Hannah Eldridge (1791-1862) was a sawmill owner from Clearfog Harbor who represented her town on the rebel committee and lived to see the independence of 1843.

<aside>

KEY INFO

</aside>

🌱 Born : 2 February 1791

🪦 Died : 28 August 1862 (aged 71)

📍 Birthplace : Clearfog Harbor, Archipelago of Lochburn

🪪 Nationality : British, colonial born, later Utopian

💼 Occupation : Sawmill owner, committee member

🗝️ Associated place : Clearfog Harbor, Lochburn County

TIMELINE

</aside>

1791: Birth in Clearfog Harbor

1817: Owner at twenty-six

Spring 1824: A threatened trade

Winter 1824 to 1825: Voice of Clearfog Harbor

1843: Independence

28 August 1862: Death in Clearfog Harbor

20th century: A new name

RELATED FIGURES

</aside>

Nathaniel Bramwell : Fellow merchant
Elias Ravenscroft : Leader of the committee
Silas Northcott : Travelling companion

TO GO FURTHER

</aside>

Abraham HARRINGTON

Clearfog Harbor

Elias RAVENSCROFT

[1824] Lochburn Rebellions

</aside>

<aside> 😜

FUN FACT

The hollowed logs in which rebel couriers hid their messages in Harrington Bay are said to have come from her sawmill, where no one ever counted the missing timber.

</aside>

A SAWMILL ON THE WATERFRONT

∟ Daughter of the sawmill

Hannah Eldridge was born in Clearfog Harbor in 1791, in a family that worked the waterfront sawmill. She grew up counting the logs floating in Harrington Bay and learned the trade at her father's side.

∟ Owner at twenty-six

When her father died in 1817, Hannah took over the sawmill, a rare thing for a woman in the archipelago. She ran it with firmness, and the workers of Clearfog Harbor came to trust her.

VOICE OF CLEARFOG HARBOR

∟ Against the tax

The tax on timber of 1824 threatened the sawmill and the town that lived by it. Hannah supported Nathaniel Bramwell's cause, and after his death she made her sawmill a base for the rebels.

∟ The committee

In the winter of 1824, she became one of the four representatives on Elias Ravenscroft's committee. She is said to have crossed Belden Island on foot with Silas Northcott to reach the secret meetings at Pamparina Bay.

THE LONG WAR AND AFTER

∟ Timber for the cause

During the war, Hannah kept her sawmill running to supply timber to the Utopian ships and defenses.

∟ From Eldridge to Chuck & Jack's

The sawmill remained in the Eldridge family for generations and was long known as the Eldridge Sawmill. In the 20th century, it was sold to two partners, Chuck and Jack, who gave it the name it still carries today. Chuck & Jack's remains the backbone of Clearfog Harbor's timber trade, still working on the same stretch of waterfront where Hannah once counted logs floating in the bay.

∟ Independence

She lived to see the independence of 1843 and the birth of Grand Utopia of America. She died in Clearfog Harbor in 1862, remembered as one of the first women to hold a place in the political life of the archipelago.

<aside> 🇫🇷

Version française </aside>