Thomas Culwell died September 2, 1835 in Arkansas (perhaps Polk County).
The name has been spelled: Caldwell, Calwell, Cauldwell, Colwell, Coldwell, and Culwell.
ARKANSAS RECORDS:
In Goshen Cemetery there are many tombstones with the names Caldwell, Coldwell and Culwell. despite the various spellings, they are all descendants of James Caldwell, born 1-10-1803 in Tennessee. James came to Arkansas in 1834 from Alabama, with his wife Almedia Nixon, born 1-15-1809 in Alabama.
They brought with them six very small children and a niece, Rebecca Caldwell. Rebecca married Jacob Oxford of Oxford Bend, near Goshen. She has many descendants still in the county.)
He settled on a farm about two miles south of Goshen on Richland Creek. James owned four slaves and was reputed to have kept his gold buried beneath a door step. His seventh child, Elizabeth, born 4-5-1835, could remember going with him to a slave sale in Hindsville, Arkansas. She could also remember hearing a negro woman crying at night, grieving for a child that she had been separated from.
The young mother, Almedia, gave birth to her 8th child, Hezekiah, on 12-4-1836. She died two weeks later.
On May 25, 1837, James married Nancy Lamar, born 1-1-1812. They had either nine or eleven children. (Two listed in the family Bible may have been grandchildren.)
Very little personal history is known of most of these nineteen children. The seventh child, Elizabeth, never married. She lived to be 99 years old and some of her stories are still remembered. At the beginning of the war James decided to remove his family from the dangers of the war and so packed up and went to Texas. Elizabeth went to Benton County to stay with her sister, Martha Ann, who had married Edward Stringfield. Later she decided to join the family and she and two other women, Dorcas Boyd and Kit Williams, started out on horseback. They had many frightening experiences but arrived safely in Fannin County, Texas. [See Flashback, January 1958]
In 1865 the Caldwells came home. Allen Wood Caldwell, aged 17, was ill and died just as the wagon pulled into the yard.
Elizabeth, after her father’s death, lived with various relatives. She spent two years in California and her last years with her niece and her niece’s husband, Ora and Lee Trammel. She is buried in Goshen Cemetery under the headstone with “Aunt Liz” engraved on it. Her death date is June 27, 1834.
Richard Jasper Newton Caldwell, the 13th child, had a granddaughter, Fern Culwell, who also never married. She was a teacher and taught in many country schools in Washington County.
The third child, William, born December 27,1828 died March 26,1876. He is the only one whose descendants lived here until recently. He married three times. His third wife, Nancy Combs, was the mother of Hezekiah “Joe” Culwell and Thomas Nixon “Nick” Culwell.
Nick’s son Lee lived in the Goshen area until his death a few years ago.
The sixth Caldwell child, Martha Ann, born Oct 9, 1833, married Edward Stringfield (b Oct 18,1 835). Edward was in the Confederate Army for two years and was released to run the Sanders Mill on Richland Creek in Washington County, Arkansas.
Martha Ann’s fourth child, Phydella Almedia, born Oct 20, 1861, married Huston Scott (b Jan 25, 1853) in Decatur County, Iowa. They lived in Benton County for a few years, were in Madison County in 1883, then owned a store in Goshen, Arkansas in 1885. Phydella had eight children, two dying in infancy. Huston died on February 14, 1891 of typhoid fever, leaving Phydella with five children and another one on the way. She raised them at Mayfield, Arkansas. Her humble home was a warm and loving place for all her grandchildren to visit.
Phydella’s seventh child, Fannie Rachel (b Nov 22, 1889) married Benjamin H. Mayes (b Sep 3, 1890). They lived their lives in the Mountain Home Community, northwest of Goshen. They raised two children: Kendal and Mayme. Kendal lived most of his life on the Mayes homeplace. Mayme married Joseph Clint Ferguson and they live near Goshen.
Reference Note: HISTORY OF PARKER COUNTY, TEXAS
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