Converse-Albany County WY Archives Biographies.....Elder, Bert ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wy/wyfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 June 19, 2009, 1:31 am Author: Bowen & Co. (1903) BERT ELDER. One of the active, vigorous and successful ranchmen and live stockgrowers of Converse county, Wyoming, Bert Elder, is the proprietor of a fine ranch situated on the La Prele Creek. nine miles west of the thriving city of Douglas, his postoffice address. Mr. Elder was born in Bedford county, Pa., on August 27, 1858. a grandson of Robert Elder and the son of J. S. and Sarah (Rhodes) Elder, both being representatives of families resident in Pennsylvania from the days of William Penn, and taking part in the wars and Indian troubles in the Revolutionary and later periods, the original Elders being of mingled Dutch and Welch lineage, while the Rhodes were of German extraction. An aunt of his mother was captured by the Indians in her girlhood and carried to Canada, a number of years passing before her release and return could be accomplished. Robert Elder was a millwright, who erected many solid mills in Pennsylvania before his death. J. S. Elder remained in his native state until 1868, marrying there and raising a family of seven sons and two daughters, of whom Bert was the fourth in order of birth. The family home was transferred to the near neighborhood of Harrisonville, Mo., in 1868, the father there conducting agricultural operations and stockraising until his death in 1901, at the age of seventy-four years. Bert Elder remained with his parents and became well versed in farming operations, receiving a good common school education in Pennsylvania and Missouri, in 1879 joining the stampede of goldseekers to Leadville, Colo., and engaging in mining in that state until 1882, thence going to Carbonette, near Glenwood Springs, in the same year, making his residence at Tie Siding, Wyo., where he was for three years engaged in lumbering operations, thence, in May, 1886, locating on his present homestead ranch, where he is successfully engaged in stockraising, being prosperous in his undertakings as the result of his diligent activity. His ranch is finely located, much of his land being under irrigation, and he has greatly improved it by the erection of a commodious residence of modern style, comfortable barns, outbuildings and other necessary accessories to the proper carrying on of his special branch of husbandry. Mr. Elder formed a matrimonial alliance on December 23, 1885, with Miss Florence Sherwin, a native of Illinois, and a daughter of Marshal and Mary B. Sherwin, natives of Illinois. The father moved his family from Illinois to Kansas, and there his death occurred, the mother and children later coming to Wyoming in the early eighties. Their children are Sarah, Rawlin and Mary. His wife and daughter, Mary, were drowned in the La Prele Creek in 1894 and he later married with Miss Zenana Miller of Carthage. Mo., on February, 1896. Mr. Elder is interested in the public welfare as a member of the Democratic political party, and fraternally he belongs to the I. O. O. F. order at Douglas. He has been the artificer of his own fortune. Indefatigable in his efforts and guided by correct principles, he has secured a tangible reward in the acquisition of a handsome property and in the respect and confidence of all who know him. Additional Comments: Extracted from: PROGRESSIVE MEN OF THE STATE OF WYOMING ILLUSTRATED A people who take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors, will never achieve anything worthy to he remembered with pride by remote generations.—.MACAULAY. CHICAGO, ILL. A. W. BOWEN & CO. PUBLISHERS AND ENGRAVERS 1903 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wy/converse/bios/elder34nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/wyfiles/ File size: 4.1 Kb