Bannock County
IDGenWeb
The debt of gratitude which our country owes to her brave sons who
fought heroically on many a dreadful field of battle on Southern soil in
the great Civil war, who suffered the untold hardships and privations of
a soldier's life, and who bore sickness, woes and neglect in camp and
hospital unflinchingly and uncomplainingly, is a debt which cannot ever
be fully repaid, and we turn with feelings of pride to trace the record
of Major A. F. Caldwell, now the efficient incumbent of the important
office of United States Indian agent of the Fort Hail Reservation and
Agency, and one of the representative citizens of Bannock county, Idaho.
In tracing the history of his ancestors we find that the family occupies
space in the records of Scotland and of England as connected with
honorable deeds of valor and industrial enterprises of great pith and
moment. He was born in Warren county, Ill., on January 2, 1846, a son of
Thomas J. and Mary A. (Allen) Caldwell, his parents being respectively
natives of Ohio and Illinois, the paternal grandfather coming from his
native state in 1840, and uniting his fortunes with the illustrious band
of the early Illinois pioneers. Major Caldwell received a practical
education in the excellent public schools of his native county and was
identified with agricultural operations in Illinois until May, 1863,
when he enlisted as a member of Company A, One Hundred and Thirty-eighth
Illinois Infantry, and followed the eventful fortunes of that historic
organization in the Army of the Cumberland, participating in important
battles and numerous exciting skirmishes, winning honor and promotion by
his gallantry, and receiving an honorable discharge from service in
October, 1864.
He thereafter engaged in farming in Illinois
until 1881, which was the date of his advent in Idaho, where he made his
home at Oxford until 1887, thence removing to Pocatello, where he was
connected with the post-trader's store until 1894, thereafter most
capably holding the position of deputy sheriff for four years, and, in
1897, receiving the appointment of postmaster of Pocatello, being the
highly popular incumbent of that office until February, 1899, when he
tendered his resignation to accept the appointment of United States
agent at the Fort Hall Indian Agency, which responsible position he has
since held uninterruptedly, having the record of being a very efficient
and capable officer, a noticeable progress in the civilization of the
Indians having occurred under his wise and judicious administration.
In public affairs Major Caldwell has long taken a prominent part as
a stanch member of the Republican party, voting for every presidential
candidate presented by that organization from his first vote for Abraham
Lincoln. Fraternally he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic,
being affiliated with the George A. Custer Post, of Pocatello, and he is
also identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In
wedded life Major Caldwell has enjoyed most felicitous relations through
his marriage, on November 3, 1869, in Illinois, with Miss Clara Gilman,
whose American ancestors, like those of her husband, reach back to early
Colonial days, the family being then prominent in civil and military
life, while in every generation since it has been ably represented in
the fields of statesmanship, commercial and industrial endeavors, and in
prominent social life. Three children round out and complete the family
circle, Fred G., a prominent citizen of Pocatello, Ora A., and Uletta.
Accustomed to self-support, self-reliance and personal independence, the
progress Major Caldwell has made, and the preferments with which he has
been favored, have been based solely upon his merits and his
unquestioned qualifications for the various positions that he has so
honorably held, and never in his whole career of business or public life
has he been recreant to even the most trivial trust, while his actions
have been guided by the ethics of the highest honor, personal integrity
and a suave and courteous demeanor, which have given him a high standing
among the best people of his county and state, irrespective of political
bias or creed. This is the expression of his character given by those
people who have known him the longest and the most intimately. It is
also eminently proper to say in this connection that the Major is one of
the cleanest types of the representative self-made men of today, and
fully worthy of the esteem so largely reposed in him. In innumerable
ways he has shown that he is a man of true public spirit, successful
financial enterprise and progress, and a gentleman in all that the
highest conception of the term implies. He is deservedly popular, his
friends being found in all classes of the people, while the family
stands high in social circles, the home being a center of a most
gracious hospitality.
Extracted from Progressive Men of Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Fremont and Oneida Counties, Idaho, published in 1904, pages 82-84, contributed 2021 Jun 15 by Norma Hass
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