Alexander Caldwell (November 1, 1774 – April 8, 1839) was a
United States district judge of the
.
Education and career
Born on November 1, 1774, in the
Province of New Jersey,
British America
British America comprised the colonial territories of the English Empire, which became the British Empire after the 1707 union of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, in the Americas from 16 ...
,
Caldwell
read law
Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...
in 1816.
He entered private practice in
Westville,
Pennsylvania from 1816 to 1818.
He continued private practice in the
Missouri Territory from 1818 to 1820, and in
Wheeling,
Virginia (now
West Virginia) from 1820 to 1826.
Federal judicial service
Caldwell received a
recess appointment from President
John Quincy Adams on October 28, 1825, to a seat on the
vacated by Judge
Phillip C. Pendleton.
He was nominated to the same position by President Adams on December 13, 1825.
He was confirmed by the
United States Senate on January 3, 1826, and received his commission the same day.
His service terminated on April 8, 1839, due to his death in Wheeling, Virginia.
He was succeeded by Judge
Isaac S. Pennybacker
Isaac Samuels Pennybacker (September 3, 1805 – January 12, 1847) was a United States representative and a United States senator from Virginia and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Vi ...
.
Family
Caldwell was the son of 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 James or Jim Caldwell may refer to:
Politics
* James Caldwell (Ohio politician) (1770–1838), U.S. Representative from Ohio, son on James Caldwell (1724–1804), an Irish emigrant who founded Wheeling, West Virginia
* James Caldwell (Missouri spe ...
(1770–1838, later of
St. Clairsville,
Ohio and President of the Merchants' and ^Mechanics' Bank of Wheeling, as well as
United States Representative 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.
References
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caldwell, Alexander
1774 births
1839 deaths
Virginia lawyers
Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia
United States federal judges appointed by John Quincy Adams
19th-century American judges
Politicians from Wheeling, West Virginia
United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law
Lawyers from Wheeling, West Virginia
Caldwell family