Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
SamuelEldridge 1784-1879 was a young man of eighteen years old when, in 1802 he came with his parents Gardner and Martha (Spink) Eldridge to settle in Brome Township in Lower Canada. This line of the Eldridge family was from Rhode Island. In 1783, the father, Gardner bought lands in Hancock, Mass., where they lived until moving to Canada coming in through St. Armand at first. In Brome they settled on Tibbits Hill just west of where the village of Knowlton is located now. Only two of Gardner's large family remained to live in the area, Samuel being one.
Great grandsons of Samuel still live in the Knowlton and Waterloo areas. Samuel married three times, eleven children by the first wife, two by the second, and seven by the third, from which last the above mentioned great grandsons are descended. The farm remained in the Eldridge family until recent years.
The papers give a glimpse into the way of life in the early 1800's in Brome Township. They are all handwritten. The other families with whom the Eldridges settled are named, early businesses from whom necessities were obtained are given, notices of the first meetings to set up schools are among their papers. Generally all are sharing in the work of developing the land and setting up comfortable homes. The family saved these precious papers which have been entrusted to the care of the Brome County Historical Society Archives by a great, granddaughter.