White male, born about 1854 in Virginia. He was 51 years old and married at the time of his death on 23 October 1905. He died of yellow fever during a time of epidemic in Pensacola. His occupation was given as laborer, and he died on Olivia Street (already renamed A Street by then) in Pensacola. According to his entry in the city ledger, he had been in the city only 6 days. E.F. Bruce, a physician, was the informant on the death certificate. Mr. Caswell was buried by John G. Wood at the Escambia County Poor Farm cemetery.
J.H. Caswell was listed among the “new cases” on 17 October 1905 in The Pensacola Journal‘s coverage of the epidemic. His address was given as 416 S. Olivia St. His death does not appear to have been reported in the newspaper, though many were.
The 1905 City Directory sheds no light on 416 S. Oliva; however, the 1908 City Directory shows it as being a boardinghouse owned by Carrie Huntington, a woman of color. At least two men of color whose occupations were fisherman and bayman boarded there.
I have not found James H. Caswell in any records wherein I could confirm his identity. There is a James H. Caswell of about the right age in Massachusetts; however, he lived until at least the age of 85 in 1940. Similarly, neither a James Hayden Caswell in Kentucky, nor a James H. Caswell in New York is the same man.
SOURCES:
Florida Certificate of Death for James H. Caswell (No. 914), Florida Deaths, 1877-1939. Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City.
Pensacola births and deaths, 1891-1910, Escambia County (Florida) Health Department. Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1973.
“Situation Grows More Encouraging,” The Pensacola Journal [Pensacola, FL], 17 OCT 1905, p. 1 and 3.