Horace Sunderlin Eldredge (1816-1888)
6 Feb. 1816–6 Sept. 1888. Constable, farmer, military officer, merchant, banker, business executive. Born in Brutus, Cayuga Co., New York. Son of Alanson Eldredge and Esther Sunderlin. Joined Baptist church, ca. 1832. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ca. spring 1836. Married Betsy Ann Chase, 20 July 1836, in Buffalo, Erie Co., New York. Moved to near Indianapolis, summer 1836; to Far West, Caldwell Co., Missouri, fall 1838; and to Nauvoo, Hancock Co., Illinois, fall 1840. Labored on Nauvoo temple. Elected Hancock Co. constable for Nauvoo precinct, ca. 1 Aug. 1843. Ordained a seventy, by 6 Feb. 1844. Appointed to serve mission to New York to campaign for Joseph Smith as candidate for U.S. president, 15 Apr. 1844. Moved to Winter Quarters, unorganized U.S. territory (later in Omaha, Douglas Co., Nebraska), 1846. Arrived in Salt Lake Valley, 22 Sept. 1848. Appointed marshal and tax assessor and collector for what became Utah Territory, 1848. Brigadier general of Utah militia. Appointed to preside over church conference in St. Louis and to act as church’s general immigration and purchasing agent, fall 1852 and Feb. 1857. Member of Utah territorial legislature, 1854–1855, 1861–1862. In 1858, traveled to several U.S. cities to purchase machinery and goods, which he sold with W. H. Hooper under firm Hooper, Eldredge & Co., beginning 1858, in Salt Lake City. Appointed to serve mission to New York to oversee church emigration and to purchase machinery and merchandise, spring 1862. Elected one of the directors of Zion’s Cooperative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI), Oct. 1868. Opened bank with W. H. Hooper and L. S. Hills under name Hooper, Eldredge & Co. (later reorganized as Bank of Deseret and Deseret National Bank), June 1869. Presided over European mission, June 1870–spring 1871. Acted as vice president of Deseret National Bank, 1872. Served as superintendent of ZCMI, 1 Nov. 1876–1 Feb. 1881; as vice president, Jan. 1886; and again as superintendent, 1886. Helped organize First National Bank of Ogden and served as its president. Died in Salt Lake City.
Retrieved with permission from The Joseph Smith Papers.