Married Margaret Wilkinson, 1829, and moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he received an appointment with the American Fur Company and took charge of the company’s station at Keokuk, Iowa. One of the original developers of Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois, 1832. Elected first postmaster of Warsaw, 1834, and member of the Illinois legislature, 1836. He was a mason and a member of the local militia. Indicted for the 1844 murders of Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, acquitted 1845. After failing to be elected sheriff of Hancock County in 1846, Aldrich migrated to California during the gold rush. Finally settled in Tucson, Arizona, where he served as the town’s first postmaster, a merchant, criminal court judge, Tucson’s first American mayor, and for three terms as a representative in the territorial legislature. Probably interred in the old National Cemetery. Around 1890 because of the need of land for city growth the cemetery was discontinued and relatives were urged to remove their loved ones primarily to the Evergreen Cemetery. It appears however that Aldrich was not moved and that his remains still lie beneath downtown Tucson.
Married Margaret Wilkinson, 1829, and moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he received an appointment with the American Fur Company and took charge of the company’s station at Keokuk, Iowa. One of the original developers of Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois, 1832. Elected first postmaster of Warsaw, 1834, and member of the Illinois legislature, 1836. He was a mason and a member of the local militia. Indicted for the 1844 murders of Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, acquitted 1845. After failing to be elected sheriff of Hancock County in 1846, Aldrich migrated to California during the gold rush. Finally settled in Tucson, Arizona, where he served as the town’s first postmaster, a merchant, criminal court judge, Tucson’s first American mayor, and for three terms as a representative in the territorial legislature. Probably interred in the old National Cemetery. Around 1890 because of the need of land for city growth the cemetery was discontinued and relatives were urged to remove their loved ones primarily to the Evergreen Cemetery. It appears however that Aldrich was not moved and that his remains still lie beneath downtown Tucson.
