David Caldwell

David Stewart Caldwell (17251824) was a Presbyterian minister, educator, physician, statesman, and early settler in Guilford County, North Carolina, in the mid 1700s.

Early and personal life David Caldwell was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Colony on March 25, 1725. He was the oldest of four sons of Andrew and Martha Caldwell. His father was a farmer.

Caldwell served as a carpenter until age twenty five when he entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and was graduated in 1761. After graduation, he studied theology and was licensed as a clergyman in 1763 by the Presbytery of New Brunswick. Caldwell was ordained in 1765 and took an assignment as a missionary in the North Carolina back country. He became pastor of the Buffalo and Alamance Presbyterian churches, established by the Nottingham Colony, in Rowan County, North Carolina (the section that became Guilford County in 1771).

Caldwell married Rachel Craighead in 1766.

Teaching, military and political career

In 1767, he established what became known as the Dr. Caldwell's Log College in what would become Guilford County. This college was a theological and classical school for young men.

A lack of physicians in the area of North Carolina where he lived, prompted him to study medicine from books that he acquired from Philadelphia. He became a self-taught practicing physician, which was useful also during the military conflicts of the times.

Death David Caldwell died on August 25, 1824, in Guilford County, North Carolina, and was buried at the Buffalo Presbyterian Church Cemetery.