Skip to content
Orange County Public Library (opens the library’s website in a new tab)

Key local figure

Joseph Caldwell

Joseph Caldwell came to Chapel Hill in October 1796 to teach mathematics, became presiding professor in 1797 and was elected the university's first president in 1804. He led it, with a break after 1812, until his death in Chapel Hill in 1835, and in 1830 built what the source calls the first American observatory for teaching.

Source: Documenting the American South: Joseph Caldwell, 1773-1835 (biography)

1773–1835 · Dates from the Library of Congress · On the Friends’ Local Authors roster → · Library of Congress authority record ↗

17 works about Joseph Caldwell are indexed here, as are 6 works by Caldwell.

Search these works Research sources View indexed works ↓
Joseph Caldwell
Joseph Caldwell

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

StorylineHeading the new University: Ker, Harris, Gillaspie and Caldwell, 1794–17991794–1799 · 7 events · In its first years the University changed heads quickly, and student discipline tested each of them. David Ker, elected presiding professor in 1794, resigned under pressure from the trustees in 1796, and Charles Wilson Harris served until December. Joseph Caldwell, who arrived that October, meant to leave rather than carry the executive duties, so in 1797 the trustees made James Smiley Gillaspie principal. In 1799 students beat Gillaspie and stopped exercises for a week, three leaders were dismissed, and by November Caldwell was chosen again to head the University. StorylinePerson Hall and the Main Building (South Building), 1796–18141796–1814 · 8 events · Finishing the University's first chapel and its Main Building took private gifts, lotteries and years of waiting. Thomas Person's $1,050 completed the chapel, named Person Hall, in 1798. That year Charles Gerrard's bequest of Tennessee land emboldened the trustees to lay the cornerstone of the Main Building, but its walls stood roofless for years for want of money. Lotteries in 1801 and 1802, William Polk's appeal of 1803 and Joseph Caldwell's subscription tours of 1809 and 1811 paid for the work, and students moved into the building, later South Building, in 1814. StorylineStudent disorder and the trustees' discipline, 1799–18191799–1819 · 15 events · In its first twenty years the University's students repeatedly defied its faculty and trustees, and the board answered with expulsions, new ordinances and in 1817 the courts. Students beat principal Gillaspie in 1799, about forty-five left in 1805 over an oath for monitors, an 1811 outbreak left no graduates, and in 1816 a forbidden oration brought expulsions and a powder bomb at a tutor's door. Duels, a stabbing at the 1804 ball and an 1818 beating of an enslaved man ran alongside, until in 1819 students had to hand in six pistols and two dirks. StorylineChapel Hill grows from a college village to a town, 1800–18191800–1819 · 14 events · Between 1800 and 1819 stores, houses and shops went up on Franklin Street, and in 1819 the General Assembly named commissioners for the town of Chapel Hill. Along the way John McCauley opened one of the first stores by 1803, James Hogg built a ten-room house in 1804, and Thomas H. Taylor, Christopher Barbee, Thompson and Trice and Edward Robson added a shoe store, a smithy, a store and the post office. The county court licensed stores to retail spirits in 1817 and 1818, and a student of the class of 1818 remembered about a dozen houses on the main street. StorylineRobert H. Chapman’s presidency of the University, 1812–18161812–1816 · 8 events · Robert H. Chapman led the University from 1812 to 1816, years that began with his push for Bible study and ended in a student revolt. He was credited with organizing Chapel Hill's Presbyterians, but in 1814 night raiders struck his stable, cart and gate. In September 1816 he struck Republican passages from a senior's oration, and the revolt that followed brought expulsions, suspensions and a powder bomb at a tutor's door. Chapman resigned that November, and the trustees returned the presidency to Joseph Caldwell from January 1, 1817. StorylineRaising Old East and building Old West and Gerrard Hall, 1821–18371821–1837 · 8 events · About 1821, at Joseph Caldwell's urging and against the faculty's plea to spend on books and apparatus, the trustees voted to raise Old East a story, build Old West to match it and start a new chapel, borrowing from banks against Tennessee land sales. William Nichols ran the work. Bills from it list enslaved carpenters, bricklayers and laborers, with their pay due to their owners, and the University paid trustee William Polk $600 for the labor of men he enslaved. Battle gives the cost of Nichols's work as about $26,587. The chapel stood unfinished until 1833, when the sale of Major Charles Gerrard's Tennessee tract paid toward it and it was named Gerrard Hall; Thomas Waitt completed it in 1837.
Show all 8 storylines
StorylineInternal improvements and the 1833 Hillsborough railroad convention, 1828–18371828–1837 · 16 events · From 1828 Orange County leaders pressed for river navigation and, above all, a central railroad through the state. That year James Mebane brought a flour boat down the Haw from Murphey's Mills, and a meeting with Joseph Caldwell giving the address urged a central railroad. The 1833 convention at Hillsborough chose Thomas Ruffin president, called for a Roanoke and Yadkin Rail Road and adopted Willie P. Mangum's report that the state should pay two-fifths of any work for which private citizens secured three-fifths. By August 1834 every Orange candidate for the Assembly had declared for the central railroad, and in 1837 Cadwallader Jones of Hillsborough was named to the Board of Internal Improvement. StorylineJoseph Caldwell’s last years and the choice of David L. Swain, 1833–18371833–1837 · 9 events · When illness forced President Joseph Caldwell to ask for help in December 1833, the trustees gave the senior professor, Elisha Mitchell, power to act in his place. Caldwell died on January 27, 1835, and a Hillsborough town meeting agreed to wear crape for thirty days. Mitchell was named president pro tem, and the trustees put off electing a president until December while raising the president's salary. That November Caldwell's body was taken up so that the artist Alfred S. Waugh could make a plaster cast of his face. In January 1836 former governor David L. Swain moved to Chapel Hill as president. A sandstone shaft the trustees raised to Caldwell in 1837 soon crumbled and never bore a name.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 60 dated events in the chronology →

During their lifetime

  1. Charles Wilson Harris acts as presiding professor After David Ker resigned under pressure from the trustees in the summer of 1796, Harris acted as presiding professor until his own resignation that December. He had persuaded Joseph Caldwell to join the faculty in October 1796. People: Charles Wilson Harris, David Ker, Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Harris, Charles Wilson
  2. Joseph Caldwell arrives in Chapel Hill as professor of mathematics Joseph Caldwell, a Princeton graduate and tutor, moved to Chapel Hill in October 1796 to teach mathematics at the new university. He became presiding professor the next year. People: Charles Harris, Charles Wilson Harris Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Joseph Caldwell, 1773-1835 (biography)
  3. James Smiley Gillaspie is made principal of the university To keep Joseph Caldwell, who meant to leave rather than carry the executive duties, the trustees elected Gillaspie professor of natural philosophy with the title of principal. Caldwell stayed as professor of mathematics and taught French in the preparatory school. People: Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: James Smiley GillaspieSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 118
  4. Eagle Lodge meets in Chapel Hill and initiates Joseph Caldwell By special dispensation, Hillsborough's Eagle Lodge met in Chapel Hill and made Masons of Joseph Caldwell, then presiding professor of the university, and three other faculty members. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 318
  5. Students rise against the faculty and beat principal Gillaspie In the term before the 1799 commencement students beat Gillaspie, waylaid and stoned tutor William E. Webb and threatened Caldwell and Archibald Murphey, and for a week exercises stopped. Three leaders were dismissed and the faculty offered to resign, and by that November Caldwell was chosen again to head the university. People: Joseph Caldwell, Archibald D. Murphey Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: James Smiley Gillaspie, William Edwards Webb, November CaldwellSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 155
  6. The court orders a road laid off from Franklin Street to the old Raleigh road The county court ordered twelve men, among them Matthew McCauley, William Nunn, David Craig, Joseph Caldwell and James Craig, to lay off and mark the nearest and best way from Franklin Street in the village of the University into the old Raleigh road, and to report at the next court. People: Matthew McCauley, William Nunn, Samuel Hopkins, Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill (Franklin Street to the old Raleigh road) · Also named: David Craig, James Craig · Also mentions: Franklin StreetSearch the index · Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: February Term 1799
  7. Thomas Hart Benton is expelled from the Philanthropic Society for stealing from his roommates After money went missing from their trunks, Benton's roommates Fleming Saunders, Marmaduke Baker and William Cherry traced a marked bill to him and, with President Caldwell's help, searched him. Benton confessed, and on March 19, 1799, the roommates signed a statement before the faculty and the Philanthropic Society expelled him by unanimous vote, ending his time at the university. Two days later, at Hartford, Benton admitted to Thomas King that he had opened his trunk with a fitted key and taken his money too. People: Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Thomas Hart Benton, Thomas King · Also mentions: Philanthropic SocietySearch the index · Internet Archive: William N. Chambers, "As the Twig Is Bent: The Family and the North Carolina Years of Thomas Hart Benton, 1752-1801", North Carolina Historical Review 26 (1949), p. 413
  8. Francis Asbury visits Chapel Hill and the university Bishop Francis Asbury stopped at Chapel Hill in 1800 and recorded a warm welcome from Joseph Caldwell, the students and people from the village and countryside. Nicholas Snethen, traveling with him, preached in the village, and Asbury baptized some children afterward. People: Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Francis Asbury, Nicholas SnethenSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Methodist Church: A Centennial History, 1853-1953 (1954), scan p. 12
  9. The General Assembly takes back the university's confiscated lands and escheats Amid hostility to the university as a Federalist school, and anger at its suits over old McCulloch claims, the legislature repealed the 1794 grant of confiscated property and the 1789 grant of escheats. The courts later held the escheat repeal unconstitutional in University v. Foy. People: Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 138
  10. Women of Raleigh give the university a new pair of globes Hearing that the university's globes were too worn to use, sixteen Raleigh women, among them Sarah Polk, Anna White and Eliza Haywood, sent a new pair twelve inches across with a compass to Joseph Caldwell. The letter was written by Winifred Gales. People: Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Winifred Gales, Sarah Polk, Anna White, Eliza E. HaywoodSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 130
  11. A student duel brings expulsions and a trustee order against dueling Quarrels in the spring of 1803 led to challenges and at least one meeting. Samuel G. Hopkins was expelled for fighting and John H. Hawkins for acting as second, and the trustees ordered that anyone in a duel be expelled and handed to the civil authorities. People: Joseph Caldwell, William Polk, Samuel Hopkins Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: John H. HawkinsSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 198
  12. Women of New Bern give the university a quadrant Sixteen New Bern women, among them Susan Gaston and Mary Nash, sent a quadrant for the philosophical class to Joseph Caldwell. In his reply Caldwell blamed the university's unpopularity partly on disappointment over costs and on student misconduct. People: Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Susan Gaston, Mary NashSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 131
Show all 47 dated events
  1. Joseph Caldwell is elected the first president of the university When the trustees created the office of president in 1804 they elected Caldwell to it unanimously. He resigned the presidency in 1812 to teach and returned to it a few years later, holding it until his death in 1835. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Joseph Caldwell Papers, 1791-1835
  2. Trustees make Greek a requirement for a degree After electing Caldwell president, the board ruled that no degree be granted without Greek, set Greek tests for entering the junior and freshman classes and repealed the degree for English and the sciences. It also ordered the president to wear a black gown at commencement. People: Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 174
  3. Twelve-year-old William Hooper enters the university's preparatory school William Hooper came to Chapel Hill in the winter of 1804 and entered the preparatory school taught by Matthew Troy and Chesley Daniel, boarding with Joseph Caldwell. The faculty then numbered three: Caldwell, Professor Bingham and tutor Henderson, and the only finished buildings were Old East and the chapel. People: Joseph Caldwell Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Also named: William Hooper, Matthew Troy, Chesley DanielSearch the index · William Hooper, Fifty Years Since: An Address Delivered before the Alumni of the University of North-Carolina (1859), scan p. 12 · Also: Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I
  4. President Joseph Caldwell marries Helen Hooper and moves to her Franklin Street house Caldwell married Helen Hogg Hooper and left the President's House on campus for her home on Lot #19, which he appears to have owned already. The house stayed in the family until 1849, when the university bought it as President Swain's residence. Place: Caldwell house, Lot #19, East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: Helen Hogg Hooper · Also mentions: President's HouseSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 39
  5. The university makes David Caldwell of Guilford a Doctor of Divinity At the 1810 commencement the university gave honorary doctorates of divinity to David Caldwell, James Hall and James McRee. Caldwell's Latin diploma, dated in Person Hall, calls Chapel Hill Sacrarii Mons, the hill of the chapel. People: David Caldwell, Joseph Caldwell Place: Person Hall · Also named: James Hall, James McReeSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 186
  6. William R. Davie receives the university's first honorary Doctor of Laws The University of North Carolina awarded William R. Davie an honorary LL.D. in 1811, the first Doctor of Laws it conferred; honorary master's degrees had gone to Joseph Caldwell and others in 1799. Davie had sat on the board of trustees from 1789 to 1807. People: William Richardson Davie, Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill, University of North CarolinaSearch the index · Sketches of the History of the University of North Carolina, with a Catalogue of Officers and Students, 1789-1889 (1889): Honorary Degrees · Also: Documenting the American South: William R. Davie: UNC's Founding Father
  7. Robert H. Chapman is elected president as Caldwell returns to teaching mathematics Caldwell asked to give up the presidency to finish his geometry and study astronomy. The board accepted his resignation, elected the Presbyterian minister Chapman president at $1,200 a year and kept Caldwell as professor of mathematics at $1,000. People: William Hawkins, Robert Hett Chapman Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 231
  8. Students move into the finished South Building Subscriptions Caldwell gathered on tours of the state in 1809 and 1811, about $8,220, let contractor John Close finish the Main Building begun in 1798. Students moved in during 1814. People: Joseph Caldwell, William Gaston, John Haywood Place: South Building · Also named: John CloseSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 134
  9. Caldwell takes students before a justice of the peace over attacks on President Chapman's property After night raids on Chapman's stable, cart and gate, and tar and feathers on his gatepost, Caldwell asked justice Pleasant Henderson for a general warrant. Refused, he named five students, and a hearing questioned the student body under oath. People: Pleasant Henderson, Robert Hett Chapman Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 233
  10. University enrollment rises from eighty to ninety-one during 1816 The university had eighty students at the beginning of 1816, rising to ninety-one by the end of the year. In 1815 its faculty numbered five: President Robert Chapman, Professor Joseph Caldwell, senior tutor William Hooper and two other tutors. People: Robert Hett Chapman, Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina · Also named: William HooperSearch the index · Internet Archive: North Carolina Historical Review 29 (1952), p. 192
  11. Joseph Caldwell is elected president a second time After William Neill and Lewis von Schweinitz declined the office, the trustees returned the presidency to Caldwell by a commission taking effect January 1, 1817. People: John Haywood, William Polk Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Lewis von SchweinitzSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 245
  12. Trustees add a professorship of rhetoric and logic Counting on money from Tennessee land warrants, the board created a chair of rhetoric and logic and an adjunct chair of moral philosophy over one dissenting vote. Shepard K. Kollock took the rhetoric chair in the fall of 1819, and critics complained that the faculty was filling with Presbyterian ministers. People: Joseph Caldwell, Denison Olmsted Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Shepard Kosciusko Kollock, Shepard K. KollockSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 253
  13. General Assembly appoints commissioners for the Town of Chapel Hill The General Assembly named Joseph Caldwell, Pleasant Henderson, Thomas Taylor, Ezekiel Trice and William Barbee commissioners for the town of Chapel Hill, with power to fix its boundaries and make bylaws. Elected commissioners and a corporate charter followed in the 1850-51 session. People: Joseph Caldwell, Pleasant Henderson Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: William Barbee, Ezekiel TriceSearch the index · The Laws of North-Carolina, Enacted in the Year 1819, pp. 61-62: An act to appoint commissioners for the town of Chapel Hill, in Orange county
  14. The university closes its grammar school and makes Hillsborough Academy its preparatory school When Abner W. Clopton gave up the grammar school the university dropped it. Caldwell arranged for Hillsborough Academy, under John Witherspoon with John Rogers teaching, to prepare boys for the university, whose faculty could attend its examinations and admit its top pupils on certificate. People: Abner Wentworth Clopton, John Knox Witherspoon, Joseph Caldwell, John Rogers Place: Orange County · Also mentions: Hillsborough AcademyDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 283
  15. Trustees vote to raise Old East a story and build Old West At Caldwell's urging, and against the faculty's plea to spend on books and apparatus, the board voted to enlarge Old East, build Old West to match and start a new chapel, borrowing from banks against Tennessee land sales. Architect William Nichols ran the work, and the South Building's Prayer Hall became a chemistry laboratory. People: Joseph Caldwell, Elisha Mitchell, William Nichols Place: Old WestSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 280
  16. The synod forms the Education Society of North Carolina at Hillsborough During its session at Hillsborough the Synod of North Carolina formed the Education Society of North Carolina to help poor and pious young men study for the ministry, and adopted its constitution. Joseph Caldwell was chosen president, Frederick Nash a vice president, Dr. James Webb treasurer and Shepard K. Kollock secretary, with Elisha Mitchell among the managers. People: Joseph Caldwell, Frederick Nash, James Webb, Elisha Mitchell Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Shepard K. KollockSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, October 9, 1822, p. 3
  17. Trustees send Caldwell to Europe to buy books and scientific instruments Acting on Caldwell's February 1824 plea that the university could not go forward without books and apparatus, the trustees set aside $6,000, half for each, and accepted his offer to buy them abroad at his own expense. He wrote from London on August 31, 1824, after visiting booksellers and instrument makers and touring Scotland. People: Denison Olmsted Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 291
  18. Students illuminate the college to welcome Caldwell home from Europe When President Caldwell came back from nearly a year in Europe buying books and apparatus, the students lit up the college buildings and escorted him to a stand by the well in front of South Building, where he spoke to them and the villagers. In December 1825 the trustees formally thanked him for his work. People: Paul C. Cameron, George E. Badger Place: South BuildingSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 295
  19. President Joseph Caldwell publicly defends the university's professorship of rhetoric and logic Joseph Caldwell answered critics who called the university's professorship of rhetoric and logic a needless expense, setting out the branches the president and professors had to teach and arguing that a college must give religious instruction. He asked that a successor be appointed to the professorship without delay. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, May 4, 1825, p. 2
  20. Presbyterians begin worshipping together in Chapel Hill A Presbyterian church at Chapel Hill appears in Orange Presbytery's 1827 report to the Synod, with twenty members and President Joseph Caldwell as stated supply; it met in homes and university buildings, with faculty as ministers. Its session was formed in 1845, when David L. Swain and Charles Phillips were elected elders, its first sanctuary on Franklin Street was dedicated September 23, 1849, and the congregation took the name University Presbyterian Church in the 1960s. People: David L. Swain, Charles Phillips, Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: University Presbyterian Church, Franklin StreetSearch the index · University Presbyterian Church: Our History · Also: Cornelia Phillips Spencer, The Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill
  21. Trustees name Badger, Yancey and Moore to draft a law against liquor and student credit at Chapel Hill On President Caldwell's motion the trustees named Bartlett Yancey, George E. Badger and Alfred Moore to prepare a bill forbidding the distilling or selling of spirituous liquors at or near Chapel Hill and barring village merchants from trading with students. It became law; Battle says the liquor ban still stood in 1907 while the trading ban was ignored and later repealed. People: George E. Badger, Alfred Moore, Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Bartlett YanceySearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 304
  22. Farmers of Orange, Chatham and Guilford meet to talk about a railroad On August 1, 1828, citizens of Orange, Chatham and Guilford met at William Albright's store in Chatham County, with James Mebane of Orange in the chair, to urge a central railroad through North Carolina, the first such meeting in the state. The Rev. Joseph Caldwell gave the address, which was to be printed as a pamphlet, and Caldwell, Duncan Cameron and Michael Holt were named the Orange members of a committee of correspondence. Public meetings on a line through the county went on into the early 1850s. People: Duncan Cameron, Joseph Caldwell, James Mebane Place: William Albright's store, Chatham County · Also named: William Albright, Michael HoltSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: Historic Resources of Orange County, National Register multiple property documentation form (1993), p. 19 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, August 13, 1828, p. 3
  23. An Orange County mass meeting calls for state aid to roads and river navigation Friends of internal improvement met at the court house in Hillsborough on April 20, 1829, with Thomas Clancy in the chair and Dennis Heartt as secretary. After the Rev. Joseph Caldwell spoke on the county's want of markets, Caldwell, Duncan Cameron and Cadwallader Jones were named to draft an address. At the adjourned meeting on May 25, chaired by Dr. James Webb, the meeting adopted the address to the people of Orange, which held that a fund for internal improvement must be raised by taxation, and had 500 copies printed for circulation in the county. People: James Webb, Dennis Heartt, Duncan Cameron, Joseph Caldwell Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: Thomas Clancy, Cadwallader JonesSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 86 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, April 22, 1829, p. 3; Hillsborough Recorder, June 10, 1829, p. 2
  24. A Chapel Hill meeting sets out to make New Hope Creek navigable A meeting at Chapel Hill, with James Mebane in the chair, adopted Joseph Caldwell's resolutions to clear New Hope Creek for boats from Patterson's mill to the Haw, named committees to rally the people along the creek and to have it surveyed mile by mile, and raised a subscription toward the survey. People: James Mebane, Joseph Caldwell, Thomas D. Watts Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, October 21, 1829, p. 3
  25. Anne Royall publishes a hostile account of Chapel Hill The traveling writer Anne Royall visited Chapel Hill in 1829 and in her Southern Tour, published in 1830, charged that the president's wife, Helen Caldwell, ruled the university. Battle answers with the faculty's account of the student she defended, who had been dismissed for disorder at a Sunday service. People: Joseph Caldwell, Helen Hogg Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Anne Royall, Helen CaldwellSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 336
  26. Caldwell builds the first college observatory in the United States Caldwell began an astronomical observatory on the campus in 1830 and finished it in 1831, paying more than 400 dollars himself, to house instruments he had bought in Europe in 1824. The DocSouth biography calls it the first American observatory built for teaching. Place: UNC campus, Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Joseph Caldwell, 1773-1835 (biography)
  27. Trustees meet in emergency session over the university's debts With debts of about $37,500 and only some 82 paying students, a special meeting of trustees at Chapel Hill on June 21, 1830 called the whole board to Raleigh on July 19. There a committee under James Iredell reported on the finances, and the board adopted a memorial drawn by Thomas Ruffin asking the General Assembly for relief. People: Joseph Caldwell, Willie P. Mangum, Thomas Ruffin, William Gaston Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: James IredellSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 326
  28. Joseph Caldwell turns down the presidency of the University of Alabama President Joseph Caldwell declined an invitation to head the new University of Alabama and stayed at Chapel Hill, as he had declined other offers before. The item praised his long devotion to the North Carolina university. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, August 11, 1830, p. 3
  29. Trustees make the senior professor Caldwell's deputy and add an adjunct professor When Caldwell's illness first forced him to ask for help, the trustees gave the professor of longest standing, Elisha Mitchell, power to act in the president's place and created an adjunct professorship of natural philosophy and astronomy, filled by Walker Anderson. Mitchell served as acting president until Swain arrived. People: Elisha Mitchell, Walker Anderson Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 357
  30. An Orange County internal improvement meeting at Hillsborough asks the state to fund a steam route to the coast An adjourned meeting of Orange County citizens at Hillsborough, with Catlett Campbell in the chair and Dennis Heartt as secretary, heard an address by university president Joseph Caldwell urging a railway from Raleigh to the sea. It voted that the state should put $200,000 of its funds toward a steam passage to the coast if private subscribers raised the rest, and adopted these terms as instructions to Orange County's members of the next General Assembly. People: Joseph Caldwell, Dennis Heartt, Frederick Nash Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Catlett CampbellSearch the index · The Harbinger (Chapel Hill), June 5, 1834, p. 1
  31. President Joseph Caldwell dies The university's first president died after years of a painful illness and was buried in the Chapel Hill village cemetery. The trustees' executive committee adopted a tribute on February 6, 1835, and the students resolved to wear badges of mourning. People: Haywood Williams Guion, Helen Hogg Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Helen CaldwellSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 411
  32. Hillsborough citizens meet to mourn university president Joseph Caldwell A town meeting chaired by Frederick Nash resolved to wear crape for thirty days in memory of Dr. Joseph Caldwell and asked the university's executive committee to have an alumnus deliver a eulogy at Chapel Hill before the next commencement. William M. Green offered the resolutions and Hugh Waddell spoke. People: Frederick Nash, William Mercer Green, Hugh Waddell, Joseph Caldwell Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, February 6, 1835, p. 3
  33. Elisha Mitchell becomes acting president of the university after Caldwell's death Senior professor Elisha Mitchell was appointed president of the University of North Carolina pro tem after Joseph Caldwell's death, so that classes went on without a break. People: Elisha Mitchell, Joseph Caldwell Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, February 6, 1835, p. 3
  34. Trustees put off electing a university president and keep Elisha Mitchell in charge The university trustees, meeting in Raleigh to choose a successor to Joseph Caldwell, postponed the election until December, left Professor Elisha Mitchell as acting president, raised the president's salary to 2,000 dollars and appointed William H. Owen of Caswell tutor of languages. People: Elisha Mitchell, Joseph Caldwell Place: Raleigh (University of North Carolina business) · Also named: William H. OwenSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, July 3, 1835, p. 3
  35. Philanthropic Society has a cast made of Caldwell's features In November 1835, at the Philanthropic Society's request, Caldwell's body was taken up so that the artist Alfred S. Waugh could make a plaster cast of his face. The bust made from it stands in Gerrard Hall. Place: Gerrard Hall · Also named: Alfred S. WaughSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 414

After their death in 1835

Later events: estates and burials, and the buildings, honors and histories that remember them.

  1. David L. Swain moves to Chapel Hill as university president Chosen to succeed the late Joseph Caldwell, former governor David L. Swain moved to Chapel Hill in January 1836 to become president and professor of national and constitutional law. He stayed at the university for the rest of his life, the longest term of any of its presidents. People: David L. Swain, Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill, University of North CarolinaSearch the index · UNC Wilson Special Collections Library: David L. Swain Papers #706 (finding aid)
  2. Trustees raise a sandstone monument to Caldwell on the campus The trustees adopted a design by Thomas Waitt, the master mechanic in charge of university repairs, for a shaft of local sandstone cut by J. B. Turney. It soon crumbled, and the marble slab meant for its Latin inscription arrived so badly cut that it was smashed, so the monument never bore a name. People: Frederick Nash, William McPheeters, Thomas Waitt Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: J. B. TurneySearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 414
  3. Helen Caldwell dies and is buried with her husband at his monument Helen Hogg Caldwell, widow of President Caldwell and a leader of village society, died at Chapel Hill on October 30, 1846 while visiting John DeBerniere Hooper. Caldwell's remains were taken up on October 31 and laid beside hers at the base of his monument, with the president and faculty as pallbearers. People: John DeBerniere Hooper, Elisha Mitchell, Helen Hogg Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Helen CaldwellSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 502
  4. Alumni start a fund for a marble monument to Caldwell Troubled by the crumbling sandstone monument, the alumni at the 1847 commencement voted on John Y. Mason's motion, supported by President Polk, to raise a marble memorial by gifts of three dollars each, and $210 was subscribed at once. By 1849 only $600 of an estimated $1,000 was in hand and the limit on gifts was dropped. People: James K. Polk Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: John Y. MasonSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 506
  5. Caldwell Lodge No. 180 is chartered at Chapel Hill Members of the defunct University Lodge took out a new charter as Caldwell Lodge No. 180, honoring the late university president Joseph Caldwell. People: Joseph Caldwell, Solomon Pool, Adolphus Williamson Mangum Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: University LodgeSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 320
  6. A marble monument to Joseph Caldwell is dedicated in McCorkle Place A marble obelisk to Caldwell was dedicated north of the Davie Poplar. Its inscription names the President of the United States, the Governor and other alumni as donors and praises his advocacy of common schools and internal improvements. Caldwell and his wife still lay by the old sandstone shaft near New West; their remains, with her son's, were moved to the monument's east base in July 1904. People: Helen Hogg Caldwell Place: McCorkle Place, UNC campus, Chapel Hill · Also named: Helen CaldwellSearch the index · Documenting the American South, Commemorative Landscapes: Joseph Caldwell monument · Also: Documenting the American South: Battle, History of the University, vol. I
  7. November Caldwell, once enslaved by President Joseph Caldwell, dies November Caldwell (1791-1872), held in slavery by Joseph Caldwell, brought firewood to the students, who were fond of him for his humor. A memorial in the old Chapel Hill Cemetery on the campus honors him. People: Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: November Caldwell · Also mentions: Chapel Hill CemeteryNC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 31
  8. A man named Perkins is jailed for taking the Philanthropic Society's books and Caldwell portrait A man named Perkins, lately discharged from the penitentiary, was brought from Chapel Hill at the instance of citizens there and jailed at Hillsborough, charged with stealing books, carpeting and the portrait of Dr. Joseph Caldwell from the Philanthropic Society's rooms at the closed university. The portrait was badly damaged. People: Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill; county jail, Hillsborough · Also named: PerkinsHillsborough Recorder, September 2, 1874, p. 3
  9. Former professor William Hooper dies at Chapel Hill William Hooper, who had brought his bride to Chapel Hill in 1816 to teach at the university, died on August 25, 1876 after a trip to Philadelphia for a meeting of descendants of the Declaration's signers. At his request he was buried beside his mother and her second husband, President Joseph Caldwell, and in 1904 the remains were moved to the new Caldwell monument. People: John DeBerniere Hooper, Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: William HooperSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 108
  10. Trustees pay for Memorial Hall tablets to Caldwell, Swain, Mitchell and Phillips Besides the subscribed tablets, the trustees put up tablets at their own cost to presidents Joseph Caldwell and David L. Swain and professors Elisha Mitchell and James Phillips, in tribute to the long-serving officers. Governor Scales told the dedication crowd that the hall, first meant as Swain's memorial alone, had been redesigned so these names stood beside his. People: David L. Swain, Elisha Mitchell, James Phillips Place: Memorial Hall, UNC, Chapel HillSearch the index · University of North Carolina, Memorial Hall Inaugural Proceedings, Wednesday, June 3, 1885 (1885), scan p. 10
  11. Fire destroys the old president's house on Christmas morning The house Helen Hooper built, later home to Presidents Caldwell and Swain, burned the day after Professor Thomas Hume's family moved in. Fire spread from boxes and straw in an outbuilding, and Chapel Hill had no fire engine or ladder company to stop it. People: Joseph Caldwell, David L. Swain, Thomas Hume Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), January 8, 1887, p. 3 · Also: Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II
  12. The old Joseph Caldwell obelisk is taken down, later to stand for four college servants In July 1904 the remains of President Joseph Caldwell and his wife were moved to the base of the 1858 marble monument, and the original sandstone obelisk was taken down, to be set up again in the Black section of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery. It was later raised over Wilson Caldwell's grave, and a marble tablet placed in its base by the Class of 1891 names Wilson Swain Caldwell, November Caldwell, David Barham and Henry Smith, who served the university. People: Wilson Swain Caldwell, Joseph Caldwell Place: Old Chapel Hill Cemetery · Also named: November Caldwell, David Barham, Henry SmithDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), pp. 694-695 · Also: Documenting the American South; The Daily Tar Heel, November 29, 1978, p. 1
Show all 13 dated events
  1. Wind topples the old brick meridian pillars behind the President's House In early July 1928 the wind blew down the two brick pillars in the rear yard of the President's House that President Joseph Caldwell had set on a north-south line more than a century earlier to mark the points of the compass. Each was about ten feet high and two feet square; tree roots had loosened their foundations and tilted them over the years. People: Joseph Caldwell Place: Rear yard of the President's House, UNC campus, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: President's HouseSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 13, 1928, p. 1

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Joseph Caldwell, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Show 25 more

Indexed works

Works about or by Joseph Caldwell. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

By Joseph Caldwell

University of N.C: account of disturbances which have lately occurred at the University of this state

Caldwell, Joseph · 2004 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Joseph Caldwell's account of disturbances at the University of North Carolina, written as its president after the riot of 1811 and concerning student suspension and conduct. Issued as an electronic edition in 2004 by the university library within Documenting the American South, in its collection of antebellum student lives and writings, True and Candid Compositions, with text transcribed by Apex Data Services.

NC Cardinal UNC

Letters on popular education : addressed to the people of North-Carolina

Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835 · 1832

Joseph Caldwell, the first president of the University of North Carolina, addressed these letters on popular education to the people of the state, making the case for public elementary schooling. Printed at Hillsborough in 1832 with a 48-page appendix of explanatory and documentary papers on education. Topics include elementary education and the relation of education and state in North Carolina, and the Hillsborough imprint is noted.

UNC

A discourse delivered at the University of North Carolina, at the commencement in July, 1802 : concluding with an address to the senior class, who were candidates for the degree of bachelor of arts

Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835 · 1802 · Printed by J. Gales

Joseph Caldwell's discourse at the University of North Carolina commencement of July 1802, closing with an address to the senior class who were candidates for the bachelor of arts degree. Printed at Raleigh by J. Gales, fifty pages. Caldwell, who taught at the young university in Chapel Hill, became its first president in 1804.

UNC

Autobiography and biography of Rev. Joseph Caldwell ... : first president of the University of North Carolina

Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835; Neathery, John B.; Anderson, Walker, 1801-1857 · 1860 · John B. Neathery

Joseph Caldwell's autobiography, printed at Chapel Hill in 1860 by John B. Neathery with a biographical sketch taken from Walker Anderson's oration of 1835, both by order of the editors of the University Magazine. Caldwell served as the first president of the University of North Carolina.

UNC

Autobiography and biography of Rev. Joseph Caldwell, D.D. LL.D., first president of the University of North Carolina

Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835; Anderson, Walker, 1801-1857 · 1860 · J.B. Neathery

Joseph Caldwell's own account of his life, joined to a biographical sketch drawn from Walker Anderson's oration of 1835, printed at Chapel Hill by J. B. Neathery in 1860 by order of the editors of the University Magazine. Caldwell was the first president of the University of North Carolina; the autobiography had appeared in that magazine in 1859 and the sketch in March 1860.

UNC

Governors' Papers: Nathaniel Alexander, Correspondence, March 1807

Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835 · 1807

Joseph Caldwell, head of the university at Chapel Hill, is among the writers in Governor Nathaniel Alexander's correspondence for March 1807. The 24 images also concern Buncombe and Orange counties.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

About Joseph Caldwell

A meeting of the citizens of Hillsborough was held on Friday the 30th instant, to adopt resolutions expressive of their feelings on occasion of the death of the late Rev. Dr. Caldwell, president of the university.

1835

Resolutions adopted by a meeting of Hillsborough citizens on Friday 30 January 1835, on the death of Joseph Caldwell, president of the University of North Carolina, who died that year. Signed at the end by W. J. Bingham as secretary and dated 31 January 1835. Printed at Hillsborough, it is a single sheet of civic mourning from Orange County.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

UNC

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Morehead Planetarium and Science Center

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Exhibit text on Joseph Caldwell, founder of the Caldwell Observatory at UNC and the university's first president, photographed at the Morehead Planetarium on 30 May 2002 for the North Carolina ECHO project.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

A college president of a hundred years ago

Venable, F. P. (Francis Preston), 1856-1934 · 1911

Francis Preston Venable's 1911 sketch of Joseph Caldwell, 1773 to 1835, who led the University of North Carolina a century before Venable wrote about him. Topics include college presidents at Chapel Hill and the presidents of the university.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

UNC

The two Caldwell monuments on the campus of the University of North Carolina

Battle, Kemp P. (Kemp Plummer), 1831-1919 · 1902

Kemp P. Battle's 1902 account of the two monuments to Joseph Caldwell, the university's first president, on the Chapel Hill campus. Battle lived from 1831 to 1919. Detached from the December 1902 University of North Carolina Magazine and signed by Battle, it was published by the Dialectic and Philanthropic Literary Societies.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

DPLA UNC

Dr. Joseph Caldwell : a study

Spencer, Cornelia Phillips, 1825-1908 · 1892 · Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies

Cornelia Phillips Spencer's study of Joseph Caldwell, president of the University of North Carolina until his death in 1835, signed by her at the end and detached from the North Carolina University magazine of 1892. The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies published it at Chapel Hill. Spencer was the Chapel Hill writer whose articles pressed for the university's reopening in 1875.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

UNC

The first college observatory

Love, James Lee, 1860-1950 · 1888

James Lee Love's note on the first college observatory in the United States, detached from The Nation for August 16, 1888 and signed at Chapel Hill by an associate professor of mathematics at the University of North Carolina. It deals with Joseph Caldwell and with the observatory that stood among the college buildings at Chapel Hill.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

UNC
Show 4 more about Joseph Caldwell

The first college observatory in the United States

Love, James Lee, 1860-1950 · 1888 · Carleton College Observatory

James Lee Love's article arguing that the University of North Carolina built the first college observatory in the United States, detached from the December 1888 number of The Sidereal Messenger and printed at the Carleton College Observatory in Northfield, Minnesota. It concerns Joseph Caldwell, the university's first president, and the observatory building at Chapel Hill.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

UNC

Dr. Caldwell and our university

Anderson, Walker, 1801-1857 · 1860

Walker Anderson's account of Joseph Caldwell, the first president of the University of North Carolina, who led the institution until his death in 1835. Printed in 1860, credited to Anderson. An early biographical account of Caldwell and the university.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

UNC

Oration on the life and character of the Rev. Jos. Caldwell, D.D. late president of the University of North Carolina : delivered at the request of the executive committee, before the trustees, the faculty and the students in Person Hall, on the 24th of June, 1835

Anderson, Walker, 1801-1857 · 1835

Walker Anderson's oration on Joseph Caldwell, the University of North Carolina's first president, given in Person Hall on 24 June 1835 before the trustees, faculty and students at the executive committee's request. J. Gales and Son printed it in Raleigh the same year.

Included because: Catalog heading in the DPLA record: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835.

DPLA UNC

Caldwell, Joseph: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

1818

Painted portrait of Joseph Caldwell, first president of the University of North Carolina, dated 1818 and reproduced in a photograph.

Included because: Its title names this person.

CH Historical Society

Search all 17 indexed works →

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 14 with a known location.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

Show 4 more

All places and the county map →

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Joseph Caldwell Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

Local help

Search further

Search other catalogs and collections for this name. Results may include other people with the same name and have not been reviewed by the Friends.

Books about Joseph Caldwell

Books by Joseph Caldwell

Find copies at other libraries

Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

Catalog searches use the Library of Congress name heading: Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835. Historical-record searches use the person’s name and may include namesakes. Links open in a new tab.

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

Picture: Joseph Caldwell. Public domain. Carolina Digital Library and Archives, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (dc.lib.unc.edu,388); via Wikimedia Commons

More to discover

Keep Reading Local

The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.

Browse New Arrivals → Meet Local Authors → Explore Local Publishers →
Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026