Okay, can we all just agree that this part of Audrey's post has been repeatedly
discounted as crap? "Caldwell" isn't a French name and Oliver
Cromwell's grandmother wasn't Ann Caldwell.
I know that it comes from "The Old Free State," Vol. II by BELL, but that
doesn't make it so. There is so much data available to dispell this that, without
context, we just continue to perpetuate falsehoods and confuse newbies.
"This family is a very ancient one. It is said to be descended
from
the Albigenses and Waldenses of the Piedmont section of Italy, who
were driven into France by the Roman Catholic persecutions. Some of
the CALDWELLS, who were living at Mount Arid, near Toulon, France,
earned the enmity of Francis I, of France, and after his escape from
imprisonment under Charles V, of Germany, three CALDWELLS, brothers,
John, Alexander and Oliver, emigrated to Scotland, and there with
the consent of James I, purchased the estate of a Bishop named
DOUGLAS, located near Solney Frith. It was provided that "the said
brothers, John, Alexander and Oliver, late of Mount Arid," should
have their estate known as "CALDWELL" on condition that when the
King should require they should each send a son with twenty men of
sound limbs, to aid in the wars of the King."
"There is a cup, preserved as an heirloom, which represents a
chieftain and twenty mounted men, all armed, and a man drawing water
from a well, with the words underneath, "Alexander of CAULDWELL." It
also shows a fire burning on a hill, over the words, "Mount Arid,"
and also a vessel surrounded by high waves, which latter was
intended to commemorate the fact that their ancestors were seamen in
the Mediterranean, in the latter part of the Fourteenth Century."
"Oliver CROMWELL's grandmother was Ann CALDWELL, and Joseph,
John,
Alexander, Daniel, David and Andrew, of CAULDWELL, went with
CROMWELL to Ireland, and in various capacities served his interest
there, after his accession to the Protectorate. Upon the restoration
of Charles II, a number of the family emigrated to America."
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