So far, a family sketch has been provided for Robert and Sarah’s Caldwell’s son Joseph. Second child James Caldwell died unmarried and his siblings inherited his land. Third child Robert Caldwell/Colwell has also had a family sketch written, so today’s sketch features Robert’s and Sarah’s fourth child and eldest daughter, Sarah Ann Caldwell.
Sarah Ann Caldwell was born 2 March 1823, Queens, New Brunswick, Canada. She married Robert Elkin, born 2 December 1817 in County Donegal, Ireland and died in 1912, per the inscription on his gravestone, on 15 August 1844, Queens, New Brunswick, Canada.
Robert Elkin’s gravestone appears to be the source for County Donegal being the birthplace of Robert Caldwell, for no other reason that both were born in Ireland. No primary sources have been found to document the birthplace of Robert Caldwell!
Robert and Sarah Ann (Caldwell) Elkin were the parents of ten children (All children born in Queens, New Brunswick, Canada):
- William, born 1845; died 26 May 1866, Waterborough, Queens, New Brunswick, Canada; unmarried
- Robert Caldwell, born 28 November 1846; died 13 November 1926, Montreal, Canada; married Frances Joanne Purdy, 1876, St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. A notice in the newspaper stated that Robert’s wife gave birth to triplets, 2 girls and one boy, all doing well, on 26 October 1883 in Portland, St. John, New Brunswick, Canada
- Edward Caldwell, born 2 October 1848; died 16 March 1922 of gangrene and diabetes, Queens, New Brunswick, Canada; married Sarah E. Yerxa, 1878, York, New Brunswick, Canada
- Mary Ann, born October 1850; died 12 January 1943, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts; married John Barton Wasson, 23 December 1869, Waterborough, Queens, New Brunswick, Canada
- Sarah Jane, born 1852; died 9 August 1866, Waterborough, Queens, New Brunswick, Canada
- Melissa Arlade, born 1855; died 1927, Waterborough, Queens, New Brunswick, Canada; unmarried
- Elizabeth (Bessie) M., born 4 April 1857; died after the 1901 Canadian census; married Silas Fenwick, 6 October 1880, Waterborough, Queens, New Brunswick, Canada. They lived in Millstream, Kings, New Brunswick, Canada. Silas died on 22 October 909 and has a gravestone in the Millstream cemetery. However, Bessie hasn’t been found in 1911 and her name is not on his gravestone.
- Margaret Priscilla, born April 1860; died 18 April 1955, Arlington, Middlesex, Massachusetts; married Buthvill Wren McLean, c1882
- James Howard, born 12 May 1862; died 22 January 1945, Brewer, Penobscot, Maine; married Bessie M. Lipsett, 18 September 1889, Queens, New Brunswick, Canada
- Ernest George, born 2 March 1867; died 6 December 1928, Ontario, Canada; married Mabel M. Branscombe, 9 august 1894, Queens, New Brunswick, Canada
The 50th anniversary notice of Robert’s and Sarah’s marriage also notes one adopted daughter, who was probably Ida Hatfield, born 2 March 1868; died c1937 and married John Tupper of Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, 1894. Some online trees list her as a child of this couple, but she is an adopted child.