It is uncertain which John Caldwell from Pittsburgh joined the SFFHC due to lack of strong documentation. However, it is probable he was the John Caldwell who was treasurer of the Philadelphia Company, a firm involved with natural gas.
Along with his father, John Caldwell, John Jr. was a member of the Duquesne Club. John Caldwell was a director of the Masonic Bank, 531 Smithfield Street, founded in 1869.
John Caldwell, Jr. married Sarah E Miller. The Caldwells are described in this way in the year before the Johnstown Flood:
“Mrs. John Caldwell has experienced the pleasure of having her pin money doubled, trebled and quadrupled over and over again all in a very short space of time. It is not so many years ago since her husband's yearly income was but $1,200, and now it would be hard to calculate just how large it is. Mr. Caldwell is in the Philadelphia Company and is Mr Westinghouse’s confidential friend, a fact that goes far to explain his rapid strides to fortune. Their residence at Edgewood cost from $50,000 to $65,000 or more and is one of the handsomest in the place. Mr. Caldwell is a millionaire.”
(The Social Mirror, 1888)
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John and Sarah Caldwell are buried in Allegheny Cemetery; with them is buried Mattie M. Caldwell, who died before her 20th birthday. Mattie was probably their daughter:
CALDWELL, John Jr., 1827-1902, h/o Sarah S., Sect. 11
CALDWELL, Sarah S. (Miller), d: Dec. 19, 1912, w/o John Jr., Sect. 11
CALDWELL, Mattie M., Aug. 25, 1863-July 5, 1882, Sect. 11
1 comment:
I'm pretty sure you've got your Caldwells mixed up. My great grandfather John Caldwell served in the Civil War with the Westinghouse brothers and later was Treasurer for the company and a member of the club, with them, that owned the dam that caused the Johnstown Flood.
But he came over, alone, from Northern Ireland and, while did have a daughter who became my grandmother, I'm pretty sure be didn't have a son and I know that his father remained in Ireland.
Christopher Caldwell Fountain, CT
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