WILLIAM CARSON ELDER In the service of the Burlington Railway as its agent at Albany since January 12, 1886, Mr. ELDER has had personal supervision of nearly all the merchandise shipped in and out of that thriving Northwest Missouri community during the past thirty years. For a number of years he performed his official duties almost unaided and with his own hands handled most of the freight that came in or went out over that road. While his relations with the community have thus been of an interesting and important nature, he has also been a constructive business man, and it interested in several of the local enterprises that contitute the business activities of Albany.

William Carson ELDER was born in Warren County, Illinois, December 18, 1860. His boyhood was passed in the manner of boys at that time, with school attendance, recreation in baseball and other outdoor games, and a practical experience as clerk in his father's store at Gerlaw. In 1879 he began his career as railroader with the Burlington Company as an extra man on the St. Louis division of the road. At Gerlaw he acquired the art of telegraphy, and his first regular station was at Alsey, Illinois. He was transferred to Mount Ayr, Iowa, on a letter from W. C. BROWN, now president of the New York Central Lines. From there he was transferred to Hummeston (sic) as agent, subsequently in the same capacity to Ridgeway, Missouri, and in 1886 to Albany. This station had had several agents before Mr. ELDER came, but he now has one of the langest continuous records in one place with this division of the Burlington system.

On coming to Albany Mr. ELDER worked in a small office about 8 by 10 feet, and only at times was given a helper. Still though the business of the station grew with the general development of the town and surrounding district, the adequacy of the station and its facilities wasnot materially improved until 1991, when two new rooms were built. Albany at that time was a division point. During the early years traffic was light and the train often came in with only an engine and two or three merchandise cars, and very frequently Mr. ELDER did all the work of handling the freight, at the same time looking after the duties of the telegraph room and the clerical matters. Since then his reponsibilities have increased and he now has five aids on the payroll and all of them are kept busy.

Mr. ELDER has the distinction of having shipped the first carload of coal into Albany for the retail trade in 1887. He has been in the coal business ever since, and subsequently added grain. Five years ago he began putting up natural ice, and is now at the head of the Artesian Ice Company, while his gran and coal business is conducted under the name ELDER Grain and Coal Company. His company and the Albany Milling Company ship all the grain marketed at this point.

While these duties and activities have made him a useful factor in the community, Mr. ELDER has also been a leader in local affairs. When the akdermanie body was doubled he was elected an alderman and served two terms. During that time the electric light committee had him as chairman four years, and many important extensions to the plant were made. While a citizen who endeavered to do his full share in community improvements, Mr. ELDER is not a politician, and confines his interest along that line to voting with the republican party.

Mr. ELDER is a member of the Methodist Church and of the Order of Railway Telegraphers. At Albany on April 25, 1888, he married Miss Lola C. TWIST. Her father, Frank TWIST, was a Union soldier, a carpenter by trade, and came to Missouri from Ohio, though born in New York State. Mr. and Mrs. ELDER had the following children: Frank Cleo, who died at the age of three years, Frederick Alonzo, who married Bernice E. JONES and has a son Donald Franklin, and a daughter, Anna Kathlyn; Harry T., of Seattle, Washington; Morris D., his father's assistant in the railroad office; Paul Shamblin; Clarice May; Margaret Frances; and Alice Kathryn.

Mr. ELDER has an interesting ancestry. His paternal grandfather, David ELDER, who died at Mount Ayr, Iowa, at the age of seventy-two, was a native of Ohio, and spent all his active career as a farm. He was a member of the United Presbyterian Church, and of Scotch stock, his father having been born in Scotland. David ELDER married Isabel WRAY. Their children were: John; William; Clark; A. Alonzo; James, who was killed in the battle of Stone River during the Civil war; Rebecca, who married William CAMPBELL, of Kenton, Ohio; and Margaret, who married R. J. [Robert Jackson] LAWHEAD of Mount Ayr, Iowa.

The maternal grandfather of Mr. ELDER was John HOGUE, a son of James HOGUE. James HOGUE was born in Ireland in 1754, came to America at the age of fifteen, and a year later found work at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. From that community a few years later he enlisted for service during the Amercan Revolution in Captain HENRICK's rifle Company, and was assigned to the Quebec expeditin under General Benedict ARNOLD, made the arduous campaign to the St. Lawrence, participated in the battle and the storming of the heights, and was taken a prisoner after General MONTGOMERY was killed. The British threatened to send all the English, Irish and Scotch back to England to be hanged as traitors unless they enlisted and fought against the Americans. Before the prisoners were sent off James HOGUE and Thomas WALKER escaped, were recaptured, and again escaped and while living among the French the British authorities again apprehended him, and tried him by court martial and sent him to England. While being taken to prison in England. While being taken to prison in England he got loose from his captors, hid for a time in a cellar, and then traveled overland towards London. While on the way he met the king's brother, the Duke of Gloucester, who asked him and his companions what ship they belonged to. They explained to the duke that they had permission to go by land to London. In London they were once more captured, made their escape and James HOGUE was finally put aboard a British ship bound for Halifax, subsequently sent to Charleston, South Carolina, then back to Halifax, and there was put on board an English privateer which fell in with an American vessel and the engagement of the British ship was captured. Mr. HOGUE quickly made friends with the captain of the American ship, finally reached Baltimore, and was assigned to service on the American frigate "Trumball." After about five and a half years of Service in the many vicissitudes between the English and Americans, he reached Philadelphia, and was granted as pay for his work in the patriot cause a ticket for forty shillings. In 1784 James HOGUE moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky and in 1788 to Butler County, Ohio, which was his home until 1826. One of his children was John HOGUE, maternal grandfather of William C. ELDER.

Mr. ELDER's father was A. Alonzo ELDER, who died in Albany, Missouri, December 31, 1895, at the age of fifty-seven. He had come to Albany a few years previously, and was associated with his son in the coal and grain business. He was born in Canton, Ohio, and in 1838, came to Illinois in childhood, took up a career as a farmer, and in that state married Sarah HOGUE, daughter of John and granddaughter of James HOGUE. She died in Tarkio, Missouri. The children of A. ALonzo ELDER and wife were: William C.; Margaret L., wife of Clark McCONNELL of Fairfax, Missouri; Anna Lee, wife of William H. KENDALL of Tarkio, Missouri.

NOTE: William Carson ELDER's father Abraham Alonzo ELDER was born in Ohio on June 27, 1838, and died in Albany, Missouri, on December 31, 1895. William's mother Sarah Ellen (HOGUE) ELDER died June 15, 1910, Albany, Missouri.

SOURCES:
WILLIAMS, Walter, editor. A History of Northwest Missouri, Pp. 1457-59. Volume III. Lewis Publ. Co. Chicago. 1915.

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