Sherman Caldwell, Farmer

Nova Scotia # 10 on 12 Jul 1866 Duffus & Co embossed cover from Halifax to Gaspereaux, Nova Scotia. Addressed to Mr., Sherman Caldwell, Gaspereaux. Two backstamps: a double impression Halifax Ju 12, 1866, a barely legible Wolfville.

Sherman Caldwell was a 55-year-old merchant and farmer in Gaspereau, Kings County, when he received this letter in 1866 from Duffus & Co., a dry goods vendor located at the corner of Granville and Buckingham Streets in Halifax.

He was born Apr. 19, 1811, at Horton Landing Kings County Nova Scotia, son of Ebenezer Coldwell and Anna (Lounsbury) Coldwell. He died Jul. 2, 1875 in Gaspereau, of "ossified arteries", He is buried in Gaspereau Cemetery,

The 1871 census for Gaspereau, Kings County, has Sherman Coldwell, 60, birthplace Nova Scotia, Baptist, farmer, with Amy Coldwell, 47, birthplace Nova Scotia, and Lothrop Coldwell, 31, clerk, Aubrey Coldwell, 25, school teacher, James Coldwell, 23, school teacher, Isaac Coldwell, 18, farmer, Pryor Coldwell, 16, student,

McAlpine’s Nova Scotia Directory, 1868-1869, Gaspereaux, Kings County, Caldwell, Sherman, merchant.

McAlpine’s Maritime Province Directory, 1870-1871, Gaspereau, lists Coldwell, Shearman, farmer.

A.F. Church Map King's County list for Gaspereau Business District has Sherman Caldwell, farmer

A. F. Chruch map, Gaspereau, Kings County shows numerous Coldwell homesteads

The Man Who Lived in Three Centuries

Sherman’s great-grandfather, William Coldwell was born in 1695 in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England, the son of William Coldwell and Mary (Edwards) Coldwell. Supposedly, William's father died when he was a boy, and William was impressed into the British Navy when only sixteen years old. He deserted at Boston, Massachusetts in 1712. He married Jane Jordan at Stoughton, Massachusetts on December 10, 1734, and had a large family. They moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut about 1742. William and his family moved from Bridgeport, Connecticut to Horton Township, Kings, Nova Scotia in 1760 as part of the New England Planter migration. He received land on both sides of the Gaspereau River as well as land on the modern site of Wolfville. He died at Gaspereau, Kings, Nova Scotia on October 28, 1802, aged 107 years. He is buried in Gaspereau; a monument was erected to his memory by his descendants in the Melanson Cemetery in 1909.

William and Jane had at least seven sons and three daughters. Sherman's grandfather, Eliphalet, born in 1752, in Bridgeport, Fairfield, Connecticut, was the youngest. His first wife, Abigail Sutherland, was Sherman's grandmother. Eliphalet was a farmer in Gaspereau, where he died December 24th, 1816. His gravestone is still in good condition in the Wolfville cemetery.

Sherman's father, Ebenezer, was born in 1785. He married Anna Lounsbury on January 14th, 1808, in Horton Township. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 4 daughters. Sherman was their second son. The census returns for 1838, have Ebenezer with a family of 3 males and 4 females. He died 23 May 1850 at Gaspereau. He is listed as the father on the death record of his son Sherman.

Gaspereau, Nova Scotia

The river's name is derived from the Gaspereau fish, Alosa pseudoharengus, which migrates up the river every spring. The fishing of Gaspereau has been important to human settlement of the Gaspereau Valley for thousands of years. When the Acadians came here around 1680, they named the fish and the area "Gasparot" and the term "Rivière des Gasparots" is mentioned in a 1701 census of Acadia. The Gaspereau valley is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and agriculturally productive areas of Nova Scotia. It was relatively densely settled by Acadians at the time of the Expulsion and some of the most poignant scenes of that tragedy must have transpired here. In the district of Grand Pre alone, 225 houses, 276 barns, 11 mills, and a large number of smaller out buildings were burnt by the British.