Alanson Eldredge

Alanson Eldredge was born in Mansfield, Connecticut on November 16, 1780, the son of Micah Eldredge and Ann Hanks who was the daughter of John Hanks and Tabitha Hall. Micah likely died between 1790-1800. Many say he died in 1795 but this in not confirmed. His wife Ann died in 1797. It’s not known where they were living at the time of their death. Likely it was either Mansfield or Willington, CT.

After the death of their parents, it’s likely the children, including Alanson, lived with relatives. Alanson married Esther Sunderlin who was born on January 4, 1787 in Middletown, Vermont. Esther was the daughter of John Sunderlin and Esther Clark who lived in Middletown, Vermont until their deaths. Alanson and Esther were married in Middletown, Vermont on September 8, 1803. Together they had ten children from 1804 to 1823, four of whom died in infancy.

In 1810 Alanson and Esther lived in Middletown, Vermont. Around 1817 they moved to Brutus, Cayuga, New York along with several of Alanson’s siblings (Hezekiah, Deidamia, and Ira are found on the 1820 census) and along with several of Esther’s siblings (Daniel, Belinda, Laura and Horace). It’s likely Alanson’s younger brother Michael or Micah was there as well living with Alanson or another brother, because he is found later on the 1850 census in Brutus. Deidamia, who married Elias Cady, moved there around the same time from Windsor, MA, and stayed until her death in 1850. Deidamia, the oldest child of Micah and Ann, married Elias in 1799, just a few years after Ann’s death.

A month after Alanson and Esther’s youngest child was born, whom they named Esther, Esther Sunderlin Eldredge passed away on September 7, 1823. At the time of her death, the family was living in Brutus, Cayuga County, New York where Alanson carried on the business of making leather and manufacturing shoes. Esther and their two children John and Esther are buried next to each other in the Old Sennett Cemetery in Cayuga County, New York.

In 1832 Alanson took his children and moved to Indiana where his son Horace was introduced to the gospel and baptized in 1836. Horace moved to Kirtland, Ohio the same year and then on to Missouri until 1838 when he moved back to Indiana after the persecutions drove the Saints out. According to the Nathan Tanner journal, Alanson and his son John visited Kirtland in the fall of 1836 where he was baptized a member of the church. The church records show Alanson was baptized on May 23, 1837. Sometime after his conversion, Alanson moved to Caldwell County, Missouri where he owned seventy acres of land.

In 1840 Alanson moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. After the death of the prophet Joseph Smith and the expulsion of the Saints from Nauvoo, a High Council was organized. Alanson was named on the council to locate Winter Quarters. After helping to scout out an area for the Saints, Alanson moved to Winter Quarters, Nebraska in 1846 where he stayed only a year. He left for Salt Lake with the Daniel Spencer Company in 1847. He traveled in his son Ira’s company of fifty, passing Brigham Young and other members of the company on their return to Winter Quarters. Alanson’s son, John Sunderlin, was among this first group to make it to the Salt Lake Valley, and when passing by his family joined with them in order to help them finish their trek to the Valley. John settled the area of American Fork.

Alanson was known to many as ‘Old Father Eldredge’, and to his grandchildren as ‘Gummy’. When making preparations for the move west, people told Alanson he was too old to make the trek at the age of sixty-five. However, Alanson was determined to go with his children, so in order to be prepared for the worst he built himself a casket to be buried in. He loaded it into the wagon with his burial clothes in one end, a sack of wheat in the middle, and his work clothes in the other end and had it carried all the way from Nauvoo to Salt Lake. Once in Salt Lake he kept his coffin in his room. Alanson rode his horse on the journey across the plains, often times giving young children a ride. He left with his son Ira on June 17, 1847 from Elkhorn River and arrived in Salt Lake September 19, 1847. Alanson and his son Ira were the first settlers to open a tannery in the Salt Lake Valley. Together they settled in the area known as Sugar House.

Alanson made several trips back across the mountains to guide other groups that followed. On March 8, 1851 Alanson received his endowments. At the age of seventy-two he married for the second time, almost thirty years after Esther died. He married Mary Corbin on June 13, 1852 at the home of his son Ira. Two years later he married Judith Hooper on August 29, 1854. Alanson never used the coffin that he hauled across the plains as he grew too fat for it, and so one of his friends was buried in it. Alanson built another one for himself and was buried in it in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. He passed away December 14, 1857 at the age of seventy-seven.⁴

Sources

1 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1848. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/5333/records/26674?gsfn=alanson&gsln=eldredge&ml_rpos=1

2 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Utah Pioneer Biographies. 35:54-59. Page 133.

3 LDS Member Name Index, 1830-45. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/4165/records/8275?gsfn=alanson&gsln=eldredge&ml_rpos=2

4 History of Alanson Eldredge & Esther Sunderlin https://www.familysearch.org/memories/memory/5101859?cid=mem_copy