Aldridge, Hardin L. (1846-1922)

ALDRIDGE

Posted By: Volunteer (email)
Date: 3/10/2007 at 20:45:27

Hardin L. Aldridge
Nov 23, 1846 - Mar 6, 1922

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.222, Rockford Twp.)
H. L. Aldridge, farming, P. O. Loveland, was born in Indiana in 1846, came to Pottawattmie County in 1854, and, with the exception of a few years he lived across the line in Harrison County, this township has been his home ever since. His business has always been that of farming and stock-dealing. He received his education in this county, but, for several years after coming here, there was no school that he could attend. his father, John S. Aldridge, died while he was very young. The mother is still living; she is a native of Indiana, and is now Mrs. Josiah Skelton, one of the old settlers of Pottawattamie County. Mr. Aldridge was married in this county, in 1867, to Miss M. E. Selvy. He was first farming in the Missouri River bottom, where he still has 156 acres of land, and also has a farm at his home plce of 44 acres. This he bought more for a fruit farm, on which he now has quite a good many apple and other fruit trees. he has been engaged in buying and selling cattle, and now has about one hundred head of cattle, besides hogs and other stock. He is Democratic in politics and is a member of the Masonic fraternity. He has held different township offices, and is now one of the Trustees. His first farm was raw prairie when he bought it, paying from $10 to $20 per acre. It is now well improved. His present home place cost $25 per acre. Mr. Aldridge started out for himself with but little, and his present success he has gained by his own energy and perseverance. He is also in the bee business, having a number of stands, which are paying well. He also has an orchard of about five hundred trees, which is doing finely.

[From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, p.267]
H. L. ALDRIDGE, a prominent farmer of Rockford Township, was born in Putnam County, Indiana, November 23, 1846, a son of John Sanford and America (Jones) Aldridge, also natives of Indiana and of English and Welsh ancestry. The first immigration to this country was in an early day, locating first in North Carolina and then in Indiana; were farmers. In the family of the father of John S. Aldridge were six children: Ruth, John, Elizabeth, Mary Ann, Betty and Josiah. John S., the second child, was born in North Carolina, June 15, 1819, but when young his father died. In the winter of 1846 he moved to Illinois, taking with him his mother, who afterward died, in 1880, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years. Her husband, John S. Aldridge, had died March 16, 1849, leaving two children: H. L., our subject, and Mary E., now the wife of George Frazier. Mrs. John S. Aldridge, in 1853, after her husband's death, married Josiah Skelton, a native of Tennessee. In 1854 they came to Pottawattamie County, located upon Honey Creek, where they lived until his death in 1885, and are the parents of eleven children: John, Lewis, Josiah, Jane, Albert, Alice, Allen, Margaret, Jonas and Eddie, the two last deceased.
Mr. Aldridge, our present subject, was brought up by his mother to farm life. A little after he was twenty years of age, April 14, 1867, he married Margaret E. Selvy, a daughter of William and Mary (Foster) Selvy, natives of Tennessee and of Irish and German extraction. Her parents came to Missouri, and after some years moved to this county (Pottawattamie), and finally to Harrison County, this State, where the father died, April 10, 1885, leaving eleven children: Frank M., George W., Martha, Margaret E., Eliza Ann, Susan, Mary, Amanda, William, James Edwin, and one who died in infancy. Margaret, the fourth child, was born in Missouri, July 6, 1850, brought up as a farmer's daughter, and was married at the age of seventeen years. After his marriage, Mr. Aldridge purchased forty acres of rough, wild land in the Missouri River bottom, in Harrison County, erected a log house 14xl6 feet in dimensions, and began to make the improvements essential to a complete home; but at the end of eight years, in 1875, he sold and came down to Pottawattamie County and bought 150 acres of wild land, excepting that there was a small farm house upon it; remained there eight years also, and then purchased forty-four acres of land on section 1, Rockford Township, where he now resides. At that time some improvements had been made here, but they had greatly deteriorated. He went to work and has made out of the place a fine home. He has now a good frame house, two stories high, 24 x 38 feet in ground area, including porches, verandas, etc., a good orchard containing both large and small fruits; indeed it is one of the finest orchards in the county. He has dealt also in livestock to a considerable extent, taking special interest in horses and in Poland-China hogs. He has added to his first purchase of land until he now has 290 acres, all but ten of which is in fine cultivation, 100 acres being in pasture. He has also a quantity of bees, doing well. He first started out in life here with almost nothing, but his ambition and energy has won for him success. Both his mother and his wife's mother are living with him, at an advanced age. Willis A. Selvy, a nephew of theirs, was born August 3, 1868, and left an orphan when young, was brought up by Mr. Aldridge and now resides upon an eighty-acre farm in Harrison County. Also a niece, Annie Jones, born August 26, 1872, was reared by him.
Mr. Aldridge is a reliable gentleman, independent on local issues. He has been Township Trustee twelve years, and is now Road Supervisor. He is an honored member of Missouri Valley Lodge, No. 232, F. & A. M.; also a member of the Mutual Protective Association, of St. John, of which he has been treasurer ever since its organization.