Joseph Caldwell

Who was Joseph Caldwell?

Joseph Caldwell was a U.S. educator, Presbyterian minister, and mathematician. He was the first president of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, holding the office from 1804 until 1812, and from 1816 until his death in 1835. He was born in Lamington, New Jersey.

Caldwell County, North Carolina is named for him.

In October, 2013 the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hosted a display to commemorate the role of Masons in the establishment of the first public university in the United States. Among items on display were the 18th- and 19th-century papers from Eagle Lodge No. 19 in Hillsborough documenting the applications, or “petitions,” of UNC’s first President Joseph Caldwell to receive the first and second degrees of Masonry.