Researching John Caldwell

John grew up near Quebec City on the family estate which was one of the properties his father, Henry Caldwell, had obtained from Governor James Murray by way of a 99-year lease. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin and was called to the bar in 1798. He never practiced law as he was administering his father's assets and ongoing business affairs. In 1800, he ran for, and was elected in the riding of Dorchester along with Jean-Thomas Taschereau for the 3rd Parliament of Lower Canada. Aside from an irregularity concerning the 1809 election, he served until December 1811, when he gave up his seat in the Legislative Assembly.

Caldwell was immediately appointed to the Legislative Council of Lower Canada where he served until his death. Caldwell died at the Tremont House in Boston, Massachusetts in 1842 and is buried in the hotel's lot at Mount Auburn Cemetery.

His son Henry John also represented Dorchester in the legislative assembly.

Born in Huntsville, Alabama, Caldwell attended the common schools of Huntsville and Bacon College, Harrodsburg, Kentucky.He taught school in Limestone County, Alabama, four years.He moved to Jacksonville, Alabama, in 1848.He was principal of the Jacksonville Female Academy 1848-1852 and of the Jacksonville Male Academy 1853-1857.Edited the Jacksonville Republican in 1851 and 1852 and assumed the editorship of the Sunny South in 1855.He served as member of the State house of representatives in 1857 and 1858.He studied law.He was admitted to the bar in 1859 and commenced practice in Jacksonville, Alabama.During the Civil War enlisted in the Confederate States Army and organized Company A of the Tenth Alabama Regiment, from St. Clair and Calhoun Counties, and served throughout the war.He was promoted to major and then to lieutenant colonel.He served in the Army of Virginia.

Caldwell was elected solicitor for the tenth judicial circuit in 1863 but was deposed by the Provisional Governor in 1865.He was reelected the same year, and in 1867 was removed from office for refusing to obey military orders.

Caldwell was first elected to congress on November 5, 1872 as a fusion candidate of the Liberal Republican and Democratic parties. He received 62.62% of the vote. He was elected to represent Alabama's 5th congressional district, which at the time encompassed the most north-eastern part of Alabama.

He was re-elected in 1874 as a straight Democrat with 59.19% of the vote. Caldwell was a member of the Forty-third and Forty-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1877).He served as chairman of the Committee on Agriculture (Forty-fourth Congress).He was not a candidate for renomination in 1876.He resumed the practice of law.He died in Jacksonville, Alabama, September 4, 1902.He was interred in Jacksonville Cemetery.

He was born at Drumrawn in County Tyrone to farmer Charles Caldwell. He worked as a shop assistant, and in 1841 married Jane Love, with whom he had five children. He would later remarry widow Ann Hurst on 3 January 1866. In 1841 he migrated to New South Wales and worked as a draper before establishing his own business on Pitt Street. From 1869 to 1861 he was a Sydney City Councillor. In 1860 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for East Sydney, serving until his resignation was forced by bankruptcy in 1866. He moved to Goulburn and served briefly as an alderman there in 1879. Caldwell died at Goulburn in 1884.

Caldwell was born in Katanning, in Western Australia's Great Southern region. He boarded at Scotch College, Perth, and after leaving school returned to work on the family farm in Badgebup, which he eventually took over. Caldwell became prominent in agricultural circles, and also represented Western Australia in rifle shooting on five occasions. He entered parliament at the 1986 state election, defeating Thomas Knight (the sitting Liberal member) in South Province. At the 1989 state election, following electoral reform, Caldwell was elected to the new five-member Agricultural Region. He served as deputy chairman of committees in the Legislative Council from 1988 to 1993 and as a National Party shadow minister from 1989 to 1992, eventually retiring from parliament at the 1993 election. Caldwell died in Perth in August 2000, aged 65. He had married Francine May Bignell in 1960, with whom he had three children.