John Alexander Caldwell was born in Fairhaven of Preble County, Ohio, on April 21, 1852, son of Alexander and Sarah Pinkerton Caldwell. He attended the local common schools and also had some instruction from private tutors. He taught school himself for several years afterward. Caldwell studied law under Col. C.W. Moulton with the Moulton, Johnson, & Levy law firm. He then attended Cincinnati Law College and graduated from the law school in 1876, gaining admission to the bar that same year.

In December 1876 Caldwell married Anna Eversull. The couple had three children and were among the early members of the United Presbyterian Church formed in Preble County in the 1890s. In his later life, Caldwell was a 32nd degree Mason and a member of the National Union.

Caldwell returned to teaching for a short time and then began to practice law in Cincinnati in 1878. He was elected prosecuting attorney of the Cincinnati police court in 1881 and again in 1883, serving in that position until 1885. He then ran for election as judge of the city police court but lost the election to James Fitzgerald. He ran for the office again in 1887, and won the election against Fitzgerald.

Caldwell was known for being active in the Republican Party and served as executive committeeman of the National Republican League. He further increased his direct involvement in politics when the Ohio League of Republican Clubs unanimously elected him as its president in 1887. He became the favored Republican candidate in the 1888 Congressional elections over incumbent Charles Brown, and won election as the Representative from Ohio's 2nd District to the 51st Congress. While in Congress, Caldwell was known for introducing a bill, requested by President Benjamin Harrison, to ban the sale of lottery tickets through the mail. He was also a strong and successful supporter of extending the free postal delivery system. Caldwell won re-election two more times afterward but resigned in May of 1894, just before the end of the Fifty-third Congress.

Caldwell resigned his Congressional seat in order to return to local politics by serving as mayor of Cincinnati from 1894-1897. He briefly expanded his political role by serving as lieutenant governor of Ohio from 1899-1901. In 1900, Caldwell was an Ohio delegate to the National Republican Convention. In 1902, Caldwell was elected judge of the court of common pleas, and remained in that position until his death on May 24, 1927. He was buried in Spring Grove Cemetery.

Sources:
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Find a Grave-Spring Grove Cemetery Records
A History and Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Oxford Township
History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio, pg.598

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