East Baton Rouge County Louisiana Archives Biographies.....Eldridge, William March 8, 1882 - 

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Mike Miller http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00004.html#0000912 October 7, 2006, 11:34 am

Author: Henry E Chambers

William Thomas Eldridge, the efficient track supervisor of the Yazoo & 
Mississippi Valley Railroad Company, claims the staunch old Hoosier State as 
the place of his nativity, his birth having occurred at Francesville, Pulaski 
County, Indiana, March 8, 1882, the family of which he is a representative 
having been founded in that state in the pioneer period of its history.

Peter Eldridge, father of the subject of this review, was born in Indiana on 
the 31st of January, 1853, and was there reared and educated.  In Indiana he 
became a successful contractor in the drilling of wells, but since 1899 he has 
been in the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad Company and a resident of 
Neoga, Illinois.  He is a democrat, and on the ticket of his party was elected 
assessor of Shelby County, Illinois, an office which he retained four years.  
He is a communicant of the Catholic Church, as is also his wife, and is 
affiliated with the Knights of Columbus.  Mrs. Eldridge, whose maiden name was 
Christina Fitzpatrick, was born in Indiana in the year 1862.  Of the children,  
William T., of this sketch, is the first born;  George E., who was for ten 
years a locomotive engineer on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad, is now 
engaged in the transfer and coal business in the City of Baton Rouge;  Lillian 
is the widow of Michael Donovan, who was a supervisor for the Illinois Central 
Railroad at the time of his death, and his widow now resides at Champaign, 
Illinois;  Leo Elmer resides at Baton Rouge and is a locomotive engineer in the 
service of the Standard Oil Company of Louisiana;  Rose is the wife of Blaine 
W. Gray, a boilermaker in the employ of the Standard Oil Company of Louisiana, 
and they maintain their home at Baton Rouge;  Florence is the wife of Rollin 
Frost, who is a freight train conductor on the Illinois Central Railroad, and 
they reside at Champaign, Illinois;  Peter is a structural iron worker and now 
resides at Destrehan, Louisiana; and  Miss Alice remains at the parental home.

The public schools of Francesville, Indiana, and Neoga, Illinois, afforded 
William T. Eldridge his youthful education, and at the age of seventeen years 
he became a section workman on the Illinois Central Railroad.  He was thus 
engaged four years, and during the following year he served as section foreman 
for the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, with headquarters at Danville, 
Illinois.  He then  entered the service of the Illinois Central Railroad and, 
with headquarters at Kinmundy, Illinois, he did effective work as section 
foreman and extra-gang foreman until December 4, 1910, when he came to Baton 
Rouge, Louisiana, and assumed charge of a construction train on the Yazoo & 
Mississippi Valley Railroad.  One year hater he was advanced to the position of 
foreman of the Baton Rouge yard of this road, and the next year recorded his 
promotion to the position of supervisor of tracks, the office of which he has 
since continued the incumbent.  His progress in connection with railway 
operations has been gained through efficient and loyal service, and he now 
holds a position of important and responsible order.  His office headquarters 
are in the Y. & M. V. Railroad passenger station at Baton Rouge.

Mr. Eldridge is a democrat by heritage and conviction. He and his wife are 
communicants of St Agnes Catholic Church in their home city, and he is 
affiliated with Baton Rouge Council No. .969, Knights of Columbus.  Mr. 
Eldridge has made investment in a tract of thirty acres of valuable land 
adjoining Baton Rouge on the south, and here is maintained the attractive 
family home.

At Effingham, Illinois, on the 11th of October, 1903, was solemnized the 
marriage of Mr. Eldridge and Miss Margaret Nelson, her father, William T. 
Nelson, being a substantial farmer near Strčator, that state, and her mother 
being deceased.  Mr. and Mrs. Eldridge have five children:  Eugene William,  
Oliver,  Margaret,  Katherine and  Hazel.

Additional Comments:
A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 198, by Henry E. Chambers.  Published by 
The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925. 

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