence. There is a stone monument with two large bronze plaques. On one side are the words:

THE CALDWELL SETTLEMENT

JOHN CALDWELL BORN IN IRELAND. CAME TO PENNSYLVANIA 1727. DIED AT CUB CREEK 1750 AND WAS BURIED HERE. FATHER OF REV. JAMES CALDWELL, HERO OF THE REVOLUTION, GRANDFATHER OF JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN, SOUTH CAROLINA STATESMAN.

IN MAY 1738, JOHN CALDWELL IN BEHALF OF MANY FAMILIES OF OUR PERSUASION WHO ARE ABOUT TO SETTLE IN THE BACK PARTS OF VIRGINIA ASKED THE SYNOD OF PHILADELPHIA TO APPOINT A COMMITTEE TO WAIT ON THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA "WITH SUITABLE INSTRUCTIONS IN ORDER TO PROCURE THE FAVOUR OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THAT PROVINCE TO THE LAYING A FOUNDATION OF OUR INTEREST IN THAT PLACE AND TO ASK FOR THE COLONY LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE AND THE PRIVILEGE OF WORSHIPPING GOD IN A WAY AGREEABLE TO THE PRINCIPLES OF OUR EDUCATION.'

THE GOVERNOR GRANTED THIS REQUEST AND IN 1738 A COLONY OF SCOTCH-IRISH PRESBYTERIANS UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF JOHN CALDWELL PURCHASED MORE THAN 30,000 ACRES ALONG CUB CREEK IN THIS VICINITY AND ESTABLISHED HERE A SETTLEMENT OF PRESBYTERIAN DISSENTERS.
ERECTED BY CHARLOTTE COUNTY BRANCH A.P. VA. 1938

On the other side of the marker the plaque states:

HERE IN 1738 THE CALDWELL SETTLEMENT ESTABLISHED ITS PLACE OF WORSHIP. THE FIRST BUILDING WAS A LOG MEETING HOUSE, WHICH WAS USED UNTIL 1820, WHEN THE PRESENT CHURCH WAS ERECTED.

AT CUB CREEK MEETING HOUSE, OCTOBER 13, 1774, HANOVER PRESBYTERY DECIDED TO ESTABLISH TWO SCHOOLS OF HIGHER EDUCATION, ONE IN THE COUNTY OF AUGUSTA, ONE IN PRINCE EDWARD ON CUMBERLAND. REV. CALEB WALLACE, THEN PASTOR OF THE CUB CREEK CONGREGATION ( A NATIVE OF CHARLOTTE COUNTY, AUTHOR OF THE PETITION OF 1776 TO THE VIRGINIA ASSEMBLY FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, LATER JUSTICE OF THE COURT OF APPEALS OF KENTUCKY) WAS A MEMBER OF THE TWO COMMITTEES APPOINTED BY PRESBYTERY TO RAISE FUNDS FOR THESE SCHOOLS. FROM THIS ACTION CAME WASHINGTON COLLEGE (NOW WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY) AND HAMPDEN SYDNEY COLLEGE.

Source: Katie Henslie, http:// www. rootsweb. com/ ~vacharlo/ chcub.htm

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…. "

This is a verbatim retelling of the story authored by William Perrin.

I knew nothing about the Waldenses and Albigenses and went searching the internet.

The Waldenses and Albigenses appear to be among the first of the pre-Lutheran Protestant movement.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, sixth edition, 2001, provides a useful overview about the Waldenses. "They originated in the late 12th cent. as the Poor Men of Lyons, a band organized by Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant of Lyons, who gave away his property (c.1176) and went about preaching apostolic poverty as the way to perfection. Being laymen, they were forbidden to preach… they were formally declared heretics by Pope Lucius III in 1184 and by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. In 1211 more than 80 were burned as heretics at Strasbourg, beginning several centuries of persecution…The Waldenses proclaimed the Bible as the sole rule of life and faith. They rejected the papacy, purgatory, indulgences, and the mass, and laid great stress on gospel simplicity. Worship services consisted of readings from the Bible, the Lord’s Prayer, and sermons, which they believed could be preached by all Christians as depositaries of the Holy Spirit. Their distinctive pre-Reformation doctrines are set forth in the Waldensian Catechism (c.1489)….See study by E. Cameron (1984)."The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th edition. 2001. http:// www. bartleby. com/ 65/ wa/ Waldense.html

J. McCabe, The Waldesnians, Rationalists Encyclopaedia, writes of the Waldenses and Albigensians:

"A body of heretics of France, North Italy, and Switzerland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries who are often coupled with the Albigensians or the Cathari. The only point in common is that they were victims of the persecuting fury of the Papacy. … As in the case of the Albigensians, there is no estimate of the number of the Church's victims, but we are reliably informed that in the Italian persecution 9,000 were put to death, and 12,000 (of whom all but 3,000 died) committed to dungeons, in one year. Rome could not crush them, however." http://www2. prestel. co. uk/ littleton/ jmwalden. htm

A particularly well-written story about their beliefs and efforts to exterminate them and those of similar beliefs, the Cathars of southwest France, has been written by Stephen O'Shea, The Perfect Heresy, Walker & Co, New York, 2000. I totally agree with the reviews: "gripping…well informed…highly readable…a book to enjoy…a darn good read." I bought an extra copy for a friend.

William Perrin, the first publisher of the story of the three brothers immigrating in mid 16th century to Scotland from "Cold Well, Toulon, was a noted sympathizer of the Waldenses, and authored a history drenched with anti-Papal sentiment.

In Perrin’s History of the Waldenses, book ii., chap. 3, Perrin described "a most barbarous persecution" that was carried on against the Waldenses in the valleys of Loyse and Frassiniere. "It is held as unquestionably true," says Perrin, "amongst the Waldenses dwelling in the adjacent valleys, that more than three thousand persons, men and women, belonging to the valley of Loyse, perished on this occasion. And, indeed, they were wholly exterminated, for that valley was afterwards peopled with new inhabitants, not one family of the Waldenses having subsequently resided in it; which proves beyond dispute, that all the inhabitants, and of both sexes, died at that time." [Perrin’s History of the Waldenses, book ii., chap. 3.]

He cite numerous first hand contemporaneous sources to support his views.

"In the year 1545, a large tract of country at the south of France, inhabited chiefly by the Waldenses, was overrun and most cruelly desolated by the popish barbarians, under the command of a violent bigot, named baron Oppede. A copious account of this persecution is given by a candid Romish contemporary historian, Thuanus, in the history of his own times. As a specimen of the cruelties perpetrated upon the heretics at this time, we can only extract the description of the taking of a single town, Cabrieres. "They had surrendered to the papists, upon a promise of having their lives spared; but when the garrison was admitted they were all seized, they who lay hid in the dungeon of the castle, or thought themselves secured by the sacredness of the church; and being dragged out from thence into a hollow meadow were put to death, without regard to age or the assurances given: the number of the slain, within and without the town, amounted to eight hundred: the women, by the command of Oppede, were thrust into a barn filled with straw, and fire being set to it, when they endeavored to leap out of the window, they were pushed back by poles and pikes, and were thus miserably suffocated and consumed in the flames." (Id.)

"About the year 1560, during the suspension of the council of Treat, a most violent and bloody persecution was carried on against the Waldenses of Calabria at the south of Italy, by direction of that brutal tyrant, pope Pius IV. Two monks were sent from Rome, armed with power to reduce the Calabrian heretics to obedience to the Holy See. Upon their arrival, at once to bring matters to the test, they caused a bell to be immediately tolled for mass, commanding the people to attend. Instead of complying, however, the Waldenses forsook their houses, and as many as were able fled to the woods with their wives and children. Two companies were instantly ordered out to pursue them, who hunted them like wild beasts, crying, "Amazzi! Amazzi!" that is, "murder them! murder them!" and numbers were put to death. Seventy of the heretics were seized and conducted in chains to Montalto. They were put to the torture by the orders of the inquisitor Pauza, to induce them not only to renounce their faith but also to accuse themselves and their brethren of having committed odious crimes in their religious assemblies. To wring a confession of this from him, Stefano was tortured until his bowels gushed out. Another prisoner, named Verminel, having, in the extremity of pain, promised to go to mass, the inquisitor flattered himself that, by increasing the violence of the torture, he could extort a confession of the charge which he was so anxious to fasten on the Protestants. …The manner in which persons of the tender sex were treated by this brutal inquisitor, is too disgusting to be related here. Suffice it to say, that he put sixty females to the torture, the greater part of whom died in prison in consequence of their wounds remaining undressed. On his return to Naples, he delivered a great number of Protestants to the secular arm at St. Agata, where he inspired the inhabitants with the utmost terror; for if any individual came forward to intercede for the prisoners, he was immediately put to the torture as a favorer of heresy.

"Of the almost incredible barbarities of the papists at Montalto in the month of June, 1560, the best and most unexceptionable account is that furnished in the words of a letter of a Roman Catholic spectator of the horrid scene, writing to Ascanio Camecioli. This letter was published in Italy with other narrations of the bloody transactions. It commences as follows:—"Most illustrious sir—Having written you from time to time what has been done here in the affair of heresy, I have now to inform you of the dreadful justice which began to be executed on these Lutherans early this morning, being the 11th of June. And, to tell you the truth, I can compare it to nothing but the slaughter of so many sheep. They were all shut up in one house as in a sheepfold. The executioner went, and, bringing out one of them, covered his face with a napkin, or benda, as we call it, led him out to a field near the house, and, causing him to kneel down, cut his throat with a knife. Then, taking off the bloody napkin, he went and brought out another, whom he put to death after the same manner. In this way, the whole number, amounting to eighty-eight men, were butchered. I leave you to figure to yourself the lamentable spectacle, for I can scarcely refrain from tears while I write; nor was there any person who, after witnessing the execution of one, could stand to look on a second. The meekness and patience with which they went to martyrdom and death are incredible. Some of them at their death professed themselves of the same faith with us, but the greater part died in their cursed obstinacy. All the old men met their death with cheerfulness, but the young exhibited symptoms of fear. I still shudder while I think of the executioner with the bloody knife in his teeth, the dripping napkin in his hand, and his aims besmeared with gore, going to the house and taking out one victim after another, just as the butcher does the sheep which he means to kill."
Lest the reader should be inclined to doubt the truth of such horrid atrocities, the following summary account of them, by a Neapchitan historian of that age, may be added. After giving some account of the Calabrian heretics, he says—"Some had their throats cut, others were sawn through the middle, and others thrown from the top of a high cliff: all were cruelly but deservedly put to death. It was strange to hear of their obstinacy; for while the father saw his son put to death, and the son his father, they not only exhibited no symptoms of grief, but said joyfully that they would be angels of God: so much had the devil, to whom they had given themselves up as a prey, deceived them." [Tommaso Costo, Seconda Parte del Compendio dell’ Istoria di Naploli, p. 257. [Sir Samuel Morland’s history of the Valleys of Piedmont, p. 363. Folio, London, 1658.]

John Milton was, as of 1658, Latin secretary to Oliver Cromwell. He wrote this sonnet.

ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEDMONT.
Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughter’d saints, whose bones
Lie scatter’d on the Alpine mountains cold;
Ev’n them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones
Forget not: in thy book record their groans
Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese that roll’d
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they
To heaven. Their martyr’d blood and ashes sow
O’er all th’ Italian fields, where still doth sway
The tripled tyrant; that from these may grow
A hundred fold, who having learned thy way
Early may fly the Babylonian wo."

At an angelfire website I read this:

"In 1173, Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant from Lyons, France was converted. Some say that he received his surname because of his association with the Waldenses, who most certainly had an evangelical testimony before the time of Waldo. While a majority of historians (including Priest Markoe) name Peter Waldo as the originator of the Waldenses, the Waldensian Noble Lesson dates from at least the year 1100, which was long before Waldo was born….The importance of the Waldenses as one cause of the Reformation is often overlooked. They were evangelistic as well as being evangelical. They travelled throughout southern and central Europe, often disguised as peddlers, until they brought forth from their hearts treasures greater than the gems and silks they sold……Upon joining the Reformation, the Waldenses emerged from the dens and caves, where they had been taking refuge, and boldly declared themselves. For 100 years there was no Roman Catholic service anywhere in the Valleys…In 1560 the persecution was renewed. …In the Waldensian Valleys… the persecutors used a fiendish variety of tortures and deaths. They included having one's entrails torn from his living body (Hugo Chiamps), and in one case after the entrails were torn out, a fierce cat was thrust into the still living body for further torment (Peter Geymarali). Susan Michelini was bound hand and foot and left to perish of cold and hunger; Bartholemew Fache was gashed with sabres and had the wounds filled with quicklime and thus perished in agony; Danial Michelini praised God in Bobbio and had his tongue torn out. James Baridari perished covered with sulphurous matches which were forced into his flesh all over his body and ignited; Daniel Revelli had his mouth filled with gunpowder and his head blown off. Maria Monnen had the flesh cut from her cheek and left to perish; Paul Garnier was slowly sliced into pieces at Rora, and Susan Jaquin was cut into bits at La Torre. Daniel Rambaud, at Paesano, had his nails torn off, then his fingers chopped off, then his feet and hands, then his arms and legs." http://www.angelfire.com/ky/dodone/NA5.html

Luther, in 1533, published the confessions of the Waldenses, to which he wrote a preface. In this preface, he candidly acknowledges that "in the days of his popery, he hated the Waldenses, as persons who were consigned over to perdition. But having understood from their confessions and writings, the piety of their faith, he perceived that these good men had been greatly wronged. He adds "that among them, he found one thing worthy of admiration; that laying aside the doctrines of men, they meditated in the law of God, day and night - that they were well versed in the knowledge of the scriptures, and having read their confessions, he returned thanks to God, for the great light it had pleased him to bestow upon that people."

This background on the Waldenses helps explain why Bell and Perrin's story about the three Caldwell brothers descended from Waldenses would be particularly pleasing to anti-Papal, scripture-quoting Appalachian Caldwells. In effect Bell and Perrin were telling them they were descended from the first Protestants, predating even Martin Luther and the Reformation.

Whether the linkage is real or imaginary is difficult to resolve. I have already expounded on my views why I rejected the notion that the Caldwell surname originated with the arrival of three brothers from Toulon. But it remains plausible that three refugees fleeing anticipated persecution in Toulon assumed a commonly used Caldwell surname upon arrival in Scotland, and their descendants include those of Cub Creek, Virginia and throughout the Appalchians and further west. Alexander Cauldwell was born in 1558, just two years before persecution was renewed against the Waldenses.

David Andrew Caldwell