FIRST SERGEANT
CIVIL WAR

Ira is a son of Train [or Trane] (b.IN) and Jane (McClure) Caldwell (b.OH).
He was a widower (Margaret J) at the time of his death.
occupation: Retired farmer
Informant: Hester C Harrison (daughter), Blythedale
DC 16060 (Image)

Ira appears on these two Censuses with his parents:
1850/ Indiana/ Fayette
Train Caldwell, 40y b.OH, occ: Farmer
Jane, 39y b.OH
James, 19y b.IN
John, 17y b.IN
Nathaniel, 16y b.IN
Mary A, 14y b.IN
Benjamin, 12y b.IN
Ira, 10y b.IN
Jonathan, 9y b.IN
Sandford, 7y b.IN
Wilson, 5y b.IN
plus one other

1860/ Indiana/ Fayette
Trane Caldwell, 49y b.OH, occ: Farmer
Jane, 49y b.OH
James,, 28y b.IN
John, 27y b.IN
Nathaniel, 26y b.IN
Benjamine, 24y b.IN
Ira, 21y b.IN
Jonathan, 19y b.IN
Sanford, 17y b.IN
Wilson, 15y b.IN
Sarah Caldwell [?], 25y b.IN, occ: Domestic

DETAILED SOLDIER RECORD
CALDWELL, IRA
Regiment Name: 84th Regiment, Indiana Infantry
Side: Union
Company: I
Soldier's rank in: Sergeant
Soldier's rank out: First Sergeant
Alternate Name: blank
Notes: none
Film Number M540 ROLL 11
http://www.nps.gov/civilwar

Ira Caldwell and Margaret Kelsey were married 04 October 1866 in Rush County, Indiana. (image)

1870/ Indiana/ Rush
Ira Caldwell, 28y b.IN, occ: Farmer
Margaret, 30y b.IN
Hester, 3y b.IN
plus one other

1880/ Missouri/ Harrison
h/ Ira Caldwell, 41y b.IN, occ: Farmer
w/ Margaret J, 39y b.IN
d/ Alfa H, 12y b.IN

1900/ Missouri/ Harrison
h/ Ira Caldwell, 61y b.May 1839 IN, M/33, occupation: Farmer
w/ Margaret J, 51y b.Feb 1849 IN, mother of 2/1 living
d/ s/b Alfa H, 32y b.Jan 1868 IN, occupation: School Teacher
plus a hired man

1910/ Missouri/ Harrison
h/ Ira Caldwell, 70y b.IN, M1/44, own income
w/ Margaret J, 68y b.IN, mother of 2/1 living

He appears here with his son-in-law and daughter:
1920/ Missouri/ Harrison
h/ Coleman B Harrison, 49y b.TN, occupation: Farmer
w/ Hester C Harrison, 52y b.IN
d/ Margaret C Harrison, 10y b.MO
s/ Harold C Harrison, 8y b.MO
fil/ Ira Caldwell, 80y b.IN
mil/ Margaret J Caldwell, 78y b.IN

Obituary
Ira Caldwell, US Civil War Veteran and Farmer

Ira Caldwell was born on May 12, 1839 in Fayette County, Indiana, the fifth son of Ohio natives Train Caldwell and Jane McClure Caldwell. In the years leading up to the US Civil War, Ira and his brothers helped Train work the family farm. By 1860, Train Caldwell valued his farm land at $27,500—the equivalent of an astounding $850,000 in today's dollars.

On August 18, 1862, at age 23, Ira enlisted as a private for three years in Company I of the 84th Indiana Infantry. He participated in sixteen battles and other missions during the US Civil War. Ira was promoted to First Sergeant on April 11, 1865 while in Eastern Tennessee. Finally, on June 14, 1865, all soldiers in the 84th Infantry were mustered out of the Union Army at Camp Harker, Tennessee. Years later, Ira would show off a pipe bowl he whittled from a laurel root on Lookout Mountain, when the 84th Infantry was laying siege to Chattanooga in 1863.

After the war, Ira returned home to the family farm in Indiana. He married Margaret Jane Kelsey in October of 1867 [s/b 1866]. They had two children, Hester and Sanford. After moving from Indiana to a farm in Illinois, they settled in Harrison County, Missouri in 1874, where they eventually owned two hundred acres. In 1920, at age 80, Ira retired from farming. He was a proud member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Post 551 at Blythedale, Missouri. Margaret died June 22, 1925. Ira died less than a year later, on May 3, 1926.
written by M Wood, contributor 47749921
(13 May 2021)