My father gave me a copy of Henry Howe's book. Howe, Henry, LL.D., "Historical Collections of Ohio, In Two Volumes, An Encyclopedia of the State," Published by the State of Ohio, The Lansing Printing Company, Norwalk, Ohio, 1896. Caldwell is in Southeast Ohio in Noble County about halfway between Parkersburg and Wheeling, W. VA. "CALDWELL is in the early noted Macksburg oil and gas field. For the following valuable historical article upon it we are indebted to Captain I. C. Phillips, of Caldwell:... 'First Well Drilled for Oil.--To James Dutton, however, belongs the distinction of being the first man to strike oil in the new field, who was actually looking for it. He drilled a well about one and a half miles southeast of Macksburg, using a spring pole and kicking it down. At a depth of sixty-seven feet he struck what was undoubtedly a crevice containing the oil and water combined, but entirely without gas. From this well he pumped 100 barrels per day when at its best. Oil was worth from eight to ten dollars per barrel at that time. A season of intense excitement existed throughout the valley.'" Howe goes on to explain that oil was generally found within 300 feet of the surface and if they did not reach oil at that depth, they abandonded the well. "...the only way to get it [the oil] to market was to haul it by wagons over the wretched roads, often axle-deep in mud, to the Muskingum river...." The oil business "was brought summarily to an end by the outbreeak of the Rebellion. Drillers abandoned their derricks to rot down and enlisted in the army." After the war the speculations in oil resumed. That is all that I found re the Duttons. Carole