Greenbrier County, West Virginia Biography of JAMES ROBINSON CALDWELL. This biography was submitted by Sandy Spradling, E-mail address: This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm History of Greenbrier County J. R. Cole Lewisburg, WV 1917 p. 235-238 JAMES ROBINSON CALDWELL. A number of Greenbrier's representative citizens have come to this State from Augusta county, Virginia. Among that number, and of good Scotch-Irish stock also, were the Caldwells, who have not only added material prosperity, but good citizenship also. They were not so early on the ground as some others, but the general commonwealth has been benefited by their coming, nevertheless. John North Caldwell, a successful farmer, owning and operating the old Andrew Beard estate of over 1,000 acres east of Lewisburg, is not in lineage with the Virginia ancestry of the Caldwells, hut allied equally with the Norths and the Blains of Colonial times. His wife is a daughter of Withers Wailer and Anne Eliza Stribbling, who are in descent from the Stribblings of Fauquier county, Virginia. Her father owned a large estate, consisting of 1,200 acres, on the Potomac river, forty miles below Washington city, and also the largest fishery in the State. Cleveland, Harrison and other presidents often visited them on gala occasions. David Caldwell, son of John Caldwell. grand-father of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Augusta county, Virginia. Arabella (Van Lear) Caldwell, his wife, was also a native of that county. Their son, James R., lost his mother when he was an infant. He was born in 1820 and his father died August 17, 1832, when about eighty-four years old. Thus bereft of both parents, the boy was thrown on his own responsibility very early in life. On November 17, 1851, he married Miss Isabel North, of Lewisburg. She was a daughter of John A. North, long and favorably known in this part of West Virginia. After his marriage, he continued to abide in Augusta county until about 1853, when he moved with his family to Greenbrier county and made his home at the Bridge, where he continued to reside up to the year 1899. He died February 1, 1904, in Lewisburg. His wife died in May, 1897. Their children were: John North, Margaret, Charlotte, Arabella-the last three named died in 1861 of diphtheria-Mattie B. and Mary D., who live in Lewisburg. They are unmarried. James R. Caidwell was an exceptionally good man. Besides farming on a somewhat extensive scale, he owned and operated a mill on Howard's creek, which for many years was largely patronized by the people of the county. During his whole life he had the respect and esteem of all who knew him. His judg-ment was equal to the confidence reposed in him by the business community, and thus he lived above reproach and suspicion. He was patient, uncomplaining, unselfish, indulgent to his children, and very kind to the poor. When quite young he lost his sense of hearing and all through life was deprived of conversational enjoyments. Nevertheless, he faithfully attended to his duties as a professed Christian. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church. John North Caldwell was born July 17, 1858. As an only son, duties incident to the farm and the mill largely devolved upon him. The mill was started in 1853, burned during the war, rebuilt in 1872, and in 1898 sold to Mr. Mason. April 27, 1887, John North Caldwell married Caroline Stribbling Wailer, daughter of Withers Waller and Anne Eliza Stribbling, of Clifton, Stafford county, Virginia, just beyow Washington. She was born August 7, 1867. Children born to this union were: Anne Eliza Waller, Isabel, James Robinson, Robert Dennis, Caroline WaIler, John North, Martha C, Marion and Wailer, twins; Alexander Mathews and Mildred Pickett. The father spent four years in the military academy at Fredricksburg, Va., taking his degree from that institution in 1879, and which well equipped him for his business career in life and as one of the directors of the Lewisburg Bank. John A. North, born December 15, 1794, in Staunton, Va., came to Greenbrier in 1815 or 1816, and in 1818 was appointed clerk of the Greenbrier District Court of Chancery by Chancellor Brown, and upon receiving the appointment, he moved to Lewisburg and thereafter made that place his home. On July 15, 1818, be was married to Miss Charlotte Blain, eldest daughter of the Rev. Daniel Blain, of Lexington, Va. She lived all her married life in Lewisburg and died at her daughter's home at the Bridge, April 22, 1883. They had four daughters, all of whom lived to be grown and married. The third daughter, Isabel, married James R. Caldwell, of Augusta county, and the youngest daughter, Martha J., married Capt. Robert F. Dennis. Mr. North held the appointment of clerk of the District Court of Chancery until the Constitution of 1829 and 1830 changed the entire judicial system of the State. In the year 1831, when the Supreme Court of Appeals of the State was organized in Lewisburg, he was, by that court of five judges, unanimously appointed its clerk, which position, by subsequent appointments, he held until his death, which occurred in the month of September, 1857. Mr. North was no ordinary man, and a very superior clerk and draftsman, with a memory equal to any and every emergency. He never studied law, but his opinions were sought, and always respected, even by the profession. They were those of a safe and judicious counsellor, and so regarded. Mr. North was a very patient and accommodating gentleman. He was kind to the poor, his hand and heart were open to relieve their wants. In politics he was a Whig, and all his influence wasfor that party. During the War of 1812, when not of age, he volunteered in the company that went from Staunton and served until its close.