Name Alexander Caldwell | Role Virginia | |
Died April 8, 1839, Wheeling, West Virginia, United States | ||
Alexander Caldwell (November 1, 1774 – April 8, 1839) was a federal judge from Virginia.
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Early and family life
Caldwell was born in November 1, 1774 to James Caldwell (1724-1804) and his wife Elizabeth. Irish gentry whose name reflected Castle Caldwell established in Ulster Plantation a century earlier, they had emigrated with nine children to Maryland in 1769 and then moved to what became Wheeling in what was then Virginia in 1772. During their sea voyage, Elizabeth Caldwell gave birth to Samuel Caldwell, and in Baltimore she bore James Caldwell Jr. (1770-1838, later of St. Clairsville, Ohio and president of the Merchants' and ^Mechanics' Bank of Wheeling, as well as U.S. Congressman from Ohio), then Susana Caldwell (b. 1772), this Alexander Caldwell, and Joseph Caldwell (b. 1777). James Caldwell the elder became a Virginia justice of the peace and militia leader in the developing rural area, and his son/Alexander's brother John Caldwell helped erect Fort Henry to defend the new settlement against Native American raiders.
Career
Alexander Caldwell read law and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1816. He was in private practice in Westville, Pennsylvania from 1816 to 1818, and in Missouri from 1818 to 1820, before settling in Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1820.
On October 28, 1825, Caldwell received a recess appointment from John Quincy Adams to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia vacated by the resignation of Philip C. Pendleton. Formally was nominated on December 13, 1825, Caldwell was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 3, 1826. He served as judge until his death, in Wheeling, in 1839 at age 67. He was succeeded by Isaac S. Pennybacker.