| Birth: | Jan. 19, 1828
Harrisburg
Dauphin County
Pennsylvania, USA | | Death: | Nov. 1, 1888
Boulder
Jefferson County
Montana, USA | 
From genealogytrails.com -- Going To Montana, The Rilla Preston Story, written by Alice Horner:
"On August 31, 1879, Rilla married Alexander James Elder in a public Wedding ceremony in Boulder. He was born January 19, 1830 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to John Elder (September 2, 1796 - November 3, 1857) and Jane Henderson Ritchey (born May 20, 1800 - death unknown). He'd arrived in Boulder, Montana about 1872 as secretary of a mining company of which Mr. Noah Armstrong of Glendale was President. (Glendale, Montana was near Boulder and is now a ghost town.) Part of his job was apparently supervising miners in his employ in the silver mines, because Rilla spent 2 weeks of her 4-week honeymoon (before going back to teaching) with her husband among his miners 12 miles above the Boulder Valley. Alexander J. Elder was also Jefferson County Judge. I can't find a date when he was elected Judge (presuming he was elected and not appointed), but he appears to have been Judge when Rilla met him and he served as Judge throughout their marriage.
Alexander J. Elder is an example of the unusual men the Old West attracted. He had moved with his parents at an early age to Indianapolis, Indiana and graduated from an unnamed college there, possibly around 1850. From those early days, he acquired a literary habit which he retained all through life and which made him an interesting and forcible writer. By 1861 he ran the Indianapolis Sentinel newspaper. During the Civil War, President Lincoln sent him as consul to Uruguay, South America and he remained in that section of the world probably during the Civil War years. By about 1865 Alexander J. Elder had moved to Sacramento, California where he was in charge of the State's Printing Department., probably for four years. So he was what people would later call "a Renaissance man" and despite how unlikely it seems, Rillla found him in Boulder, Montana.
Alexander J. Elder was lauded in all the obituaries as a uniquely gifted man no one would ever forget and everyone would miss. He was called the Major in some obituaries, but I have yet to determine where he served (he would not have a military title if he'd served in a diplomatic position during the Civil War). He was Justice of the Peace, Superintendent of the Common Schools, and Judge in Jefferson County, Montana. From one of the obituaries, "His storehouse of knowledge, one might way, was complete from the fact that he was a great reader, had traveled much, and had a retentive memory. He was an excellent conversationalist, and his society was sought after and appreciated by all, as he was capable of adapting himself to any class. He was a friend of the laboring man and often made them his associates; yet his polished education and genial disposition caused him to be often sought after for information by those who made greater pretensions than he did….As for his religious views, he might have been peculiar, yet his chain of thought in that direction was very similar to some of the brightest minds of the day. He was what is generally termed a Free Thinker, and there is no doubt that he followed the injunction of the golden rule to the letter." "
Family links:
Spouse:
Harriett Aurilla Preston Elder Myers (1851 - 1940)*
*Point here for explanation
| | | Burial:
Boulder Cemetery
Boulder
Jefferson County
Montana, USA |
Created by: A Marine's Daughter
Record added: Jun 03, 2005
Find A Grave Memorial# 11086648 |
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