Biography of Stafford Caldwell, Madison, Madison Co., FL

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Transcribed from:  The History of Florida:  Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol. 
II, page 117, 1923.

CALDWELL, STAFFORD has made for himself secure vantage ground as one of the able and represen-
tative members of the bar of his native state, and he is now a prominent figure in the executive 
affairs of the law department of the great Flagler system in Florida, his office being that 
of general attorney.

Mr. CALDWELL was born at Jasper, Hamilton County, Florida, on the 13th of October, 1887, 
and is a son of MADISON and MARY JENNIE (GOOLSBY) CALDWELL, the former of whom as born at 
Madison, Madison County, this state, November 21, 1846, and the later of whom was born and 
reared in Hamilton County.  Of the family of twelve children four died in infancy, and 
all of the others are still living with the exception of FRANK CHANDOIN, who died at the 
age of thirty-six years, the subject of this sketch having been the eleventh in order of 
birth.

The public schools of his native county afforded Mr. CALDWELL his early education, and 
in 1909 he graduated from the law department of historic old Washington and Lee University, 
Lexington, Virginia, from which he received his degree of Bachelor of Laws, also being 
awarded while there the Washington Society Medal for Oratory.  In the practice of his 
profession Mr. CALDWELL became junior member of the law firm of Horne & Caldwell at Jasper, 
judicial center of Hamilton County, and this alliance continued until his partner, MALLORY 
F. HORNE, was elected to the bench of the Circuit Court of the Third Judicial Circuit.  
In 1912 Mr. CALDWELL was made the democratic nominee for the office of the states attorney 
of the Third Judicial Circuit of Florida, and was accordingly appointed to this office in 
1913, by the governor of the state.  He was re-nominated in 1916, with incidental reappointment 
in the following year by Governor Catts, and he retained the office until February 1, 1921, 
when he resigned and accepted that of assistant general solicitor for the Florida East Coast 
Railway and other Flagler interests.  On the 1st of the following October he was advanced 
to the post of general attorney for the Flagler interests, the important office of which 
he is now the incumbent.

In Orient Lodge No. 70, F. and A. M., at Jasper, Mr. CALDWELL was raised to the degree of 
Master Mason, later he was dimitted by this lodge and became affiliated with Barrett Lodge 
No. 43, at Live Oak, of which he is a past master, and finally he received the dimit that 
was followed by his affiliation with Temple Lodge No. 23 at Jacksonville.  He is a past 
grand orator of the Masonic grand lodge of Florida, and at the time of this writing, in 
1922, he is grand master of the Second Veil in the Florida Grand Chapter Of Royal Arch 
Mason, his basic capitular affiliation being with Live Oak Commandery No. 10, Knights 
Templar, and with Morocco Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Jacksonville.

At Macon, Georgia, on the 25th of August, 1915, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. CALDWELL 
and Miss TEMPIE MARIE DAVIS, a native of Conyers, Georgia, and the one child of this union 
is a daughter, MARY LOUISE.