William Coaldwell III (1695 - 1802)

Born 31 Jan 1695 in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Jane (Jordan) Coldwell — married 10 Dec 1734 in Stoughton, Norfolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died 28 Oct 1802 at age 107 in Gaspereau, Kings, Nova Scotia

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Biography

Tradition says that William Coldwell was born in 1695 in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England, the son of William Coldwell and Mary (Edwards) Coldwell,^[1] but no children were mentioned in William Sr.'s Will, only nieces, sisters and his wife Mary.^[2][3] (I have been unable to find any record for the baptism of any children of William Sr. and his wife Mary Edwards.Watt-266 18:35, 18 August 2019 (UTC))

Supposedly, William's father died when he was a boy, and William was kidnapped and impressed into the British Navy when only sixteen years old. He deserted at Boston, Massachusetts in 1712.^[4][5] He married Jane Jordan at Stoughton, Massachusetts on December 10, 1734 and had a large family of children.^[6][7][8] They moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut about 1742.^[9]

William and his family moved from Bridgeport, Connecticut to Horton Township, Kings, Nova Scotia in 1758-1759 as part of the New England Planter migration.^[10] He received land on both sides of the Gaspereau River as well as land on the modern site of Wolfville. ^[11] He died at Gaspereau, Kings, Nova Scotia on October 28, 1802, aged 107 years.^[12][13] He is buried in Gaspereau; a monument was erected to his memory by his descendants in the Melanson Cemetery in 1909.^[14][15]

Children of William Coldwell and Jane Jordan:^[16][17]

1. William, Jr., born November 20, 1734. Married Naomi Noyce, in 1755, and died 1756.
2. John, born 1736. Married Eleanor Hackett.
3. Jedediah, born September 13, 1738. Probably died in Connecticut.
4. Jemima, born June 27, 1740. Probably died in Connecticut.
5. Jane, born July 5, 1742. Married Nicholas Fielding.
6. Ebenezer, born 1744. Married Sarah Price. Died in 1827.
7. Jonathan, born 1746. Married, first, Catharine Newcomb; second, Susanna Pyke. Died in 1827.
8. Jacob, born 1748. Married Margaret Chapman.
9. Mary, born 1750. Married Gilbert Forsythe May 1, 1783.
10. Eliphalet, born 1752. Married, 1) Abagail Sutherland; 2) Mary Pyke (?), died in Gaspereau December 24, 1816.

To learn what being pressed into the Royal Navy was all about, a good read is Thomas H Raddall's "His Majesty's Yankees" and The "Governor's Lady". Doug Coldwell

Excerpt from William Coaldwell, Caldwell or Coldwell of England, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Nova Scotia: Historical Sketch of the Family and Name and Record of his Descendants.

Of these Coldwells of Ely, one William Coldwell, born about the time of their arrival, became the vicar of Wisbeach and one of the prebendaries of the Cathedral Church at Ely, fellow of Queen's College of Cambridge, etc., whose daughter Prudence married William Fienes, second son of Lord Say and Sele, K. C. (Collin's Peerage, Vol. VII, p. 25), and whose only son, William Coldwell, Jr., born July 20, 1673, married Mary, daughter of Thomas Edwards, of Wisbeach, died February 11, 1706, and was buried at St. Albans, in Hertfordshire, at Welwyn Church, where a costly monument, beautifully sculptured with coat of arms, scroll-work of flowers, and an elaborate inscription, was erected by the widow to his memory.

According to one tradition he was the father of our own "Father William," who was born 1695, and would thus have been eleven years of age at the time of his father's death, a point that fits remarkably well with the facts as we know them.

We now come to where we have more definite information concerning Father William himself — this man who lived in three centuries, who died here 107 years ago, and who was born just 107 years earlier. We learn from several accounts that he was born in England in 1695 ! that his father died when William was a mere child, and that, when at the age of sixteen he was visiting the seashore and amusing himself by gathering shells on the beach, he was "set upon by rough men," seized, carried away, and impressed into the British Navy. Such an act was not uncommon in those days.

It is claimed by those holding the belief that he was the son of William Coldwell, of Hertfordshire, referred to, that his mother, who was yet young and possessed of considerable wealth, was contemplating remarriage, to which plan the boy offered strenuous opposition. Consequently it is believed the kidnapping was connived at by persons interested in his mother's wealth.

Be that as it may, we have from numerous sources the fact that when about sixteen years of age he was kidnapped and impressed into the royal navy.

Just how long he remained in the navy we do not know, but one record locates him at Boston, Mass., in 1712. Becoming dissatisfied with his position and its hardships, so cruelly thrust upon him, he felt that under the circumstances desertion was no disgrace. Alone in the world, with no home ties to lure him back to England, even if he dared to go there, he resolved on an attempt to regain his liberty and make for himself a home somewhere in the colony. So one chilly day in autumn "he left the ship" without leave, and, turning his back upon the royal navy and the city of Boston, struck out for the "blue hills" of Massachusetts and for freedom — a homeless, friendless boy, a fugitive, a deserter — to find himself at the damp and gloomy nightfall, footsore and hungry, seeking food and shelter at the home of a kind-hearted farmer near Stoughton. The farmer and his wife befriended him, and with them he lived for several years.

Here among the granite hills of New England he grew to man- hood. Here he formed the attachment for the one who afterward became his wife and the great-great-great-grandmother of every one of us in this numerous Caldwell clan. Here he established his home and here several of his children were born. For several years we have no definite information concerning him. but "he was one of the first adventurers on the Isle of Sable for the relief of the distressed castaway there."

THE ISLE OF SABLE.

Dark Isle of Mourning: aptly thou art named,

For thou hast been the cause of many a tear.

For deeds of treacherous strife too justly famed,

The Atlantic's channel — desolate and drear.

The work of relief for shipwrecked mariners on that bleak and dangerous island required manhood, self-denial and courage, as does the duty of those in the life-saving service of today. The hardships were probably greater then than now.

For many years prior to 1719 nothing of importance had been undertaken in this line, but at that time, under the leadership of a French Protestant minister, the Rev. Andrew Le Mercier, of Boston, an effort was made to establish a permanent relief station on the island, which was continued for more than twenty years. Just when William Coldwell joined this colony, or how long he remained, does not appear. It is stated that he lived for some time in Nova Scotia prior to 1733. It was probably then that he gained his knowledge of that country that induced him to migrate thither after the expulsion of the Acadians.

Perhaps it was his love for a New England maiden that lured him back to Massachusetts. At any rate, we find him back in Stoughton in 1733, where he married Jane, daughter of Jonathan and Jane Jordan, of that place. As the name of Jane Jordan deserves more than mere mention, I will give the names of members of her family as shown by Stoughton records.

Children of Jonathan and Jane Jordan.

John, born September 19, 1711. Died in infancy.

Jonathan, born December 27, 1713.

John (No. 2), born August 2, 1715.

Jane, born June 1, 1717.

Jeddediah, born September 6, 1719.

Jemima, born February 14, 1724.

It is quite probable that this family, or part of it, removed to Connecticut with William Coldwell in 1742, as the name ceases to be mentioned by the town records about that time, and we know by the records of Wolfville, Nova Scotia, that Jeddediah Jordan was there with his sister Jane and brother-in-law, William Coldwell, and, like them, was among the first settlers of that town, about 1760.

In Jane Jordan, his wife for over sixty years, he found a devoted and constant helpmeet. She was with him until her death, May 15, 1796. She was with him throughout his sojourn in Connecticut, and with him she endured the hardships and trials of that long journey to Nova Scotia, ever helpful, ever faithful, and a monument to his memory would be incomplete without the mention of her name.

Their children, born at remarkably regular intervals, were —

1. William, Jr., born November 20, 1734. Married Naomi Noyce, in 1755, and died 1756.

2. John, born 1736. Married Eleanor Hackett.

3. Jeddediah, born September 13, 1738. Probably died in Connecticut.

4. Jemima, born June 27, 1740. Probably died in Connecticut.

5. Jane, born July 5, 1742. Married Nicholas Fielding.

6. Ebenezer, born 1744. Married Sarah Price. Died in 1827.

7. Jonathan, born 1746. Married, first, Catharine Newcomb; second, Susanna Pyke.

8. Jacob, born 1748. Married Margaret Chapman.

9. Mary, born 1750. Married Gilbert Forsythe.

10. Eliphalet, born 1752. Married, first, Abagail Sutherland; second, Mary Pyke (?).

The exact dates of birth of some of the children are unknown, as the public records of Fairfield, Conn., were burned by the British troops in the Revolution.

It is interesting to note how the names of the Jordan children were all reproduced in the William Coldwell family — a fact which shows that "Mother Jane" had some influence in her own family. John was the only son among those who went with the father to Nova Scotia who was old enough in 1760 to have land allotted to him in his own right ; so that, although we have not found the exact date of his birth, the year 1736 is probably correct, as stated in the list.

Some time between 1742 and 1744 the family removed to Bridgeport, Conn., and lived in that neighborhood until about 1757 or 1758.

The church record shows his pew-holding, and refers to him as "Capt." Coldwell, but I have no knowledge of how he acquired that title. Very little is known about him during the twelve or fourteen years he lived in Connecticut. After the expulsion of the Acadians, in 1755, the British government offered land in Nova Scotia to loyal citizens who would go there with their families and establish their homes. This was not the exodus of the "Tories" or "Loyalists" from the States, as some have stated to me. It was nearly twenty years before the American Revolution and long before the causes of that war had become acute.

As heretofore stated, his knowledge of that country induced our hardy ancestor to make the move. Here we have an example of what was evidently one of the dominant traits of his character. With him determination was strong ; there was no compromise, as we know from other incidents in his career. Once resolved on making the journey, there was no turning back, although he knew what this migration meant for him and his family. The long, tortuous journey by land, to be made with household goods packed upon wagons, made it an undertaking to cause the youthful and strong to hesitate. Although then past his "three score years," when most men are thinking of retirement and the comforts of home for their old age, he had yet more than forty years of health in store for him. We of today, who make this journey by Pullman car and palatial steamboat in less than twenty-four hours, have no conception of the hardships incident to that journey of a thousand miles in the middle of the eighteenth century (150 years ago).

In imagination we can see them wending their way along the dusty highways, over the hills, through the meadows, crossing the streams and rivers by ford or ferry, passing towns and toiling through the wilderness, pausing betimes to rest and refresh them- selves and their animals, camping at night and over Sabbath by some wayside spring or sheltering grove, through sunshine and storm, often weary and worn, but never despondent. Many and severe were the hardships and trials they endured on that memorable journey that made the majority of you here assembled natives of Nova Scotia. No wonder that they so impressed the mind of the eleven-year-old Jonathan that they became the burden of his thought and conversation in the last years of his long life, eighty years later.

The goal they sought was the fair Acadia, the home and birthplace of hundreds of their descendants.

The plans for the journey were laid in Connecticut. Several fam- ilies of the neighborhood were of this wagon-train of emigrants, which was joined by others along the way. The route from Connecticut was via Stoughton, Mass., where a halt was made for needed rest and a visit with their old friends and relatives. The stay was for only a few days, and then the company was ready to resume its journey, when an incident occurred that shaped the destinies of the son Ebenezer and his descendants. He was at that time about thirteen years of age, and from the first had been very much averse to the proposed emigration, strenuously but unsuccessfully opposing it in every possible way. Whether he was encouraged by his relatives at Stoughton to take the step we do not know, but we do know that when the hour to move on arrived, this boy was missing. Two days of delay were spent in fruitless search. Then the party was obliged to proceed without him, the neighbors promising to care for him when found, and, if possible, to induce him to follow and rejoin his father and family.

Several days passed before he was discovered in the family of John Brett, of Bridgewater, ten miles from Stoughton. He persistently refused to follow the family, and became a "deserter," as his father had been at about the same age and in that same locality over forty years earlier. His "runaway" trip began at Stoughton, where his father's ended. He remained in Bridgewater and became a much-respected citizen and official of the town, where he died in 1827.

It was fortunate that these two "runaway boys" fell into good surroundings and proper influences. Each remained in the family of his benefactor for several years. Ebenezer showed his gratitude by purchasing the old Brett homestead, when it was about to pass out of the family's possession, and made it his home. He named his first son Brett and his last one John, in honor of John Brett, who had been his "friend in need."

There was never a reconciliation between this truant son and his father. With Ebenezer, as with his father, there was no compromise. That this wayward one was not forgotten, but was held in affectionate remembrance by the family, is shown by the fact that his youngest brother, Eliphalet, named one of his sons Ebenezer, and the name became as common in that branch of the family as among the descendants of Ebenezer himself.

Being thrown together with members of the Providence branch of the family, he adopted their manner of spelling the name, and, dropping the "d," spelled it Colwell. There was little or no communication between him and other members of the family, and he "be- came as one dead" to them. They were staunch Royalists, while he became a soldier of the Revolution. They knew of his military service in defense of the new government, and believed a report that while "he was with Montgomery in his expedition against Canada he died at Lake George." The Adjutant General's reports show that he served later with the "Minutemen" of Massachusetts.

While some of his relatives believed him dead, there were evidently some who knew of his whereabouts, for when his father died, in 1802, he was promptly informed by the following published notice :

"Horton, Nova Scotia, Nov. 2, 1802.

"William Coldwell died at this place October 28, 1802, in the 108th year of his age. He was a native of England, and remembered the coronation of Queen Anne. He served in the British Navy upward of ninety years ago ; afterwards he became a settler in New England, and was one of the first adventurers on the Isle of Sable for the relief of the distressed castaway there. He was one of the first settlers here in 1760. He left behind him a numerous progeny, up- ward of one hundred of which, to the degree of great-grandchildren, reside in this place. He generally retained his health and bodily strength to that degree that he could cut wood and walk to his neighbors without a staff" till last year, and till his death retained all his mental faculties to a surprising degree, and, as he lived the life of a Christian, so at death he testified his confidence in a blissful immortality."

That, after all, Ebenezer cherished a love for his father is shown by the fact that this notice was treasured and preserved among his most valuable papers, where it was found after his death, twenty- five years afterward. It comes to us now with much information of Father William that would otherwise have been forever lost.

One account of Father William (American Ancestry. Vol. V, p. 187) states that he "mowed hay on his 100th birthday and signed his name on his 102d birthday." etc. This article gives his age as 106 at the time of his death, which is stated as 1801. As we have the exact date of that event in 1802, his age at death was 107. Another error is the statement that he married Abagail Sutherland and gives the time as "about 1795." which is evidently a mistake, as then she was dead and he was 100 years old. See page 19.

The Sutherlands. — Thomas and Peleg were sons of Joseph Sutherland, who came from Scotland to Horseneck, Conn., and were neighbors of the Coldwell family in that State. Thomas, whose wife was Barsheba Palmer, came with the emigrants to Nova Scotia, and was one of the first settlers of Wolfville. Abagail, his daughter, born 1755, married Eliphalet Coldwell in 1774, died 1790, and was buried in the cemetery at Wolfville, where her name appears on a well- preserved gravestone inscribed "Abagail, wife to Eliphalet Coaldwell." Thomas returned to the States and died there in 1807. Peleg Sutherland did not migrate to Nova Scotia. "He lost his life at that memorable event when Tryon with a band of British and Tories burnt the town of Fairfield" (Orcutt's Bridgeport, Conn., p. 1107).

After the arrival of the emigrants in Nova Scotia they settled on the Gaspereau River, William Coldwell drawing land on both sides of the stream and on the marsh. He was allotted ground in the townsite of Wolfville.

After a residence of three years in the locality, as required, we find the following record entries:

May 27, 1761. William Coldwell (and others), 100,000 acres at Horton. Record Book 3, page 31.

October 15, 1765. William Coldwell (and others), 100,000 acres near Liverpool. Record Book 6, page 402.

October 15, 1765. William Coldwell (and others), 100,000 acres at Pictou. Record Book 6, page 405.

October 15, 1765. William Coldwell (and others), 200,000 acres at Liverpool. Record Book 6, page 411.

October 31, 176^. William Coldwell (and others), 100.000 acres at Shedudabock. Record Book 6, page 488.

November 21, 1766. William Coldwell, license to alienate 450 acres. Record Book 6, page 616.

November 21, 1766. John Coldwell, license to alienate 225 acres. Record Book 6, page 616.

Date missing. John Coldwell and others, 50,000 acres at Truro. Record Book 7, page 189.

May 13, 1784. William Coldwell, water lots at Shelburne. Record Book 13A, page 86.

The purpose of these extensive grants of land, that in most cases "reverted to the crown," is not known, but it is supposed that William Coldwell acted in some way as an agent for the settlement of these localities, and that he held the land in trust for disposal to other settlers.

The land that he held and lived upon is located in one of the most beautiful and picturesque valleys it has ever been my pleasure to behold.

I have been told that when the country began to fill up with new settlers, between 1760 and 1770, the inhabitants in the vicinity of Wolfville were of many religious denominations, but from necessity they formed one non-sectarian congregation and lived in harmony under this plan for several years. Then it was decided by a majority vote of the members to change it to a church of the Baptist denomination, in order to secure the services of a pastor who was very much desired and who happened to be of that faith. Consequently the Coldwells, who were before that time Episcopalians, became Baptists, and so we find them today in that neighborhood nearly all adherents to the Baptist faith.

I have made many efforts to ascertain how our respected ancestor spelled his name in affixing his signature, but the only example I have so far been able to find is the record of the deed by which he conveyed his holdings at Stoughton, Mass., wherein the name is spelled Coaldwell. In the record of his marriage, also, it appears as Coaldwell.

Some of his descendants omitted the "a," others dropped the "o," and at least one cut out both "a" and "d" as superfluous.

It is said that a short time before his death he walked unaided from his home to the house of his son Jonathan, more than a mile distant.

Facts concerning the experiences of these early settlers would be interesting, but the time is becoming so remote and records are so few and scant that it seems impossible to obtain more.

We dedicate today a monument to the memory of "Father William" and "Mother Jane." Our records when published will be another monument to their memory, that may go to the homes of their many descendants, now scattered from Nova Scotia to California, and from Porto Rico to Alaska.

North Bridgewater, Mass., Gazette. — About 1830. Stoughton items. William Caldwell the 13th on the parish tax-list of 1745. He was taxed in the town tax-list of 1742. Not in tax-list of 1727 nor 1730. He came from Nova Scotia (see page 12), and there is a tradition in the family that he deserted from a British ship-of-war. His wife was a daughter of Jonathan Jordan, St., a resident of this parish, as seen by the tax-list.

William Caldwell had, so far as we know, one son only,* Ebenezer Colwell, who settled in West Bridgewater and married Sarah Price, daughter of Benjamin Price, Sr., of Bridgewater. He owned and dwelt upon the homestead estate of Elihu Brett, Esq., judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Plymouth County. The children of Ebenezer Colwell were Brett, 1771 ; Keziah, 1775; Ebenezer, 1799: Sally, 1781 ; Melvin, 1786, and John, 1791.

• Ebenezer was the only son who remained in that locality, and hence the only one known to the writer. t Error. See page 16.

Caldwell Chronicle. — Supplement, October, 1899. Providence, R.I. Published by Rev. Augustine Caldwell. A list of early settlers in America by the name of Caldwell gives —

"William Caldwell, born 1694, in England. Boston, 1712. Wife, Jane Jordan, of Canton (or Stoughton). Lived in Connecticut. Settled in Nova Scotia."

Cleveland Genealogy, Vol. I, page 252 (from notes of Wm. Pitt Brechin, of Boston, Mass.) :

"William Coldwell, born in south of England between 1690 and 1695. Was pressed into navy. Left ship in America. Settled in Connecticut. Came to Nova Scotia. Was an original grantee at Horton in 1760. Died 1801, aged 106. Married, about 1795, Abagail Sutherland."

American Ancestry, Vol. V, page 187:

"William Coldwell, born in south of England in 1695. Died at Gaspereau, Nova Scotia, in 1801. Pressed into Royal Navy at age of 18. Deserted in America. Settled in Connecticut. After the expulsion of Acadians, came to Nova Scotia. Died at age of 106. Buried at Wolfville. Is said to have mown hay on his 100th birthday and signed his name on 102nd. Married Abagail Sutherland."

Sources

1. ↑ Caldwell, p. 10.
2. ↑ Will of William Coldwell, Gentleman of Wisbech , Cambridgeshire The National Archives, Kew, Reference: PROB 11/494/222, 08 May 1707
3. ↑ England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858 Ancestry Record 5111 #832005
4. ↑ Caldwell, p. 2.
5. ↑ Eaton, p. 612.
6. ↑ Massachusetts, Town Vital Collections, 1620-1988. Stoughton, p. 67.
7. ↑ Caldwell, p. 12.
8. ↑ Eaton, p. 612.
9. ↑ Caldwell, p. 12.
10. ↑ Smith, p. 44.
11. ↑ Caldwell, p. 2.
12. ↑ Wright, p. 76.
13. ↑ Caldwell, p. 2.
14. ↑ Find A Grave.
15. ↑ Caldwell, p. 5.
16. ↑ Caldwell, p. 13.
17. ↑ Eaton, p. 612.

See also:

• Caldwell, Charles T."William Coaldwell, Caldwell or Coldwell of England, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Nova Scotia: Historical Sketch of the Family and Name and Record of his Descendants." Washington, DC: Judd and Detweiler, 1910.
• Eaton, Arthur Wentworth Hamilton. The History of Kings County, Nova Scotia. Salem, MA: 1910.
• Smith, Leonard H. Jr., and Norma H. Smith. Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1992.
• Wright, Esther Clark. Planters and Pioneers: Nova Scotia, 1749 to 1775. Hantsport, NS: Lancelot Press, 1976.