Gordon Theaty Caldwell was born in Scranton, Jackson County, Mississippi, which is now called Pascagoula.
Gordon's short life was scarred by several shattering events. In his late teens his mother, Lula, fled their home in Miami with his three younger sisters and moved to Texas. Gordon and his elder sister, Ethel, remained in Miami and maintained cordial relations with their father, "A.C." Caldwell . But on May 3, 1925, in a jealous rage A.C. shot and killed the Ethel's husband of two hours, Eugene Hawkins, and wounded Ethel, before successfully eluding authorities. In the following weeks, Gordon's elder brother, Albert Henry Caldwell, was arrested and imprisoned in the South Carolina State Penitentiary for attempted armed robbery at a banker's home motivated by his desire to aid his father's flight from justice and his wounded sister. Days later, A.C.'s decomposed body was discovered in a thicket 120-feet from the site of the groom's murder, long dead from a self-inflicted gun shot to the head with the same .38 revolver. Gordon took his own life 7 years later in Chicago, mirroring the deranged rampage of his father, first wounding his unrequited lover through the neck and then putting a bullet through his own head. At the height of the Great Depression, Albert and Ethel paid to transport Gordon's body home to Ocala, Florida for burial at Greenwood Cemetery with no grave marker, possibly in a unregistered pauper's grave.
Finlandia # 48482101
October, 2019
GORDON T. CALDWELL
OCALA EVENING STAR – JUNE 5, 1932
Gordon T. Caldwell, aged 26, died in Chicago Friday night. The body was sent to Ocala and will arrive Tuesday morning. A short service will be held at the MacKay-Hiers funeral home at 4:30 o’clock Tuesday afternoon and interment will follow immediately in the Greenwood cemetery. Dr. G J. Rousseau will conduct the services. Pall bearers will be: Harry Howes, George Guthrie, Homer Agnew, Frank Churchill, Joe Borden and Leslie Wall.
Mr. Caldwell was a resident of Tampa for five years, having been connected with the Exchange National bank here. He left Tampa in 1930 and had made his home in Chicago since that time. He was a member of the First Presbyterian church of Chicago.
He is survived by his mother, Mrs. Lula Canada of Parnell, Texas; four sisters, Mrs. Rachael Hulen of Wichita Falls, Texas, Mrs. Bessie Gentry of Parnell, Texas, and Mrs. Dozier Richburg and Miss Edna Waites of Ocala, and by one brother Albert Caldwell of Ocala.
{end newspaper obituary}
Gordon's short life was scarred by several shattering events. In his late teens his mother, Lula, fled their home in Miami with his three younger sisters and moved to Texas. Gordon and his elder sister, Ethel, remained in Miami and maintained cordial relations with their father, "A.C." Caldwell . But on May 3, 1925, in a jealous rage A.C. shot and killed the Ethel's husband of two hours, Eugene Hawkins, and wounded Ethel, before successfully eluding authorities. In the following weeks, Gordon's elder brother, Albert Henry Caldwell, was arrested and imprisoned in the South Carolina State Penitentiary for attempted armed robbery at a banker's home motivated by his desire to aid his father's flight from justice and his wounded sister. Days later, A.C.'s decomposed body was discovered in a thicket 120-feet from the site of the groom's murder, long dead from a self-inflicted gun shot to the head with the same .38 revolver. Gordon took his own life 7 years later in Chicago, mirroring the deranged rampage of his father, first wounding his unrequited lover through the neck and then putting a bullet through his own head. At the height of the Great Depression, Albert and Ethel paid to transport Gordon's body home to Ocala, Florida for burial at Greenwood Cemetery with no grave marker, possibly in a unregistered pauper's grave.
Finlandia # 48482101
October, 2019
GORDON T. CALDWELL
OCALA EVENING STAR – JUNE 5, 1932
Gordon T. Caldwell, aged 26, died in Chicago Friday night. The body was sent to Ocala and will arrive Tuesday morning. A short service will be held at the MacKay-Hiers funeral home at 4:30 o’clock Tuesday afternoon and interment will follow immediately in the Greenwood cemetery. Dr. G J. Rousseau will conduct the services. Pall bearers will be: Harry Howes, George Guthrie, Homer Agnew, Frank Churchill, Joe Borden and Leslie Wall.
Mr. Caldwell was a resident of Tampa for five years, having been connected with the Exchange National bank here. He left Tampa in 1930 and had made his home in Chicago since that time. He was a member of the First Presbyterian church of Chicago.
He is survived by his mother, Mrs. Lula Canada of Parnell, Texas; four sisters, Mrs. Rachael Hulen of Wichita Falls, Texas, Mrs. Bessie Gentry of Parnell, Texas, and Mrs. Dozier Richburg and Miss Edna Waites of Ocala, and by one brother Albert Caldwell of Ocala.
{end newspaper obituary}
Gordon Theaty Caldwell was born in Scranton, Jackson County, Mississippi, which is now called Pascagoula.
Gordon's short life was scarred by several shattering events. In his late teens his mother, Lula, fled their home in Miami with his three younger sisters and moved to Texas. Gordon and his elder sister, Ethel, remained in Miami and maintained cordial relations with their father, "A.C." Caldwell . But on May 3, 1925, in a jealous rage A.C. shot and killed the Ethel's husband of two hours, Eugene Hawkins, and wounded Ethel, before successfully eluding authorities. In the following weeks, Gordon's elder brother, Albert Henry Caldwell, was arrested and imprisoned in the South Carolina State Penitentiary for attempted armed robbery at a banker's home motivated by his desire to aid his father's flight from justice and his wounded sister. Days later, A.C.'s decomposed body was discovered in a thicket 120-feet from the site of the groom's murder, long dead from a self-inflicted gun shot to the head with the same .38 revolver. Gordon took his own life 7 years later in Chicago, mirroring the deranged rampage of his father, first wounding his unrequited lover through the neck and then putting a bullet through his own head. At the height of the Great Depression, Albert and Ethel paid to transport Gordon's body home to Ocala, Florida for burial at Greenwood Cemetery with no grave marker, possibly in a unregistered pauper's grave.
Finlandia # 48482101
October, 2019
GORDON T. CALDWELL
OCALA EVENING STAR – JUNE 5, 1932
Gordon T. Caldwell, aged 26, died in Chicago Friday night. The body was sent to Ocala and will arrive Tuesday morning. A short service will be held at the MacKay-Hiers funeral home at 4:30 o’clock Tuesday afternoon and interment will follow immediately in the Greenwood cemetery. Dr. G J. Rousseau will conduct the services. Pall bearers will be: Harry Howes, George Guthrie, Homer Agnew, Frank Churchill, Joe Borden and Leslie Wall.
Mr. Caldwell was a resident of Tampa for five years, having been connected with the Exchange National bank here. He left Tampa in 1930 and had made his home in Chicago since that time. He was a member of the First Presbyterian church of Chicago.
He is survived by his mother, Mrs. Lula Canada of Parnell, Texas; four sisters, Mrs. Rachael Hulen of Wichita Falls, Texas, Mrs. Bessie Gentry of Parnell, Texas, and Mrs. Dozier Richburg and Miss Edna Waites of Ocala, and by one brother Albert Caldwell of Ocala.
{end newspaper obituary}
Gordon's short life was scarred by several shattering events. In his late teens his mother, Lula, fled their home in Miami with his three younger sisters and moved to Texas. Gordon and his elder sister, Ethel, remained in Miami and maintained cordial relations with their father, "A.C." Caldwell . But on May 3, 1925, in a jealous rage A.C. shot and killed the Ethel's husband of two hours, Eugene Hawkins, and wounded Ethel, before successfully eluding authorities. In the following weeks, Gordon's elder brother, Albert Henry Caldwell, was arrested and imprisoned in the South Carolina State Penitentiary for attempted armed robbery at a banker's home motivated by his desire to aid his father's flight from justice and his wounded sister. Days later, A.C.'s decomposed body was discovered in a thicket 120-feet from the site of the groom's murder, long dead from a self-inflicted gun shot to the head with the same .38 revolver. Gordon took his own life 7 years later in Chicago, mirroring the deranged rampage of his father, first wounding his unrequited lover through the neck and then putting a bullet through his own head. At the height of the Great Depression, Albert and Ethel paid to transport Gordon's body home to Ocala, Florida for burial at Greenwood Cemetery with no grave marker, possibly in a unregistered pauper's grave.
Finlandia # 48482101
October, 2019
GORDON T. CALDWELL
OCALA EVENING STAR – JUNE 5, 1932
Gordon T. Caldwell, aged 26, died in Chicago Friday night. The body was sent to Ocala and will arrive Tuesday morning. A short service will be held at the MacKay-Hiers funeral home at 4:30 o’clock Tuesday afternoon and interment will follow immediately in the Greenwood cemetery. Dr. G J. Rousseau will conduct the services. Pall bearers will be: Harry Howes, George Guthrie, Homer Agnew, Frank Churchill, Joe Borden and Leslie Wall.
Mr. Caldwell was a resident of Tampa for five years, having been connected with the Exchange National bank here. He left Tampa in 1930 and had made his home in Chicago since that time. He was a member of the First Presbyterian church of Chicago.
He is survived by his mother, Mrs. Lula Canada of Parnell, Texas; four sisters, Mrs. Rachael Hulen of Wichita Falls, Texas, Mrs. Bessie Gentry of Parnell, Texas, and Mrs. Dozier Richburg and Miss Edna Waites of Ocala, and by one brother Albert Caldwell of Ocala.
{end newspaper obituary}
Gravesite Details
No record of Gordon's grave was found after research by Marion County Genealogical Society; but agreed that the burial here is documented by the local newspaper obituary. Records in 1932 were judged unreliable and a pauper's grave is plausible.
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