1925 Biography - William T. Eldridge

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 Streator, that state, and her mother being deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Eldridge have five children: Eugene William, Oliver, Margaret, Katherine and Hazel.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, page 198.