Untitled Document

Benjamin Sanford Eldridge

Benjamin Sanford Eldridge, a resident of Galva, this county, was born March 22, 1827 , in West Springfield, Hampton Co., Mass. The Eldridge family are of Scotch extraction. The grandfather, Mulferd Eldridge, was a wheelwright by profession. His father died while he was young, and young Mulferd and his mother removed from Maine to Connecticut , drawing a small hand-cart, which contained all their earthly possessions to the latter State. Capt. Mulferd Eldridge was married in Connecticut to Miss Coggswell. She was the mother of four children, namely: Elisha, Mrs. Sarah Sackett, Benjamin and Mrs. Lora Fowler. The parents removed to West Springfield , where the wife and mother died. He was a second time married, to a Mrs. White. Elisha Eldridge was born in Berlin , Conn. , and died in 1877, in Ann Arbor , Mich. , aged 87 years. During his early life he was a teacher, and taught 14 successive winters. Afterwards, he was engaged in farming, and in his old age came and lived with his youngest daughter. He was a very religious man and had been Deacon in the Congregational Church from the time he attained the age of 22 years, when he was converted, until his death. His father, Mulferd, was an Episcopalian, and his grand-daughter, Mrs. Hannah (Sackett) Hume, was a missionary to India , and her two sons and one daughter are at the present time missionaries to Bombay , that country. The children are Robert, Edward and Sarah, all of whom are well educated. Edward is located in Ahmednaggar , India . Their mother is yet living, in New Haven , Conn. , aged 92 years. Elisha Eldridge was married in West Springfield , Mass. , to Tryphena Bagg, a native of that State, where she died. She was a daughter of Oliver Bagg, and was the mother of seven children: Oliver B., James D., both deceased; James D. (second); Mrs. Sarah C., Hive and Samuel Mulferd; Benjamin Sanford, subject of this notice, and Mrs. Lora A. Page.

Benjamin S. Eldridge, subject of this sketch, received a limited education in his native village. He also attended school at East Hampton, --Williston Seminary. After leaving the seminary he went to Hartford , Conn. , where he engaged to learn the carpenter’s trade, and worked at it for two years. He then engaged as a clerk in the store of Dennison, Morgan & Son, where he remained for three and a half years. At the expiration of this time he left his position, which was a lucrative and important one, and came to this State, arriving here in September, 1847, and settling in Farmington , Fulton County., where he and his brother Samuel M. were engaged in merchandising for one year. Abandoning the mercantile business, the engaged in farming, which occupation he followed for 19 years. In partnership with his brother, he purchased at first 220 acres of land, located four miles northwest of Henry, for which he paid $12.50 per acre, the same being improved. After three years he sold out to his brother and invested the proceeds in stock and was engaged in raising stock for two years. He then purchased another interest in the same farm, which his brother cultivated, his brother owning half the stock.

Mr. Eldridge was united in marriage to Nancy A., Lee, Nov. 9, 1859 . She was born April 20, 1831 , in Williston , Vt. , and died in Galva, Dec. 5, 1874 , leaving two children, Charles E., born April 8, 1861 , and Delia, born Sept. 24, 1865 . Mr. Eldridge sold his real estate and went to Chicago , where he intended to engage in the real-estate business, but having passed a life of activity on the farm, he could not endure city life, and was compelled to go back to the more active labors of the farm. After a residence of one year in Chicago , he located in Galva, where he invested in real-estate, purchasing 15 acres of land adjoining the north part of town, which he laid out in lots. He erected a residence that year, and at one time was the owner of 1,000 acres of land. He is at present principally interested in land near Galva, Ida Co., Iowa , where his son resides, and where Mr. Eldridge owns 1,600 acres. He is also engaged in raising Short-horn cattle and Clydesdale horses, which he keeps on his farm near Galva.

Mr. Eldridge was united a second time in marriage, June 13, 1876, with Ellen Cornelia Merriam, born April 18, 1844, in Poultney, Vt. She has borne him two children, William Franklin and Ernest Garfield, the former having been born Aug. 29, 1878 , and the latter Sept. 19, 1881 . The parents of Mrs. Eldridge were William P. and Armenia (Giddings) Merriam, natives of New York and Connecticut respectively. Her mother’s parents were Solomon and Martha (Paine) Giddings and her father followed the occupation of a farmer. The genealogy of the Giddings family existing in the Eastern States is traced back to England . Mrs. Eldridge was educated at the female seminary at Granville, N. Y., where she graduated with the highest honors. She then engaged in teaching which profession she followed in Ohio , Illinois and Wisconsin for ten years, after which she entered the Michigan University at Ann Arbor , where she finished her education. At the latter institution she was a kind of privileged character, and interested herself in religious work. She was looked upon as a mother by the young girls of that institution, and was greatly respected for her influence upon their morals and her kindness at that time is remembered even to the present. She is now the Superintendent of the infant department of that institution, into which she has gathered many little wanderers.

Mr. and Mrs. Eldridge are active members of the Congregational Church and Mrs. Eldridge is noted for the activity she displays in the Sabbath-school. Both have done a noble work among the neglected and poor as well as illiterate classes, during the last decade. During the sunset of their lives they look back upon the past and contemplate with pleasure the good they have done for others.

1885 Portrait & Biographical Album of Henry County, Illinois page 513

Transcribed by Jan Roggy

Illinois Ancestors