Version
Five:
Taken from “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:
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.
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