- FREDERICK STARR ELDRED, was born in Winfield, Herkimer Co.,
N.Y., on the 27th day of
- April, 1821. His parents, Zenas and Lucena (CARTER) ELDRED,
were natives of Litchfield County, Conn., and are of English
descent. The coat of arms of the ELDRED family, brought from
England, bearing date 1645, is in possession of the Hon. Edwin
ELDRED of Worcester, Mass., a copy of which is with our subject.
- The ancestors on the paternal side, Jehoshaphat ELDRED and
Thankful, his wife, settled in
- Falmouth, Mass., about 1700, and are buried in the old burying
ground at Falmouth, the mother in 1750, aged sixty-one years,
and the father in 1765, aged eighty-three years. They left four
sons - Jehoshaphat, Daniel, Judah and William. Jehoshaphat, Jr.
the great-grandfather of our subject, with his wife and perhaps
one or two children, left Falmouth and settled in Litchfield
County, Conn., about the time of the death of his mother, in
1750. They each lived to the good old age of eighty-five years
and were buried at Warren, Conn. On the headstone at the grave
of the father is the quotation, "The memory of the just
is blessed." Their children were Ward, Judah, Elisha, Samuel,
Jehoshaphat, Moses, Rufus, Betsey, Juanna and Ruth. We judge
much of the character of the parents by the names given their
children.
- The children of Judah and Sarah (FINNEY) ELDRED (the latter
an aunt of President FINNEY
- of Oberlin College and now deceased), were two sons - Zenas
and Swift. Judah ELDRED and his wife, the paternal grandparents
of our subject, lived long and useful lives in their native place.
The father was an officer in the Revolutionary War and participated
in the battle of Saratoga, where occurred the capture of Burgoyne,
and was at the battle of Long Island as well as in the Valley
of the Mohawk. He participated in several hard-fought battles,
and afterward drew a pension from the Government until his death,
which occurred in 1843 at the age of ninety years.
- The records of Hartford, Conn., establish the fact that Judah
ELDRED was elected and served six
- years as a member of the State Legislature, and he was otherwise
prominent in the affairs of his county and State. The remains
of himself and his estimable wife were laid side by side in the
cemetery at Cedarville, Herkimer County, by their son Zenas,
the father of our subject. The children of the latter and his
wife, in her girlhood Lucina CARTER, who grew to manhood and
womanhood were Carter, Henry, Zenas, Nelson, Frederick and Lucina.
The eldest and the youngest have joined the great majority on
the other shore. The four remaining brothers have homes as follows:
The Rev. H. B. at Cleveland, Ohio; Zenas, at Bridgewater, N.Y.;
Nelson at Gilman, Ill., and F. S., at Janesville, Wis.
- Mrs. Lucina (CARTER) ELDRED was the only daughter of Adonijah
CARTER, of Litchfield,
- Conn., and a direct descendant of Capt. Thomas MUNSON, who
landed on our shores form England in August, 1637, and settled
at New Haven, Conn. (See MUNSON Family Reunion, published at
New Haven in 1887.) She died at the age of forty-four years.
Her husband, Zenas ELDRED, was the eldest son of Judah ELDRED,
and when a young man settled in Winfield, Herkimer Co., N.Y.,
in 1808. He became a prosperous farmer and was much respected
and honored, holding the office of Justice of the Peace and Supervisor
of his township for a number of years. Although he was a Whig,
politically, his town and county were strongly Democratic. He
was an officer and one of the most liberal supporters of the
Congregational Church of his town. The sermon preached at his
funeral, Feb. 22, 1863, by the Rev. W. J. KNOX, and afterward
published, was from the text "A good name is rather to be
chosen than great riches." In it was related many interesting
facts in regard to his integrity, benevolence, industry and Christian
character during the fifty-five years of his life in his adopted
town. He was buried with others of his family at North Winfield,
and in later years a granite monument was erected by his four
surviving sons.
- Our subject was reared to habits of industry, and the morality
of home life on the farm, with such teachings as we might naturally
expect from Puritan ancestors. His education was obtained in
the public schools of his native county, and at Hamilton Academy
in Madison County, N.Y., the latter a school of considerable
note. He continued at home with his father, employed at farm
labor until twenty-one years of age. Then, in 1842, he came to
Johnstown, Rock Island Co. [Rock Co.], Wis., and with $200 given
him by his father, entered a quarter section of Government land,
and at the same time preempted another quarter-section adjoining
upon which he immediately commenced the establishment of a home.
- Retiring to his native town the following year, Zenas ELDRED
was married, on the 18th day of
- June, to Miss Sarah, a daughter of Richard WETMORE, of Winfield,
and immediately afterward he returned and with his young wife
took possession of his new home. He there continued to reside
engaged in stock-raising and dairying until the spring of 1855,
then selling the farm he removed to Janesville, Wis., which was
then little more than a thriving village, although it had been
incorporated as a city nearly two years. While at Johnstown Mr.
ELDRED held the office of Justice of the Peace, and was one of
the organizers and officers of the First Congregational Church
and one of its chief supporters.
- At Janesville Mr. ELDRED engaged in the lumber business two
years, and after that for more than
- twenty years was engaged in the wholesale and retail grocery
trade. In the fall of 1874 he was one of a few enterprising business
men who organized the Janesville Cotton Manufacturing Company,
of which he was the first cash subscriber to its stock, and served
continuously as Director and Treasurer of this and its successor,
the Janesville Cotton Mills, to this date, June, 1889. In these
corporations he has done much arduous and responsible work, being
on the building committee as well as Treasurer, and was twice
sent to the Eastern States by the Board of Directors to purchase
machinery, the cost of which was over $300,000, many times and
almost continuously becoming individually responsible for the
corporation debts, and a part of the time with a large prospect
of losing the hard earnings of almost a lifetime.
- Mr. ELDRED thinks that in some respects the building of these
mills was the best work of his life;
- not for the stockholders, for they have been losers, many
of them largely, but for the fact of its paying to its employes
more than $100,000 a year for the past fourteen years, which
has enabled many of them to build for themselves comfortable
homes. Others through its help have set themselves up in business,
in which they are making more than a comfortable living. In this
respect it has been the means of more good than many of our benevolent
societies.
- Mr. and Mrs. ELDRED have one adopted daughter who is now
the wife of D. F. SAYRE, Jr., a
- resident and prosperous farmer of Fulton, Rock Co., Wis.
Since his residence in Janesville Mr. ELDRED has been entrusted
with the settlement of ten or twelve estates, most of them small
but a few of them quite large, and has accepted nothing for his
services. In 1865-66 he served as Alderman for the Fourth Ward,
and was chairman of the Finance Committee of the City Council.
In 1870 he was elected Supervisor for two years, representing
the city of Janesville, under the law passed by the Legislature
in 1861, making one Supervisor from each assembly District. In
politics he has always been a supporter of the Republican party.
The cause of temperance has ever enlisted his earnest sympathies
and ardent support, and he is a consistent member of the temperance
society known as the Temple of Honor and he has aided materially
the great cause. He was one of the organizers, and originally
a stock-holder of the Central Wisconsin Bank, and also one of
the incorporators of its successor, the First National Bank of
Janesville, of which he was and is the first Vice-President.
- In 1886 Mr. ELDRED was called to mourn the loss of his wife,
who died on the 27th of January.
- He was again married, the 4th of September, 1888, to Mrs.
Fanny E. HOYT, of Grand Rapids, Mich. This lady was the widow
of Benjamin Franklin HOYT, one of the many who gave their lives
for their country in the war of the rebellion. Mr. and Mrs. ELDRED
are honored members of the First Congregational Church at Janesville,
and Mr. ELDRED was the largest contributor in the building of
the church edifice of that society, which was completed in 1868
at a cost approaching $45,000. He was one of the Board of Trustees
at that time, and was chairman of the building committee and
Treasurer of the society for a number of years following. He
has won the reputation of being a progressive, yet conservative
business man, exacting in his methods and always reliable. He
stands deservedly high in the estimation of his townsmen for
the many sterling qualities and kindly genial manner.
-
- Taken from "The Portrait and Biographical Album of
Rock County, Wis." (c)1889, pp. 646-648.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
|