Caldwell, Merritt

Life Span
to
Dickinson Connection
Faculty, 1834-1836
    Full name
    Merritt Caldwell
    Place of Birth
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Origins
    Free State
    Education
    Other
    Other Education
    Bowdoin College
    Occupation
    Educator
    Doctor, Dentist or Nurse
    Relation to Slavery
    White non-slaveholder
    Church or Religious Denomination
    Methodist
    Other Affiliations
    Temperance (Prohibition)

    Merritt Caldwell (Dickinson Chronicles)

    Scholarship
    Merritt Caldwell was born on November 29, 1806 to William and Nancy Caldwell of Oxford, Maine. He attended Bowdoin College and Medical School, graduating in 1828. He received his master’s degree from that institution in 1831. From 1828 until 1834, Caldwell was principal of the Maine Wesleyan Seminary.

    Caldwell came to Dickinson College in 1834 as professor of mathematics, metaphysics, and political economy. He is credited with introducing the first biology classes at the college, known then as “natural science.” In 1841, he was forced by ill health to take a break from teaching, but returned to the school upon his sufficient recovery. Caldwell traveled to London in 1846 where he participated in the World’s Temperance Conference before a four month tour of Europe. Caldwell’s delicate health had improved during his European tour, but this proved only temporary.

    He resigned his position at the College in March 1848 due to failing health. Merritt Caldwell died of tuberculosis on June 6, 1848 in Portland, Maine.
    John Osborne and James W. Gerencser, eds., “Merritt Caldwell ,” Dickinson Chronicles, http://chronicles.dickinson.edu/encyclo/c/ed_caldwellM.html.
    How to Cite This Page: "Caldwell, Merritt," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/5299.