My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in The History of East Tennessee published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1887.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Dr. A. A. Caldwell was born about two miles from Mossy Creek, Tenn., December 25, 1822, the son of John and Margaret Caldwell. The father was born in 1790 in Jefferson County, the son of Anthony, who came from his native Virginia to Tennessee soon after he left the Revolutionary army, at a time when Indians were more numerous than white people. He was a farmer. John acquired a limited education, and was a self-made man. About 1840 he turned from farming to geology, and after prospecting in the mountains he developed the first copper ore mine in East Tennessee, at Ducktown, Polk County, in which mine he owned an interest. He was a practical and prominent geologist in East Tennessee and, as a man of great natural and aggressive ability; he was a prominent Whig, and afterward an Abolitionist, so that he attracted the attention of the leading men of the nation, North and South, and among his correspondents were Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and Garrett Smith, of New York. Such a course was very unpopular, then, but his descendants have lived to realize his wisdom. He also advocated the Liberia colonization scheme, and contributed his means to purchase and educate the first negro for the experiment. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and died October 20, 1869. The mother, born near Dandridge, July 26, 1787, was the daughter of Alexander Sheddan, a farmer of that county. She was a Presbyterian, and died January 5, 1861. Our subject was educated at Holston College, New Market, and when twenty-one began medicine under Dr. Blackburn, a graduate of Louisville (Kentucky) Medical College. Two years later he began practice near Strawberry Plains, and is now a popular physician of thirty-seven years practice in Jefferson, Knox and Sevier Counties. He is a Democrat, and in 1882 represented a Republican county by 2,000 majority in the Legislature, the first Democrat who ever received that honor. He was on the Sanitary Committee, and that of Charitable Institutions, and others, and was active in the movement to establish a branch insane asylum at Knoxville. He is a broad progressive man, interested in all public elements of welfare. He is a Presbyterian and a Mason. In January, 1849, he married Louisa, a daughter of Maj. A. R. Meek, of Strawberry Plains, whose sketch appears elsewhere. Their children are Margaret B., born April 18, 1850; deceased August 22, 1851; Harriet, January 12, 1854, deceased January 10, 1875; Charles M., August 29, 1854, deceased November 9, 1876; Alfred, May 16, 1856; Cynthia A., December 8, 1861; Sarah P., February 10, 1864, and Georgiana D., June 7, 1868. The wife and children are Presbyterians.

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This family biography is one of 938 biographies included in The History of East Tennessee published in 1887.  For the complete description, click here: History of East Tennessee

To view additional Jefferson County, Tennessee family biographies, click here

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