to the position of recorder and treasurer, the two offices being combined at that time. He was a supporter of the democratic party and upon its ticket he was chosen to office. About 1863 he removed to his farm which he had secured through his father's land warrant and which was located a mile south of the courthouse. The tract comprised one hundred and sixty acres, to the development and cultivation of which he devoted his energies for nine years, working a marked transformation in its appearance. By reason of the improvements he placed upon it he sold to good advantage and then purchased a lumberyard in Nevada, which he conducted for twenty-six years. Throughout that period he ranked as one of the leading business men of the city, his progressive spirit and his enterprise enabling him to build up a business of satisfactory proportions that returned to him gratifying annual income and eventually enabled him to live retired. After conducting his lumberyard for more than a quarter of a century he sold out and put aside all business cares save the supervision of his investments. He was, considered one of the most substantial business men of the town and built the first tile factory there. His progressiveness was tempered by a safe conservatism and his judgment was sound and reliable so that his advice was frequently sought by others concerning the advisability of business propositions. From time to time he made purchases of land and became the owner of about three hundred acres of valuable farm property near the fair grounds. He had another farm south of Nevada and six hundred and forty acres in Kossuth county, Iowa. He became known as a prominent representative of financial interests here, being president of the First National Bank for a number of years but resigning in his later life.
On the 19th of January, 1860, Mr. Lockridge was united in marriage to Miss Lydia A. Letson, who was born in Hardin county, Ohio, January 15, 1841, and there resided to the age of seventeen years when she came to Nevada. with her parents, Christian Bemper and Jane (Huston) Letson, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of Ohio. Both died, however, in Nevada, Iowa, the former at the age of fifty-eight years and the latter at the advanced age of eighty-three. Mr. Letson prospered in his undertakings and became the owner of three farms in Story county. Unto him and his wife were born six children: Della, the wife of John Waldron, of Nevada; Mrs. Lockridge; Warren, who is living in Council Bluffs, Iowa; Helen, the wife of S. F. Balliett, of Des Moines; Rachel, the wife of Clarence Miller, of Cedar Rapids ; and Levina, the wife of W. P. Zwilling, of Nevada.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Lockridge was blessed with eight children: Elfa, who is the wife of T. P. Worsley and lives with her widowed mother; Jennie, who became the wife of Frank Warrick and died in 1903; Etta, the wife of L. A. Will, of Salina, Kansas; Frank, who died at the age of twenty-one years; Levina, the wife of J. E. Drybread, of Nevada; Maggie, who died at the age of two years; Clarence, who died