Margaret was the eldest daughter of William Caldwell and Rebecca Walkup and she married Major John Ritchie/Richey, who fought with Margaret's brothers John, William, and James in Colonel Thomson's regiment of South Carolina rangers. This much of Margaret's life comes from three early sources:
Elizabeth Higgins tells the story of Margaret and four of her five sisters -- all but Martha -- being married on the same day shortly after the end of the Revolution (about 1783/84). They had each been engaged during the war to men from Newberry, Laurens, and Abbeville who had served with her brothers in Colonel Thomson's regiment.
Margaret's husband John was the son of Robert and Margaret Richey of Laurens, South Carolina. John Richey had a brother William and a sister Mary who married William Goodman, all of Laurens. William Goodmand was first cousin to the Elizabeth Ann Williams who married Margaret's brother William Thomas Caldwell. [4]
Margaret's husband John's will was proved 08 Nov 1819 in Laurens County, and his executors were his son William and his friend Martin Shaw. William reported to the court on 07 Oct 1820 that his mother Margaret was deceased, [5] placing her date of death sometime before that.
Muss identifies Margaret and John's children as: [4]
Later and less reliable accounts such as Ann Calhoun McMath Roy's article for the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Magazine [6] and Thomas Arrington Stallworth's genealogy of the Caldwell family [7] incorrectly identify this Margaret Caldwell's husband as a James Ritchie/Richey, apparently based on an Abbeville County, South Carolina grave for a "Margaret Caldwell, born in Pennsylvania, 4 Jan 1729 - 12 Sep 1802, wife of James Richey, Sr." [8]
The children that Thomas Stallworth (probably incorrectly) attributes to Margaret Caldwell and James Richey are: [7]
See also:
Profile history:
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Featured National Park champion connections: Margaret is 12 degrees from Theodore Roosevelt, 19 degrees from Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, 13 degrees from George Catlin, 12 degrees from Marjory Douglas, 17 degrees from Sueko Embrey, 14 degrees from George Grinnell, 22 degrees from Anton Kröller, 14 degrees from Stephen Mather, 19 degrees from Kara McKean, 13 degrees from John Muir, 13 degrees from Victoria Hanover and 21 degrees from Charles Young on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.