My Genealogy Hound

THOMAS W. ELDRED, the subject of this biographical memoir, is one of the most prosperous farmers and perhaps the largest stock raiser in Grant township, Buffalo county, Nebr. He was born at North Kingston, R. I., December 1, 1837, comes from a long line of New England ancestry, and has the pluck and energy which is characteristic of that people.

His father, James Eldred, a contractor and mason by trade, was a native of Rhode Island, born June 29, 1809. There were ten children in the family — seven boys and three girls — of whom Thomas is the third. Having first obtained a somewhat liberal education in the common schools, Thomas W. Eldred for two years attended a seminary at East Greenwich, R. I., and later graduated from Eastman’s Commercial College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He then engaged in the grocery business at Providence, R. I., for two years. Disposing of his business, he began the manufacture of spinning rings for cotton-mills, which he continued with considerable success for two years, when he sold his establishment and engaged in buying, sorting and selling cotton waste. At this business he continued for a period of eight years, accumulating, in the meantime, quite a fortune. During a big real estate boom in Providence, R. I., and while he was yet engaged in buying, sorting and selling cotton waste, he made heavy investments in realty. Contrary to his expectations, the boom collapsed, and realty depreciated to such an extent that he lost every dollar he possessed. This circumstance, instead of robbing him of his ambition, only served to nerve him for the conflict of life; and instead of sinking into a state of lethargy, as many an individual under similar circumstances would have done, he set to work once more with an invincible determination to retrieve his lost fortune.

To Mr. Eldred’s reverse in fortune is due the fact of his location in the West. After earning a considerable sum of money, he made a trip to the Red River country, Dakota, with a view of locating there; but, not liking its general appearance, he came south into Nebraska and decided to locate in Buffalo county. He came to this country July 9, 1879, and pre-empted the northeast quarter of section 24, Grant township; moved his family here February 14, 1880, and here he still resides. He first built himself a sod house, which he occupied for four years. The country was new at the time of his coming and very sparsely settled, there being but one frame house for seven miles in the direction of Kearney; the balance were sods and dugouts. In 1880 he broke and put out thirty-five acres of wheat, from which he harvested and thrashed only seventy-three bushels. Corn, oats and potatoes were also a failure, there having been no rain to speak of from September 1, 1879, to June 8, 1880. From that time to the present he has had abundant crops and has been prosperous. The old sod house has been replaced by a large and commodious frame, and a medium-sized barn, together with other out-buildings, attest the fact of his prosperity. Of late years he has engaged on a large scale in the raising of fine Poland-China stock hogs, which he sells and ships by express to all parts of Nebraska. He now has some two hundred head of these stock hogs on his farm.

Mr. Eldred was married January 20, 1864, to Carrie Pitcher, daughter of John and Isabella (Greene) Pitcher, both natives of the state of Rhode Island; the former was born September 14, 1819, and the latter May 11, 1820. To them were born five children, Carrie being the oldest.

The union of Mr. and Mrs. Eldred has been blessed with six children — Mamie, John, Lillie Estelle, Willie and Carrie Belle, and one that died in infancy, not named.

Politically, Mr. Eldred is a republican and a firm believer in the party’s principles.