Alma Eldredge (October 13, 1841 – February 22, 1925) was a member of the Utah Territorial Legislature and a mayor of

Coalville, Utah Coalville is a city in and the county seat of Summit County, Utah, Summit County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City metropolitan area, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,486 as of the 2020 ...

. Eldredge was born in Warren Township,

Marion County, Indiana Marion County is located in the U.S. state of Indiana. The 2020 United States census reported a population of 977,203, making it the 54th-most populous county in the U.S., the most populous county in the state, and the main population center ...

. His family were Latter-day Saints and named his after the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, first published in 1830 by Joseph Smith as ''The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi''. The book is one of ...

prophet

Alma Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'', an upcoming film by Sally Potter * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' ( ...

. Eldredge came to

Utah Territory The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th st ...

with his parents in 1847 and in 1849 settled in American Fork, Utah. In 1861 he moved to a place along the

Weber River The Weber River ( ) (Shoshone: Ho-o-pah) is a long river of northern Utah, United States. It begins in the northwest of the Uinta Mountains and empties into the Great Salt Lake. The Weber River was named for American fur trapper John Henr ...

named Eldredge's Springs after him. In 1863 he married Marinda M. Merril. They had a total of six children. In 1866 as a result of Utah's Black Hawk War the leaders of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church) instructed the settlers along the upper Weber River to move together in a central location. Eldredge followed this advice and thus became one of the first settlers of

. The following year he was elected to the city council there. From 1868 to 1871 Eldredge served as an LDS Church missionary in Great Britain. At various times Eldredge worked in railroad building, brick making and as a store owner. He was elected mayor of Coalville in 1874. In 1878 he was elected Summit County prosecutor and a member of the Utah Territorial Board of Trade. In 1883 he was elected a Probate Judge. He was a member of the Utah Constitutional Conventions of 1882, 1887 and 1895, the last one seeing its constitution actually enacted with Utah finally gaining statehood. In 1893 Eldredge was elected to the Territorial Legislature. He ran as a Republican for the United States Congress in 1898 but lost to B. H. Roberts. From 1877 to 1901 Eldredge served as a counselor to William W. Cluff in the presidency of the Summit

Stake A stake is a large wooden or metal implement designed to be driven into the ground and may refer to: Tools * Archer's stake, a defensive stake carried by medieval longbowmen * Survey stakes, markers used by surveyors * Sudis (stake) (Latin for ...

of the LDS Church.

References

* Jenson, Andrew. ''LDS Biographical Encyclopedia''. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson Publishing, 1901. Vol. 1, p. 341-342. 1841 births 1925 deaths People from American Fork, Utah People from Coalville, Utah American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Members of the Utah Territorial Legislature Utah Republicans Mayors of places in Utah People from Marion County, Indiana Utah city council members American Mormon missionaries in England 19th-century Mormon missionaries Latter Day Saints from Indiana Latter Day Saints from Utah {{Utah-politician-stub