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.