JOSEPH ALEXANDER CALDWELL.
While success cannot be achieved without unflagging industry, the futility of effort is often noticeable in the business world, resulting from the fact that it is not combined with sound judgment. Many a man who gives his life to earnest and unremitting toil does not acquire a competence, but when his labors are well directed, prosperity always follows him. Mr. Caldwell's work has been supplemented by careful management, and today he is numbered among the successful men of Audubon county.
Joseph A. Caldwell was born in Virginia on November 27, 1854, the son of Lewis and Julia (Shepherd) Caldwell, the former a native of West Virginia, born in 1830, and the latter a native of Belmont county, Ohio, born on November 27, 1831. Lewis Caldwell and his wife were married in Virginia and migrated to Illinois when their son, Joseph A., was only six years old. Mr. Caldwell was a farmer and remained in Illinois the rest of his life. He and his wife were the parents of six children, of whom Joseph A. was the eldest, the other five being Mary, Hortense, Isaac Franklin, William and Lewis, Jr. Of these children Hortense and Lewis, Jr., are deceased. Lewis Caldwell died in Illinois and his widow, who is still living with her son, Joseph A., is now eighty-four years of age.
Joseph A. Caldwell received his education in the common schools and took up farming in Illinois, which vocation he followed in that state until he was twenty-seven years of age, at which time he came to this county, locating in Sharon township, where he purchased eighty acres of land. Later he sold this tract and purchased one hundred and sixty acres in Leroy township, which he later sold, purchasing one hundred and sixty acres in a different part of Leroy township, to which he later added forty acres, still later adding another forty, and is now the owner of two hundred and forty acres of fine farming land in that township.
On May 7, 1878, Joseph A. Caldwell was married to Hattie E. Godwin, who was born on May l0, 1854, a daughter of John and Anna (Tong) Godwin, the former of whom was a native of Canada, but who was reared in Ohio. His wife was born in England and came to this country at the age of ten years, her parents settling in LaSalle county, Illinois.
To Joseph A. and Hattie E. (Godwin) Caldwell one child has been born, a son, Chester Arthur, born on August 17, 1880. He married Anna Anderson, to which union four children have been born, Dick, Merle, Mildred and Harriet.
Joseph A. Caldwell is the present street commissioner of Audubon. During the time that he was living in Leroy township he served as trustee of that township. Mr. Caldwell is a man who is keenly interested in education and good roads and in public improvements of all kinds. As a progressive citizen, who has stood as a stanch [staunch] advocate of improvements, he has contributed much to the development of Audubon county. He is a Republican and has always taken a keen interest in the affairs of his party in this county. The Caldwells are all earnest and faithful members of the Methodist church, and are active in the affairs of this church.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 378-379.
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