Biographical Sketch of Judge Eldridge Burden, Lafayette County, Missouri

>From "History of Lafayette County, Mo., carefully written and compiled
from the most authentic official and private sources" St. Louis, Mo.
Historical Company, 1881.
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Judge Eldridge Burden was born in Nicholas county, Ky., December 27, 
1802, being the youngest child of James and Mary (Brain) Burden, of
Virginia.  His father was a soldier of the revolution and served, in
company with his brother, Joel Burden, under Gen. Washington.  After
the war Joel Burden settled at Philadelphia, where his descendants now
reside.  The parents of Eldridge settled in Nicholas county, Ky., where
they died, leaving him, at the age of seven, a penniless orphan.  Gov.
Thomas Metcalf, of Kentucky, assumed his guardianship, and he was 
adopted as a member of the governor's family, receiving from the teach-
ing and example of his noble benefactor those principles of probity and
ambition for usefulness, which distinguished his after life.  He quali-
fied himself to commence the study of law by laboring in his youth for
the means with which to defray his expenses at school.  He was educated
at Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky., where he graduated with
honors in the year 1833, and the same year removed to Lexington, Mo.,
where he has since resided, in active practice of the law, his chosen
profession.  He was married on the 26th day of October, 1837, to Miss
Patsey Triplett Waddell, daughter of John T. Waddell, one of the 
founders of Lexington, Mo.  Mr. Burden was an old line Whig, and found,
when he settled in Lexington, only fifty members of his party to oppose
an overwhelming Democratic majority in Lafayette county.  In 1838 he 
entered the political arena as champion of the Whig cause in his section
and in a few years enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing his party largely
in the ascendancy.  During the war, and sine, he has affiliated with the
Democratic party.  He served eight years in the Missouri Legislature, 
from the session of 1842 at intervals until 1860, during which time he
was thrice elected president of the State Bank at Lexington, on joint
ballot of that Democratic body, over prominent candidates of the domi-
nant party.  For twelve years he was judge of the Probate Court of his
county, a court at that time of extensive jurisdiction, and served with
marked ability, having but one appeal from his decisions.  During the
late war an earnest unionist, he declined the tendered appointment as
judge of the sixth judicial circuit, made by Gov. Gamble, because at the
time he was under parole of honor from the confederate government.  He 
was one of the originators and champions of the bill abolishing imprison-
ment for debt, and the success of that measure in Missouri was mainly
attributed to his able efforts in its advocacy.  In the halls of legisla-
tion and in the Federal and State courts, he was the compeer of Doniphan,
Ryland, King, Rollins, Leonard, and other emiment men of the state.  He 
is a Mason, and a member of the Christian church.  He was vice-president
of the first horticultural society of Missouri and the first mayor of
Lexington, and has served in many official capacities of a public nature;
in fact, since his location in Lafayette his history may be said to be
that of the county, for he has been identified with every event of a
political and municipal character.  Judge Burden, although past the 
meridian of life, is possessed of a vigorous constitution and great
physical strength, remarkably well preserved by his temperate life and
moral habits, eschewing the use of tobacco and ardent spirits.  His 
judicial qualifications are of the first order, enabling him with compar-
ative ease to follow the thread of law through all the subtleties of
complicated legal questions.  His life presents an example of more 
frequent occurance in our own ountry than any other, where men without
the extraneous influences of wealth and high connections, by their
unaided efforts raise themselves to the highest positions of honor, and
acquire the esteem and confidence of their countrymen in consideration 
alone of their own intrinsic merits.  In all walks of public life Judge
Burden served his country with zealous fidelity, and expects to pass his
remaining days with those among whom he has grown gray in honorable
usefulness.

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