ELDRIDGE, JOSEPH C. (1818-1881). Joseph C. Eldridge, early Texas Indian commissioner and United States Navy officer, was born in New York City on May 8, 1818. He moved to Texas from Connecticut in 1837. During the ten years he lived in Texas, he served as commissioner; in 1843 he was head of the peace party that went into the Indian country. He was appointed assistant paymaster in the United States Navy on February 2, 1847, and served with several commands including that of Commodore Oliver Perry, which opened Japan to world trade. Eldridge also participated in the expeditions for laying the Atlantic telegraph cable. He retired from the navy in 1878 and died in New York on August 14, 1881.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: William S. Speer and John H. Brown, eds., Encyclopedia of the New West (Marshall, Texas: United States Biographical Publishing, 1881; rpt., Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1978).

L. W. Kemp