[3] In October 1839, Belden, along with fellow Racine County pioneers Martin C. Whitman, Levi Godfrey, Obed Hurlbut, and Hiland Hurlbut, plotted all of the village property of Rochester west of the Fox River, and the portion on the east side of the river south of Main Street.

[3] Belden received his first office in 1839, when he was appointed a justice of the peace for Racine County by Wisconsin Territory governor Henry Dodge.

[3] He returned to the Assembly in 1864 and 1866 as a member of the National Union Party, and in 1870 he was elected to represent Racine County in the Wisconsin Senate as a Republican.

[3] In 1882, Belden was appointed to fill a vacant Racine County Judge seat by Governor Jeremiah Rusk.

His grandson, Ellsworth Burnett Belden, was appointed to finish his judicial term, and was later elected to serve on the Wisconsin Circuit Court.