Can I get any help on the ancestors of this Addison Caldwell? Trying to
tie him back to the original group that came into the area.
Thanks
Doug
Va Tech 63
Looking for Caldwell and Burnett
University Archives of Virginia Tech
Looking Back
Glimpses of the Life of Virginia Tech's First Student
by Clara B. Cox
1991 (revised 1992)
The author expresses appreciation to
John Straw,
Catherine Wingfield-Yeatts, and Glenn
McMullen of the
University Libraries Special Collections
Department; Jane
Johnston, a Craig County historian;
D.L. Kinnear, a
Virginia Tech historian; and several
relatives of William
Addison Caldwell for contributions of
information and for
suggestions of sources, without which this
article would not
have been possible.
But for a long walk from Sinking Creek in Craig County to
Blacksburg on October 1, 1872, William Addison
Caldwell may never have attained his singular position in the
history of Virginia Tech.
His trek over mountains and through valleys on that particular
autumn day, however, ended in the Preston
and Olin Building, where 16-year-old "Add" became the first student
to register at the Virginia Agricultural
and Mechanical College (V.A.M.C.), the commonwealth's new
land-grant institution that eventually became
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Born on January 10, 1856--probably in his parents' home--at Sinking
Creek in Craig County, Va., Add
Caldwell was the second of George Charlton and Lorena Givens
Caldwell's nine children. Generation after
generation of Caldwells had lived in Craig's valleys since the
1760's, when King George III of England
granted land to their forebear, John Caldwell. The land, rolling
hills bordered by mountains, was once part
of Botetourt County, but that section of Botetourt and sections of
Roanoke, Giles, and Monroe counties,
were joined in 1851 to create the new county of Craig.
Add's father--like his grandfather, Archibald Caldwell--was a
farmer who owned many acres of land.
George's large, two-story frame house, where his children probably
were born, still sits above the base of
a mountain, providing a panoramic view of the valley farmland that
he owned.
Growing up on a farm, Add surely had chores assigned to him, and
his father, a veteran of the Civil War
who had owned a slave around 1860, would also have encouraged or
made arrangements for his
schooling. According to an article written by J.C. Martin for the
New Castle Record and reprinted in the
book Bits and Pieces of Craig County Schools, "The Confederate
[soldier] who had been deprived by the
war of such educational advantages as his time afforded was very
anxious that his children . . . might have
a better opportunity than he had." The method of educating young
Add and his school-age siblings,
however, can only be surmised since the county's school records
were destroyed by fire. But Craig
County historian Jane Johnston says he most likely attended a one-
or two-room school since several
existed near the family farm. Or, she adds, he may have been taught
by an instructor hired to come into
the home, another method of education popular in the county among
more prosperous residents. His last
year or two as a Craig County student may have been spent in a
public school since that system of
education was introduced in 1870.
What prompted Add Caldwell to investigate the agricultural and
mechanical school in Blacksburg may
never be known. Whether he saw one of many advertisements the
school's president, Charles L.C. Minor,
placed in newspapers throughout the state or learned of the new
school through word of mouth, Add and
his older brother, 18-year-old Milton M. "Mic" Caldwell, left their
home in Sinking Creek community and
walked as much as 28 miles to Blacksburg. Johnston says the boys
would have known about foot trails
across the mountains, which could have shortened their walk
considerably. Mic's daughter, Katherine
Caldwell Mendez, now 90 years old, remembers her father telling her
that he walked to the school with his
brother.
Virginia Tech historian D.L. Kinnear, in his book The First 100
Years, describes what happened that day in
the Preston and Olin Building:
On October 1, 1872, the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical
College officially opened its two
doors to students. The faculty gathered early; President Minor
unlocked the front door, and he,
Lane, Martin, Carroll, and Shepherd filed into the building
and somewhat nervously, it can be
imagined, awaited the arrival of the first student. The wait
was much longer than had been
anticipated, but finally William A. Caldwell from Craig County
"drifted" in. There is a completely
unverified tradition that Caldwell's appearance at the College
was motivated more by curiosity
than by any intention to enroll as a student. Certainly he had
not been nominated for a state
scholarship by his county superintendent of schools, as it
sometimes has been asserted.
Whatever his real motive may have been, immediately he was
given a state scholarship by
the faculty and enrolled as the first student in Virginia
Agricultural and Mechanical College.
While Add has been targeted as the first student to register, Mic
also registered, probably the same day.
Other students trickled in, prompting President Minor to write
during that first month to Gen. Joseph R.
Anderson, a member of the school's Board of Visitors: "We have now
thirty students matriculated, and
there are, I think a dozen more, of the vicinity, holding back in
hope of some abatement of accommodation
in the way of delay such as they have been used to received [sic]
from the Preston and Olin Institute. We
are in correspondence with a good many others, but [it is] plain
that our beginning is to be smaller than had
been expected by most of those who were best informed in the
matter."
Calling the students "plain lads for the most part," President
Minor noted in the letter that he was
"embarrassed by the fact that the wants of the students who have
come to us have forced us to vary
materially from the strictly technical training enjoined by the
organization Committee's report." Later, in his
report on the college to the state, he said that many of the
students came with "the scantiest preparation,"
which made it necessary for V.A.M.C. to "include much of the work
properly belonging to the high schools,
or even the grammar schools, thus leaving it impossible to do all
that is to be desired in the special
technical courses."
By mid-November, newspapers reported that 60 students had
registered and "the tide of entrance is
steadily flowing on to as full numbers as can be comfortably
accommodated." Total enrollment during the
first year of operation eventually reached 132.
Since Add was the first to register, he probably was among the
students who lived in the Preston and Olin
Building, described in an 1872 report to the Commissioner of
Agriculture as "a substantial three-story brick
edifice, 100 feet by 40, containing three recitation rooms, a
chapel, and twenty-four lodging rooms." Those
students who could not get lodging on campus found rooms in town.
Since the college had no facilities for
providing meals, all students ate in town, many at Luster's Hotel.
In 1873, a new building specifically built to
serve meals was completed, and students then had the option--until
1881--to eat on campus or in town.
Each year that Add was enrolled, at least one of his brothers was
enrolled as well. Mic, who never
graduated, was on the rolls in 1872 and 1873 and again during 1876
and 1877. Another brother, Frank B.
Caldwell, about two years younger than Add, enrolled during Add's
third year and attended three
consecutive terms but, like Mic, did not graduate.
Add's scholarship, reportedly given him by a faculty and
administration ecstatic over finally getting a
student, covered his tuition of $30, his college fees of $10, and,
if he roomed in the Preston and Olin
Building, his $5 per month room rent (unfurnished). "Table board"
could be had for $12 per month, and
coal reportedly was "convenient and cheap." Students were required
to deposit $5 with the treasurer as a
contingent fee to cover damages to property. Uniforms cost an
additional $17.25.
Like all students enrolled in first year studies, Add would have
been exposed to commercial arithmetic,
bookkeeping, algebra, English grammar, geography with map drawing,
descriptive astronomy,
penmanship, free-hand drawing, lectures on physiology and hygiene,
lectures on habits and manners,
lectures on the value of agricultural and mechanical arts to
society, French or German, farm or shop
practice, and military tactics.
According to the 1964 VPI Historical Data Book, compiled and edited
by Jenkins Mikell Robertson, the
entire college was under military discipline from the beginning.
Students were "required to meet
formations, march to classes, pass room inspections, have military
passes when off campus, and
conform to other types of military behavior." The students were
assigned to one of two companies, A or B,
and each wore a standard uniform--a cap, jacket, and pants of cadet
gray, trimmed with black. Add, a
member of Company B, attained the rank of second sergeant by the
middle of his final year in college.
Each Memorial Day, the corps marched to Montgomery White Sulphur
Springs, 12-15 miles away, to
honor the Confederate soldiers buried there, returning to campus
the same day. In 1875, parts of the two
companies formed one company for the long march, while the
remaining students rode to the ceremony,
prompting a comment from a Gen. Preston that "it was 'd_____ poor
militia that had to be hauled about in
ambulances."
Students also participated in a literary society that they
organized during the college's inaugural year. The
one society was succeeded by two societies that became, in 1873,
the Lee Literary Society and the Maury
Literary Society. These societies, which focused on public
speaking, debate, and creative writing, started
the first student publication, The Gray Jacket, in 1875.
Add, a member of the Maury Literary Society, served on a joint
committee representing both societies. The
committee, according to an 1876 issue of The Gray Jacket, concurred
with the societies of Washington
and Graham-Lee in having an Inter-collegiate Association of
Virginia convention at Lynchburg.
The first school year at V.A.M.C. ran from October 1, 1872, to the
last Wednesday in July, 1873. During
the second year and for nine years following, summer vacation was
replaced with a vacation that began
around Christmas and lasted until late February. President Minor,
in an 1875 issue of The Gray Jacket,
justified the new school term, saying the winter vacation was "best
suited for an institution of this
character" because "the study of farm operations is interrupted at
a less important season of the year,
besides students from other sections of the country, while escaping
the severity of winter in the
mountains, will remain at College during the most pleasant and
healthful part of the year."
Add's performance in his classes is only partially known. His
obituary says he graduated "at the head of
his class," but it is likely that the reporter confused his status
as the college's first student, especially since
Those grades that survive do not indicate that, with the
exception of certain courses, he was an
exceptional student;
He took an extra year to complete the three-year program; and
He was not included in the list of outstanding students
published in The Gray Jacket at the time of
his graduation.
Add's 1875 report card, mailed to his father in Craig County and
donated to Virginia Tech in 1992 by Frank
Caldwell, lists his grades as follows:
Intermediate Year Mathematics - 5
Chemistry - 7
The university archives includes a copy of the 1875 chemistry exam
that Add would have taken.
Natural History - 8
Composition and Rhetoric - 7.5
French - 8
Composition (written) - 10
Military Tactics - 9.5
Farm work - 10
Senior Year
Book-Keeping - 5
William Addison Caldwell graduated from V.A.M.C. with the college's
second graduating class in the 1876
commencement exercises, which began on August 6 with a sermon by
the Rev. Oscar F. Flippo of
Baltimore. Two days later, he listened to the fourth annual address
before the literary societies, delivered
by Maj. John W. Daniel of Lynchburg. Virginia's Governor Kemper,
who was in attendance was "loudly
called for" and "responded in a brief but able and eloquent
speech." At 5 p.m. the same day, the corps was
reviewed by the governor and the college's Board of Visitors. On
August 9, President Minor presented the
diplomas--students at that time received graduate certificates
rather than degrees--and Gen. J.H. Williams
of Winchester delivered the annual address to faculty and students.
The morning of August 9, the graduating class held an alumni
meeting in the Lee Society hall. Following
remarks by President Minor and a J. Lawrence Radford "of
Montgomery," the alumni association elected
officers for the ensuing year, including Add as secretary.
Following graduation, Add may have returned to Craig County to
teach school. In 1877, an editor of The
Gray Jacket complained that "so few of our 'Old Boys' are farmers"
and that "so many of them became
teachers." But, the editor continued, "We must remember that these
gentlemen are, as far as we are
informed, teaching public schools in their immediate neighborhoods,
and that the session of these
schools, in most cases, holds only through a part of the fall,
winter, and spring months, leaving cropping
months entirely out. Now from what we can learn of the matter our
'Old Boys' are farming in summer and
teaching in winter; thus they are most aptly filling their places
as good citizens and grateful sons of
Virginia." Certainly by 1880 Add, Mic, and Frank were living with
their parents in Sinking Creek, and all three
were teaching school. At that time, Craig County employed 26
teachers for its 26 public schools.
How long or where Add taught cannot be ascertained, but by 1887 he
was living in Roanoke, possibly with
his youngest brother, E. Gambill "Gam" Caldwell, and working in the
general office of Norfolk and Western
and attending First Presbyterian Church. Since Gam and Frank, who
had attended V.A.M.C. with Add, both
worked at one time for Norfolk and Western, the possibility exists
that the three worked there together.
Before Add moved to Wilmington, N.C., around 1898--he moved his
church membership there in March of
1902--he became interested in the real estate business in Roanoke,
but whether he derived an income
from the sale of property is not known. His work at the railroad
office later prompted a description of him as
"a well known and popular employee."
In Wilmington, Add worked for several large wholesale firms on the
wharf: the Stove Company, Mr. W.B.
Cooper, Messrs. Blair & Haly, and the C.C. Covington Company,
traveling part of the time out of
Wilmington. Perhaps one of these companies sold molasses since the
Virginia Tech Alumni Association
reported in 1911 that Add had been a salesman for a molasses firm.
After Add left the homeplace in Craig County, his brother Mic moved
to Radford and later persuaded his
parents to sell the family farm in Sinking Creek and move to
Radford as well. Two sisters, Grace and
Nell--like their brother Add, the two never married--moved with
their parents to a house across the street
from Mic. During summer vacations, Add visited his relatives in
Radford.
Sometime before 1910, Add's health declined, and Mrs. Mendez says
he underwent surgery for a brain
tumor. He recuperated from the operation at his mother's home--his
father had died around 1904.
According to Mrs. Mendez, the doctor told Add that salt air would
be good for him, so he secured a position
as a clerk at the Tangmoore (or Tarrymoore) Hotel at Wrightsville
Beach near Wilmington in the spring of
1910. The job, which he probably started around the first of June,
was to last until September 1.
On June 15, 1910, Add wrote his niece, who had developed a fond
attachment for this uncle who would
play games with her and help her with such chores as capping
strawberries. In the letter, which included
several pictures of the beach, Add admitted that the hotel was "a
fine place to spend the summer" but said
he would rather be in Radford.
"I have not been here long enough to tell whether the salt air is
going to benefit me or not," he continued. "I
am feeling about the same, no worse, no better."
He closed the letter by asking Mrs. Mendez, who was then nine years
old, to "[r]emember me to your
grandmother [his mother] and with much love to all of you and
especially to yourself, I am fondly yours,
Add."
A few days after he wrote the letter, Add fainted, sustaining a
severe fall that apparently resulted in a head
injury. Taken to the hospital in Wilmington, he died ten days later
on June 29, 1910. His body was taken to
Radford, and his funeral was held in his mother's home. His old
paster from First Presbyterian Church in
Roanoke, Dr. W.C. Campbell, conducted the service with assistance
from three other pastors. On July 1,
Add was buried in the Caldwell family cemetery in Radford.
Today, the memory of William Addison Caldwell lives on--in the
undying affection of his niece, who
donated the letter he wrote her to Virginia Tech; through a nephew
and namesake in Radford, who
presented the university with his uncle's bible in 1989; and in his
singular role in the slow and sometimes
tumultuous birthing process of the school that was to become
Virginia Tech.
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Last Modified on: Wednesday, December 31, 1969 19:00:00