Category: Caldwell

In 1935, the Union Club was incorporated with the following officers:  J. C. A. Gibson, Sr., general director; C. V. Harris, president; Ellen A. Moulsen, vice president; Sarah Brisbane, secretary; Etta Ricks, sheriff; and A. L. Scott, marshall].

In 1898, resident Asbury B. Scott was restored to the rights and privileges of citizenship. In 1919, the legislature granted the widow of Charles Nelson a $100 pension. In 1924, the pension of resident James A. Wilson was increased from $135 to $150. In 1938, the national legislature granted to resident T. E. Carr, who had fought in 30 skirmishes, a pension of $200 for his natural lifetime.

Footnote: Acts of the Liberian Legislature, Acts 1935, p. 35; Acts of the Liberian Legislature, 1898, pp. 3-4; Acts of the Liberian Legislature, 1919, pp. 15-16; Acts of the Liberian Legislature, 1924-25, pp. 39-40; Acts of the Liberian Legislature, 1938, pp. 17-18.

In 1923, the Caldwell Ferry Company was incorporated by James A. Wilson and J. C. A. Gibson. In 1927, the legislature granted Doughba Carmo Caranda and heirs of the settlement of Virginia, Montserrado County, across the Saint Paul’s River between Shiloh Baptist Church Wharf, Virginia and the point immediately across the river in Caldwell. Their franchise was approved for ten years, with a maximum charge of 12 cents.

Residents C. K. Clarke and Dolly Bernard were awarded the right to run a ferry across the St. Paul River between the Teep Clarke landing to the opposite side known as the Bromley landing.

Footnote: Acts of the Liberian Legislature, 1923-24, pp. 59-60; Acts of the Liberian Legislature, 1927-28, pp. 29-30; Acts of the Liberian Legislature, 1934, pp. 29-30.

The fever for brass bands that had swept through coastal Liberian towns in the early 1900s hit Caldwell in 1923. That year, the No. 1 Gibson Excelsior Brass Band was incorporated.

Named as officers were J. C. A. Gibson, ex-officio president; J. H. Sauders, president; James L. Johnson, vice president; C. C. Melton, band master; S. J. Melton, secretary; A. L. Blackledge, assistant secretary; J. W. Melton, speaker; J. P. Davis, treasurer; Joseph George, band leader; and Henry King, boatswain.

Footnote: Acts of the Liberian Legislature, Acts 1923-24, pp. 50.

Like many towns along the St. Paul, Caldwell found the river and its tributaries to be both a blessing and a curse. To address some challenges posed by meandering waters, the legislature approved $750 to “throw up the worst swamps” and to bridge the running streams in Upper Caldwell.

In 1917, S. F. Brown of Virginia was granted the right to run a ferry across the St. Paul River from Virginia, half mile above his wharf and half mile below to the opposite bank of the Caldwell for half mile above and below. 

Footnote: Acts of the Liberian Legislature, 1883, pp. 20-21; Acts of the Liberian Legislature, 1917-18, pp. 42-43.

When Liberia declared its independence in 1847, the country contained 11 towns. Caldwell was one of them.

By prevailing European and Asian standards, a country that small was unusual. But it was the typical size of nearby polities. Most polities in the area at the time were composed of non-continuous towns. In other words, they consisted of settlements widely separated by unclaimed forest and mangrove swamp.

Of the various neighboring examples, Liberia at independence most resembled the Kru polity, which consisted of widely dispersed settlements along the coast.

When a census was taken in 1843, 138 residents identified their occupations. Forty-seven worked in agriculture, 15 were artisans, four merchants, two professionals, 32 semiskilled, 37 unskilled and one “miscellaneous.” 

One hundred and fourteen residents were members of two local churches. Twenty were Baptists and 58 Methodists. By the late 1800s, Caldwell was home to a Presbyterian church. Given mission support from abroad, the Methodist church cast the longest shadow. In 1843, the only local school was operated by Martha Harris with 47 students.

Footnote: U. S., Congress, Senate, U. S. Navy Department, tables showing the number of emigrants and recaptured Africans sent to the colony of Liberia by the government of the United States … together with a census of the colony and a report of its commerce, &c. September, 1843: Senate Document No. 150, 28th Cong., 2n sess., 1845.

Caldwell was founded in 1828 as a “half-way farm” on the eastern side of the St. Paul’s River about nine miles from Monrovia. Because the land was harder to clear and lacked trees suitable for building houses, Caldwell’s founders received more government help than those at Millsburg, which was starter around the same time.

Despite those disadvantages, a visitor in 1828 expected residents to grow enough food to feed themselves within a year.

Footnote: J. W. Lugenbeel, “Sketches of Liberia – No. 2,” African Repository, July 1850, p. 207; “From Liberia,” African Repository, May 1828, 82; “From Liberia,” African Repository, June 1828, p. 127.