Burdette Eldred, Sr., was born August 26, 1866, in Pleasant Brook, New York and died on March 11, 1951. At the age of sixteen he accepted his first position with a bank and worked his first six months without wages; the next six months a t $5 a month. In 1890 he was offered a banking position in Beloit which he accepted and this became his home for sixty-one years. He served for 24 years as supervisor on the Rock County Board, one year as Chairman. During most of these years he served on the finance committee and became known as the “watch-dog of the treasury.”

He was a member of Pinehurst Sanitarium for nine years, a trustee of the County Farm, a member of the Beloit School Board, an organizer and director of the Beloit Building and Loan Association, a member and trustee of First Presbyterian Church, a director of the Beloit Chapter of the American Red Cross, a director and president of the Daily News Publishing Company and a charter member of the Beloit Country club and the Kiwanis Club of Beloit.

Mr. Eldred was active in several fraternal orders including Morning Star Lodge #10, life member of Beloit Chapter No. 9, Beloit Council No. 1, Beloit Commandery No. 6, Knights Templar, Phoenix Chapter Order of Eastern Star, White Shrine of Jerusalem, Tripoli Shrine of Milwaukee and Wisconsin Consistory 32^nd Degree Mason. He was a charter member of the Beloit Elks Lodge and a life member of Knights of Pythias.

He was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party. An organization in which he took particular pride was the Newcomen Society of England whose members were selected on the basis of their accomplishments in their chosen field. P.B. Eldred, Sr. was married three times. His first wife, Martha L. Baker, whom he married in 1894 in Springfield, MA died in 1909. He then married Elizabeth W. Todd of Beloit who died in 1925. In 1928 he married Ethel D. Thurlow who passed away on May 13, 1977. He had two sons, Burdette P., Jr. and Howard B., now both deceased and two grandchildren, John Eldred, now president of the first National Bank and trust Company and Dorothy Eldred Bigelow.