Horace Sunderlin Eldredge was one of the First Seven
Presidents of Seventies from 1854 to 1888. He was the son of Alanson Eldredge
and Esther Sunderlin, and was born Feb. 6, 1816, in Brutus, Cayuga county,
New York. When he was eight years old, his mother died, and his training
devolved upon his eldest sister and an aunt. The influences by which he
was surrounded during boyhood were those of refinement and piety, and we
have his own testimony to the effect that at a very early age his mind
was engrossed with reflections concerning a future state and the necessity
of preparing for it. When sixteen years old he united with the Baptist
church, but he was not able to accept certain doctrines of the Calvinistic
creed.
He remained a member of the Baptist church, however,
until the spring of 1836, when for the first time he heard the gospel of
Christ taught in its fulness, and he was soon afterwards baptized. During
the summer of 1836 he married Miss Sarah Gibbs. Later he would practice
plural marriage and father a total of twenty-eight children. After his
marriage he settled on a farm near Indianapolis, Indiana; but prompted
by the spirit of gathering, he sold his farm in the fall of 1838 and went
to Missouri.
He located at Far West, Mo., where he purchased a
large farm and a house and lot in the town, expecting to make the place
his permanent home. But he shared in the disappointment of thousands of
other Saints who went to Missouri with similar anticipations. He had occupied
his new home only a few weeks when the fires of mobocratic hatred towards
the Saints burst forth with such fury that they had to flee, and in December,
1838, Brother Eldredge left Far West and returned to Indiana. He always
retained the title to his real estate in Missouri, and never received a
dollar for it.
During the fall of 1840, he joined the fast gathering
community of Saints at Nauvoo, Ill., and was present at the breaking of
ground for the Nauvoo Temple, an event which occurred shortly after his
arrival. He resided in Nauvoo till the exodus therefrom in the spring of
1846, and shared in the expatriation of the inhabitants of that devoted
city and in their march through the wilderness to Winter Quarters. Here
he, with his family, spent two winters, and here he buried two children,
victims of the monstrous Missouri Mobs, starvation, and deprivation..
In the spring of 1848, he started for Great Salt
Lake valley, where he arrived the following September. Soon after his arrival
he was appointed marshal of the Territory, assessor and collector of taxes
and a brigadier-general of militia. At the general conference of the Church
held in October, 1852, he was appointed to preside over the St. Louis (Mo.)
conference and act as a general Church and emigration agent. The duties
thus placed upon him were of a very important and arduous character, but
he discharged them well.
The autumn of 1854 found him home again with his
family, when he was chosen and ordained one of the First Seven Presidents
of Seventies. Joseph Young officiated in the
ordination. In the following winter he served as a member of the Territorial
legislature. In the fall of 1856 he formed a partnership with Wm. H. Hooper
and engaged in mercantile business, opening with a $15,000 stock of goods
in Provo. In the spring of 1857 he was assigned to his former position
and duties at St. Louis, Mo. He was absent over a year, during which "the
move" had taken place.
About the time of his return to Utah the Saints began
to return to their homes; and after getting his family back to their home
in Salt Lake City, he again started east, in September, 1858. This time
he went to purchase merchandise and machinery. He was absent nearly a year,
and on his return the firm of Hooper & Eldredge opened out with a large
stock of goods in the store just north of the Deseret Bank corner, in Salt
Lake City. From this time on he was a leading figure in the mercantile
and financial circles of the Territory, and was rated as one of its ablest
business men.
But business pursuits by no means engrossed all of
his time or attention. In the spring of 1862, after having served another
term in the legislature, he was appointed Churh emigration agent at New
York, which appointment was repeated one year later. From 1864-69 inclusive
his time was mostly devoted to business affairs, and during that period
he helped to establish Z. C. M. I., being at the time of his death one
of the oldest directors of that institution.
At the April conference, 1870, he was called to preside
over the European mission. He was absent about fourteen months, during
a portion of which time his health was very poor, his lungs being badly
affected. After his return from that mission he made repeated journeys
to the East and the Pacific coast, generally on business. He served several
terms as superintendent of Z. C. M. I., which position he held at his death.
He also acted as vice-president and president of the institution. He was
one of the organizers of the Deseret National Bank and of the First National
Bank of Ogden, of both of which he was president at the time of his death.
The disease which terminated his life was a lung
trouble, from which he suffered a number of years. He died at his residence
in Salt Lake City Sept. 6, 1888. Horace S. Eldredge was a man of magnificent
physique. He was fully six feet in height, broadshouldered and compactly
built. He had a fine countenance, the forehead being broad and high and
the features of exquisite mould. His eye was clear and impressive, and
his whole appearance expressive. His voice was peculiar, being remarkably
resonant. When he made up his mind upon any matter, he could scarcely be
moved; and he generally took an unequivocal stand upon every point of importance
with which he had to deal, so that there was never any reason for doubt
as to where he stood. He had great native force, was strikingly straightforward
in his utterances and had the most unqualified contempt for every species
of trickery, to which he never resorted in his financial affairs.
