Caldwell, Edward Shields (1867–1925)

Edward Shields Caldwell was born in 1867, the son of Edward Holland Caldwell and Caroline Amelia Shields of Mobile, Alabama.

Career and Residences

He lived intermittently in Santa Barbara, California, where he managed the Red Cross salvage shop and enjoyed a comfortable social life. He frequently entertained his relatives, the Reynals, who visited by private railway car.

Marriages and Personal Life

In 1916, in Paris, Caldwell married Stella Peter (1882–1923)0 (left), who had been twice widowed. Their marriage was marked by affection but also by tragedy. Stella, despondent, took her own life in Montecito, leaving a note to her husband that read, “Life is stupid…. I am opening a new chapter for you, may it be a happy one.”

Shortly before her death, she had revised her will, granting Caldwell a life interest in her considerable estate—much of which had come from her two previous husbands—with the remainder to pass after his death to her brother, John Jay Peter, and to an aunt.

Following Stella’s death, Caldwell planned to marry Adelaide Hodapp (1895–1985) (right), the former wife of his late wife’s brother, John Jay Peter. While in declining health and under the care of a nurse, he traveled to Seymour, Indiana, where Adelaide’s divorce was finalized. They married a few days later.

Death

Edward Shields Caldwell died on April 11, 1925, in Lexington, Louisiana, while en route to Mobile, Alabama.