Inscription in a new bible bought by John Caldwell Sr. [senior?]. The family
attended the Wall Street Presbyterian Church at this time.
" By the ordination of that Omnipotent God that governs the ways of men, the
subscriber hereto, John Caldwell, formerly of Harmony Hill, near Ballymoney
in the County of Antrim, Kingdom of Ireland - By a compact with the then
existing government of that oppressed nation to remove himself and his family
to America, he with the other living offspring of his marriage with his
dearly beloved and ever to be lamented wife, Elizabeth Calderwood, abandoned
the land of their nativity and arrived in the free and blissful regions of
the United States of America at the places and times hereafter mentioned.
Richard, his 2nd [second?] son, at Norfolk, Virginia, September 1, 1798.
John, his eldest son, at New York, June 12, 1799.
William, his 4th [fourth?] and youngest son; Mary, his 2nd [second?]
daughter, Catherine, his 3rd [third?] daughter, Margaret, his 4th [fourth?]
daughter, and Elizabeth his 5th [fifth?] daughter sailed from Belfast May
3rd [third?], 1799 and arrived in New York June 12th [twelfth?], 1799.
And himself the said John Caldwell 57 years old, at Newcastle, Delaware, on
August 24, 1799. (Sailed on "The Prosperity" from Larne, July 8, 1799.)
Florence Caldwell, his eldest daughter, with her husband John Parks and their
two children, James Hamilton and Elizabeth Jane Parks, arrived at New York
June 1, 1800, as did his 3rd [third?] son, Andrew, at the same time and place.
And be it here remembered with ever existing gratitude that to add to our
comfort and domestic felicity our invaluable Aunt Catherine Ball, from her
unbounded love and affection to this family, at an advanced age abandoned her
native country also, her connections and friends and arrived at New York on
the said June 1, 1800.
And after residing the first winter with my sons and daughters in New York
and near three years with my four unmarried daughters in Long Island (my sons
and son-in-law with his family being settled i trade in New York) am I at
length by the goodness and mercy of God, on the first day of April 1803,
comfortably settled with my said four daughters on my own estate that I
purchased of William Denning at Blooming Grove in Orange County and State of
New York.
John Caldwell
The above submitted to the general assembly at 93 Water Street, New York, and
when amended and corrected, to be inserted as a frontispiece in the New
Bible."
"The home in Ireland was Harmony Hill, Townland of Ballynaerce Skean, Parish
of Ballymoney, County Antrim.
John Caldwell died October 29th [twenty-ninth?],1803.
"I do not speak the partial language of a child when I say his talents, his
industry, his affection as a father and a husband, his cheerful companionable
disposition, his strong sense of religion and the beauty of Holiness have been
#PAGE 2
equalled by few!" (From the Bible of William Alexander Caldwell of
Charleston., S.C. [South Carolina?])
Edward T. Langford, a great, great grandson to John Caldwell, Sr. [Senior?]
prepared a genealogical account of the family Caldwell: Five Generations of
Caldwells of Ballymoney, Co [County?] Antrim, Ireland & [and?] Salisbury
Mills, Orange Co. [County?], N.Y [New York?] It is in the genealogical room
of the N.Y. [New York?] Public Library at Fifth Ave. [Avenue?] & [and?] 42nd
[forty-second?] St. [Street?] N.Y.C. [New York County?]
