Tombstone Tuesday: Butler-Caldwell Monument at Oakland Cemetery

Sisters Clarissa Boalt Butler and Susan Boalt Caldwell are buried with their husbands in Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. Butler's names are inscribed on the side of the monument which faces east, and the Caldwell inscriptions are on the side of the monument which faces west. Susan and Clarissa were daughters of John and Ruth Boalt, early settlers of the Firelands. Samuel B. Caldwell was born in Washington County, New York in 1792, and he died in Sandusky on July 11, 1873.



According to A STANDARD HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY, OHIO, by Hewson L. Peeke, S. B. Caldwell was an early Associate Judge of the Common Pleas Court, and he served as Sandusky's Mayor in the 1830's. Susan Boalt was the second wife of Judge S. B. Caldwell, his first wife Mary having died in 1825. Mrs. Susan Boalt Caldwell died on May 7, 1886. An obituary for Mrs. Caldwell, which appeared in volume 4 of the Firelands Pioneer, stated that the characteristics by which Mrs. Caldwell were known were "her domestic virtues, benevolent spirit, and universal kindness."








S. W. Butler was a prominent commission merchant in Sandusky. He and Mrs. Clarissa Boalt Butler were the parents of five sons. (Sometimes Clarissa's first name is listed as Clara.) Their son John M. Butler married the daughter of Civil War financier Jay Cooke. Another son, Jay Caldwell Butler, served in the 101st Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. Jay's letters to and from home were arranged in book form, by Jay's son, Watson Hubbard Butler. You can read about the book LETTERS HOME at the Sandusky History website. S.W. Butler died in Sandusky on August 7, 1896. Mrs. Clarissa Boalt Butler passed away on May 15, 1897.A letter from Judge Caldwell, in which he invites S.B. and Clara Butler to Thanksgiving dinner in 1846, is pictured at the Sandusky History website.