The Aldridge Family: Dr. William Alldredge of Lawrence County, Alabama, with Roots in North Carolina and Maryland

The second in my series of “deep dives” on my ancestral families.

Introduction

Aldridge (originally spelled Alldredge) is my mother’s paternal family, the family of my maternal grandfather. It also, growing up, was the most geographically close family to me. My Aldridge grandparents lived in my hometown, Decatur, Alabama, and my Granddaddy’s people lived about seven miles outside town in the same county, still living on the same land where he grew up. Many of my mom’s cousins still live in the area, and they stay in touch with the ones who live elsewhere. They have cousins get-togethers from time to time. We haven’t had an Aldridge reunion of the extended family in quite a few years.

My Aldridge-Alldredge family has deep roots in the United States and is among the earliest documented of my families in America. Our immigrant ancestor, Nicholas Aldridge (d. 1708), settled in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, as early as 1674. Nicholas fathered lines of descendants in Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana — my own line coming from his son William Alldredge (b. 1702), who settled in what is now Randolph County, Carolina. My Aldridge-Alldredge research has included fleshing out Nicholas Aldridge’s paternal line with Y-DNA and verifying that my Aldridges belong to it, from among several other non-matching claimants.

I chose Dr. William Alldredge (1809–1880), my great-great-great-grandfather, as the centerpiece of this article because he, settling at Caddo in Lawrence County in the 1850s, is the ancestor of the branch of the Aldridge family that I consider mine, the progenitor of the family group in this part of the state, Lawrence and Morgan counties, as distinct from the larger Aldridge-Alldredge family centered at Brooksville in Blount County, Alabama, or further back in North Carolina or Maryland. Not that I am uninterested in the larger Aldridge-Alldredge family — I certainly am interested, and am admin of the Aldridge-Alldredge Family History group on Facebook, which anyone is welcome to join, and the Aldridge Surname DNA Project, welcoming all Aldridges and Alldredges — but in this article about my family, Dr. William is the one I have always identified with.

Aldridge Reunion, 1966, Upton’s Chapel Methodist Church, Morgan County, Alabama

1. The Self Triplets, Berthalene, Charlene, and Darlene
2. Mr. Herbert Terrell
3. Mrs. Bertie Terrell
4. Rev. Finis Self
5. Milton Aldridge
6. Harold Aldridge
7. Diane Aldridge
8. Alma Aldridge
9. Frank Aldridge
10. Jeanette Aldridge
11. Persinger Parker
12. James Aldridge
13. Lucille Owen Smith
14. Linda Smith
15. Mary Beth Smith
16. Nettie Owen
17. Alton Owen
18. Jesse Owen
19. Geneva Bridges Vaughan
20. Marie Brown Standridge
21. Edith Grace Brown
22. Hilda Aldridge Barnette
23. Edna Aldridge Brown
24. Ernest Brown
25. Lowell Brown
26. Grace Lamon Aldridge
27. Hewlitt Aldridge
28. Annie Bridges
29. Buren Bridges
30. Cecil Bridges
31. Marvin Bridges
32. Linda’s Twins –
33. Linda’s Twins – Ted
34. Linda Self
35. Steve Carter
36. Iola Lovvorn
37. Calvin Lovvorn
38. Lamar Yancey
39. Robert Self
40. Edna White
41. Pam Terry
42. Russell Brown
43. Mike Jones
44. Steve Brown, Junior’s boy
45. Jimmy Jones
46. Daryl Jones
47. Danny Fisher
48. Daryl Terry

49. Laura Aldridge
50. Larry Brown
51. Hazel Self Brown
52. Wilma Self Boger
53.
61. Howard Terrell, holding Tommy
62. Adell Brown Terrell, holding Eva
63. John Stephen Barnette
64. Walt Aldridge
65. Patti Barnette
66. Debi Barnette
67. Rosemary Aldridge
68. Margaret Nell Terrell Brown, Junior’s wife
69. Robert Ernest Brown Jr.
70. Ola Aldridge Johnson
71. Grady Aldridge
72. Millie Brown
74. Wayne Bridges
79. Tom Heflin Aldridge
85. Harold Brown, Larry’s brother
86. Donny Brown, Larry’s brother
87. Paul Boger, Wilma’s son
88. Randy Boger, Wilma’s son
89. Linda Brown, daughter of Junior and Nell Brown
90. Sharon Brown, daughter of Junior and Nell Brown
91. Tommy Terrell
92. Eva Terrell
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.
98.
99.
100. Donna Brown, daughter of Junior and Nell Brown
101. Debby Brown, daughter of Junior and Nell Brown
102.
103. Peggy Brown, daughter of Lowell and Edith Brown

104. Virginia Ruth (Brown) Fisher
105.
106. Edith Brown, wife of Lowell Brown
107. Calvin Terrell, brother of Howard Terrell and Nell Terrell Brown
108. Frankie Fisher
109. Judy Brown, McCoy Brown’s daughter
110.
111.
112.
113.
114.
115.
116.
117.
118. Susan Jones
119.
120.
121.
122.
123.
124.
125.
126.
127.
128.
129.
130.
131. Ilva Dutton Aldridge, Milton’s wife
132. Paul Dwight Aldridge
133. Cora Aldridge, wife of Paul Dwight Aldridge
134. Mac Aldridge, widow of Paul Aldridge
135.
136.
137.
138.
139.
140.
141.
142.
143.
144. Richard Brock
145. 

Milton Manor Aldridge (1922–2007)

My grandfather, Milton Manor Aldridge, was born 5 Aug 1922 on a farm in the Liberty community near what is today called Pumpkin Center (pronounced “Punkin” Center) in Morgan County, Alabama, north of Danville. He graduated from Danville High School in 1940, and worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps as a cook while they were building a road up Monte Sano Mountain in Huntsville and then for the Goodyear Tire Mill in Decatur. With the United States’ entry into World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces on 16 Sep 1942. He served as a medic and X-ray technician with the 213th Medical Dispensary, 287th Air Service Group, and took part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, driving a Jeep onto Utah Beach. He served until the end of the war in 1945, receiving the American Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, and European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three bronze stars.

On 22 Mar 1946, Milton married my grandmother, Mary Ilva Dutton of Penn, Morgan County. He attended Florence State Teachers’ College in Florence, Alabama, on the G.I. Bill, and after two years, went to work teaching school at Massey Elementary School, where he served as principal in 1948–1949. In Fall 1949, he returned to Florence State, and in 1951 received a double degree in Chemistry and Biology. He worked for the Chemstrand Corporation in Decatur (later Monsanto) for twenty-nine years. After his retirement in 1981, he and his brother Harold Aldridge founded AAA Fiberglass, a fiberglass and building supply company, located near the Aldridge family homeplace in Pumpkin Center.

Milton and Ilva had two daughters together, with four grandchildren and, as of 2025, three great-grandchildren. Ilva (Dutton) Aldridge was born 26 Apr 1924, in Penn, Morgan County, Alabama, and passed away on 3 Jun 1987 at the age of sixty-three, in Huntsville, Alabama.

Milton was a loving father and grandfather and a proud veteran. In June 1994, he traveled to Normandy with his daughters for the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the D-Day invasion. He married (2) Sue Marie (White) Atchley in 1997. He passed away on 12 Sep 2007 at the age of eighty-five. He and Ilva are buried at Friendship Cemetery in the Penn community. Sue Aldridge still lives in Decatur.

William Walter Aldridge (1887–1956)

William Walter Aldridge, my great-grandfather, was born 8 Mar 1887 in the Liberty community east of Moulton, Lawrence County, Alabama, where his parents lived early in their marriage. As a young boy, he moved with his parents to what is now the Aldridge homeplace, also in a community called Liberty, near Pumpkin Center in Morgan County. Walter Aldridge was a hardworking farmer his whole life. He is also remembered for his love of singing, singing tenor in Gospel quartets throughout his life.

In about 1910, Walter met his future wife, Mabel Olive McCulley, while she was teaching school at the Pine Slab College, a school near the Macedonia community on what is now called South Chapel Hill Road. This would have been only about 4.5 miles from the Aldridge homeplace. Mabel taught at Johnson’s Chapel from 1910 to 1911, during which time she boarded with Mr. and Mrs. G. W. “Wash” Roberts and Bettie (Howell) Roberts in the Neel community. Walter and Mabel became engaged, and were married 15 Mar 1913 in Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama.

Mabel Olive McCulley was born 6 Jul 1889 in Paint Rock, Jackson County, Alabama, the daughter of James William “Rock” McCulley (1853–1901) and Mary Emily (Frazier) McCulley (1855–1902). Mabel grew up in Paint Rock, and later taught at schools all over Jackson, Madison, and Morgan counties prior to her marriage. She and Walter were the parents of eight children, all born at the Aldridge homeplace near Liberty:

1. Ola Irene Aldridge, born 23 Jan 1914; died 27 Oct 1988 in Decatur, Morgan County, Alabama; married (1) Leonard Martin Harp (1913–1948), 19 Oct 1935, Pumpkin Center, Morgan County; (2) Leldon Lee Johnson (1913–1999), 3 Jul 1949, Quitman, Clarke County, Mississippi.
2. Richard Seale Aldridge, born 15 Aug 1915; died 22 Aug 1915, living only a week.
3. Houston Burch Aldridge, born 16 Sep 1916; died 13 Nov 2009 in Slidell, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana; married Mildred Gertrude Fertitta (1920–2010), 1 Jun 1947, Hattiesburg, Forrest County, Mississippi.
4. Wilfred Hosmer Aldridge, born 10 Jul 1918; died 2 Mar 1985 in Malvern, Hot Spring County, Arkansas; married Irene Byrd Guin (1922–2007), 22 Jan 1944, Honey Grove, Lamar County, Texas.
5. Milton Manor Aldridge, born 8 Aug 1922; died 12 Sep 2007 in Decatur; married (1) Mary Ilva Dutton (1924–1987), 22 Mar 1946, Florence, Lauderdale County, Alabama; (2) Sue Marie (White) Atchley, 1997.
6. James Walton Aldridge, born 14 Oct 1924; died 29 Jan 2013 in Florence; married Peggy Baughn Walsh (1929–2020), 2 Jul 1948, Iuka, Tishomingo County, Mississippi.
7. Harold Haun Aldridge, born 2 Mar 1927; died 16 Mar 2003 near Liberty; married Alma Dean Hampton (1927–2006), 4 Aug 1945 near Liberty.
8. Hilda Beatrice Aldridge, born 10 Mar 1929; died 15 Apr 2010 in Huntsville; married John Olen Barnette (1928–2021), 21 May 1949 in Danville.

Mabel (McCulley) Aldridge passed away 30 Mar 1939 in Decatur at the age of forty-nine, from influenza and pneumonia. Walter married (2) Mrs. Minnie Lou (Hampton) Russell on 2 Oct 1941 in Lawrence County. Walter Aldridge died in Hartselle, 17 Jun 1956, at the age of sixty-nine. Walter, Mabel, and Minnie are all buried at Johnson’s Chapel Cemetery, as are Ola, Richard, Harold, and Hilda.

Aunts Ola and Hilda were the committed genealogists in the family. Ola and Hilda, with Percy Brooks Keel Jr., wrote the Keel part of Keel-Whitaker in 1982. Ola and Hilda, with Larry Beeson, later wrote Frazier Folk and Related Families. Both the Keel and Frazier lines were Alabama pioneer families on their mother’s side. Before she passed, Aunt Hilda asked me to write a new book on the Alldredge family, and I guess maybe I’m finally coming to that. Both these ladies are great inspirations to me by their love of family history and their gift at imbuing their genealogies with heart.

Rev. William Warren Aldridge (1861–1958)

William Warren Aldridge, my great-great-grandfather, was born 28 Nov 1861 near Caddo in Lawrence County, to Warren Houston Alldredge and Esther Elizabeth Jane Daniel. His father died in Confederate service during the Civil War.

Billy Aldridge grew up in the Liberty community east of Moulton, Lawrence County, where the Daniel family lived. When he was six years old, on 1 Dec 1867, his mother remarried, to Mr. Abe Proctor. William had three half-brothers, Jasper, James, and Farris Proctor.

As a young man, Billy “found religion” at Liberty Methodist Church when the Rev. Thomas Benton Parker, the pastor, was preaching. On 4 May 1882, he married the pastor’s daughter, Iris Rosala Parker, called “Sala”. Sala Parker was born 20 Jul 1865 in Lawrence County, the daughter of Rev. Thomas Benton Parker (1844–1913) and Frances Jane Gray (1839–1910).

William Warren Aldridge then made a Methodist preacher himself, being ordained about 1884. By 1886, he was serving as a Sunday school commissioner at Liberty. The first newspaper reference I find to “Rev. W. W. Aldridge” is April 1900, by which time he was at Neel.

Billy and Sala’s oldest children were born at Liberty, and they have three infants buried in the cemetery there near Billy’s mother, who passed when he was twenty-one years old. I can’t imagine losing both parents by that age.

Sometime during the 1890s, Billy Aldridge moved his family to what became the Aldridge homeplace in Morgan County, near Liberty (a different Liberty) and Neel. In Mar 1896, he was sent as a delegate from Danville to the Morgan County Democratic Convention — even that early, that area where the Aldridges lived was lumped as part of Danville, whose town was about about 4 miles to the south.

W. W. Aldridge was a well-known preacher in the area of Morgan and Lawrence for many years. According to a 12 Dec 1954 article about him in the Decatur Daily, he first served as pastor “at Five Points in the Kitchens Community”, later serving at Mt. Zion [perhaps the one near Wolf Springs, Lawrence County], Danville, Antioch Circuit, Bexar [Marion County], and Mt. Moriah [north of Moulton]. He preached funerals for many people buried at Johnson’s Chapel Cemetery, whether they were Methodist or Baptist. He continued to preach revivals up into his final years.

Billy and Sala (Parker) Aldridge had twelve children together:

1. Eva Ethel Aldridge, born 6 May 1883 in Lawrence County; died 8 Aug 1964 in Stone Mountain, DeKalb County, Georgia; married 5 Feb 1902, Neel, Morgan County, to Hickey Oliver Bridges (1875–1942).
2. Thomas Houston Aldridge, born 20 Jan 1885 in Lawrence County, died 18 Sep 1886 in Lawrence County, at age one.
3. William Walter Aldridge, born 8 Mar 1887, Lawrence County; died 17 Jun 1956 in Hartselle, Morgan County; married (1) 15 Mar 1913, Huntsville, Madison County, to Mabel Olive McCulley (1889–1939), (2) 2 Oct 1941, Lawrence County, to Mrs. Minnie Lou (Hampton) Russell (1897–1961).
4. Mary Aldridge, born 8 Feb 1888, Lawrence County, died 11 Feb 1888 at the age of three days.
5. Martha Aldridge, born 8 Feb 1888, Lawrence County, died 14 Feb 1888 at the age of six days.
6. Hattie Frances Aldridge, born 1 May 1890, Morgan County; died 19 Nov 1926, Danville, Morgan County; married Chesley Vincent Yancy (1892–1969), 9 Nov 1913 in Morgan County.
7. Nettie Lavora Aldridge, born 7 Mar 1892, Morgan County; died 18 Nov 1971, Decatur, Morgan County; married Thomas Robert Owen (1891–1962), 26 Jan 1911 in Morgan County.
8. Simpson Parker Aldridge, born 10 Aug 1894, Morgan County; died 12 Jul 1969, Moulton, Lawrence County; married Novella Sue Bracken (1892–1984), 28 Sep 1917 in Lawrence County.
9. Rev. Charles Grady Alldredge, born 9 Sep 1897, Morgan County; died 23 Jan 1974, Falkville, Morgan County; married (1) Lucy Ann Ellis (1902–1958), 24 Dec 1918, Giles County, Tennessee; (2) Susie Helena Emerson (1901–1967), 22 Dec 1952, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana.
10. Edna Rosala Aldridge, born 28 Jul 1899, Morgan County, died 15 Nov 1974, Hartselle, Morgan County; married Robert Ernest Brown (1896–1975), 13 Jan 1918.
11. Paul Whitten Aldridge, born 28 Dec 1901, Morgan County; died 25 Oct 1937, Lawrence County; married Virgie Mac Sivley (1896–1975), 4 Apr 1920, Lawrence County.
12. Rev. Wendell Hewlett Aldridge, born 2 Jun 1904, Morgan County; died 22 Mar 1987, Decatur, Morgan County; married Grace Lois Lamon (1906–1996), 6 Feb 1926, Decatur, Morgan County.

Rosala (Parker) Aldridge passed away 28 Jan 1943 at the age of seventy-seven. In 1946, Rev. W. W. Aldridge went to preach a revival lasting several weeks at Mt. Moriah in Lawrence County, and while there, married (2) Mrs. Mary Alice (Terry) Terry (1876–1963), widow of Henry R. Terry, on 31 Aug 1946.

William Warren Aldridge passed away 28 Dec 1958 at the age of ninety-seven, at the home of his daughter, Nettie (Aldridge) Owen, in Danville. He and Rosala are buried in Johnson’s Chapel Cemetery.

Warren Houston Alldredge (1836–1864)

Warren Houston Alldredge, the father of William Warren Aldridge, was born 7 Nov 1836 near Brooksville, Blount County, Alabama, he the son of Dr. William Alldredge and Nancy Sophronia Brooks. Warren grew up mostly in Blount County and moved to Lawrence County during the 1850s with his parents.

On 2 Jun 1859, Warren Alldredge married Esther Elizabeth Jane Daniel on 2 Jun 1859 in Lawrence County. Elizabeth Daniel was born 18 Mar 1844 in Lawrence County, the daughter of Andrew Armstrong Daniel (1818–c. 1895) and Cornelia Caroline Underwood (1826–1885).

Early in 1862, Warren Alldredge, together with two of his brothers, William V. Alldredge and Andrew P. Alldredge, went to the site of LaGrange College in what is now Colbert County, Alabama, where a military school for the training of cadets had been set up. The three were among recruits examined on 31 Mar 1862, who were mustered in as Captain Alva E. Ashford’s Company of Alabama Volunteers, later Company C, 35th Alabama Infantry Regiment. Over the course of his service, Warren was promoted through the ranks, first as fourth sergeant and later as second lieutenant. A muster roll for the company notes that Warren was “a good soldier” (emphasis in the original).

Warren’s son, “Little Billy” — called “Little” in Warren’s letters home to distinguish him from his uncle, William Valient Aldridge — only remembered meeting his father once, when he returned from the war on furlough and placed him on his horse, Ned. Warren was wounded during fighting in the Atlanta Campaign, and later died of his wounds on 27 Aug 1864, at Pim Hospital, Griffin, Spalding County, Georgia. We believe he is buried in the Stonewall Confederate Cemetery in Griffin, though the marker states the incorrect unit. The story of identifying his grave is another one worth telling itself.

Warren and Elizabeth (Daniel) Alldredge had one son:

1. William Warren Aldridge, born 28 Nov 1861 in Lawrence County; died 28 Dec 1958 in Pumpkin Center, Morgan County; married (1) Iris Rosala Parker on 4 May 1882 in Lawrence County, (2) Mary Alice Terry, 31 Aug 1946 in Lawrence County.

Elizabeth (Daniel) Alldredge married (2) Abraham A. Proctor (1846–1906) on 1 Dec 1867 in Lawrence County. She had four more sons with Mr. Proctor (one who died an infant) before her death in Lawrence County in March 1883 at the age of thirty-nine. She is buried near her parents at the Liberty Community Cemetery, east of Moulton.

Warren’s brother, William Valient Aldridge, the only one out of all his siblings to survive the Civil War, is credited with changing the spelling of the name from Alldredge to Aldridge. I suspect the change may have had something to do with Confederate documents, in which the Alldredge brothers’ names were all spelled Aldridge, and later pension claims.

Dr. William Alldredge (1809–1880)

William Alldredge, my fourth great-grandfather, was born 7 Mar 1809 in Bledsoe County, Tennessee. He came to Blount County, Alabama, as a young boy with his parents, in the year 1816. At the age of eighteen, he married Nancy Sophronia Brooks, she only fourteen, on 24 Jan 1828 near what is now called Brooksville — the town named for Henry Brooks, Sophronia brother’s. Nancy Sophronia Brooks was born 6 May 1813 in Abbeville, Abbeville District, South Carolina, and had come to Blount County with her parents, Jacob Warren Brooks (1786–1876) and Elizabeth Purdy (1788–1850s). On her mother’s side of the family, Sophronia’s grandmother was a first cousin to Senator John C. Calhoun.

At the age of forty-one, William appeared on the 1850 census in Blount County as a farmer. What prompted his midlife change of profession is a curiosity, but during the 1850s, he traveled to New York City to study medicine. I have been unable to determine which medical school he attended. When he returned home, he moved his family from Blount County to Lawrence County, settling near Caddo, and appeared on the 1860 census as a physician.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, four of Dr. William’s sons enlisted in the Confederate Army. Dr. William wrote letters to his sons and visited them in camp on the war front as far away as Port Hudson, Louisiana, to see to their well being and bring them necessities. By the end of the war, only one out of all his children, sons and daughters, was still living.

Dr. William and Sophronia (Brooks) Alldredge had seven children together:

1. Louisa Jane Alldredge, born 16 Jan 1829 in Blount County, Alabama; died 5 Aug 1857 near Caddo, Lawrence County, Alabama.
2. Enoch LaFayette Alldredge, born 2 Oct 1832 in Blount County; died about 1864 while serving in the Civil War; married Artemissa Womack in 1858.
3. Henry Washington Alldredge, born 13 Jan 1834 in Blount County; died 20 Jan 1857 near Caddo, Lawrence County.
4. Warren Houston Alldredge, born 7 Nov 1836 in Blount County; died 27 Aug 1864 in Griffin, Spalding County, Georgia, while serving in the Civil War; married Esther Elizabeth Jane Daniel (1844–1883).
5. William Valient Alldredge (who later spelled his name Aldridge), born 4 Jun 1839 in Blount County; died 16 Aug 1937 in Trinity, Morgan County, Alabama; married (1) Mary Ellen McNorton (1840–1867), (2) Mrs. Martha Matilda (Bracken) Tuttle (1840–1907), in 1868, (3) Mrs. Susan (Lockwood) Larue (1856–1942).
6. Andrew Perry Alldredge, born 5 Feb 1842 in Blount County; died Jan 1863 in North Alton, Madison County, Illinois, while serving in the Civil War.
7. Mary Ann Elizabeth Alldredge, born 13 Nov 1845 in Blount County; died Jan 1864 in Caddo, Lawrence County.

Dr. William Alldredge died 30 Jan 1880 near Caddo, Lawrence County, Alabama, at the age of seventy years. Nancy Sophronia (Brooks) Alldredge died 19 Apr 1899 at age eighty-five. They are buried in the Milligan-Hill Cemetery near Caddo.

Andrew Alldredge (1782–1848)

Andrew Alldredge, father of Dr. William Alldredge, was born 11 Oct 1782 near Sandy Creek in Randolph County, North Carolina, the son of Nathan Alldredge and his wife Hannah. He came to East Tennessee with his father as a boy. In about 1806, Andrew married Leah Chaney, daughter of Jeremiah Chaney and Mary Curby. Between about 1807 and 1816, Andrew and Leah lived in Bledsoe County, Tennessee.

In December 1816, Andrew Alldredge and his family went down the Tennessee River by flatboat, landing at Guntersville, and then trekked over land by covered wagon to what is now Blount County, but what was then open frontier. He built a home near a large spring, near what is today Brooksville, Alabama. Andrew Alldredge was an early Baptist leader and founding member of Salem Baptist Church.

Andrew and Leah Alldredge had these children:

1. Col. Enoch Alldredge, born 16 May 1807 in Bledsoe County, Tennessee, died 22 Nov 1879, Blount County, Alabama; married Amelia Pace. He served twenty-six terms in the Alabama state legislature and raised a Confederate regiment during the Civil War, serving as its major.
2. Dr. William Alldredge, born 7 Mar 1809 in Bledsoe County, Tennessee, died 30 Jan 1880, Lawrence County, Alabama; married Nancy Sophronia Brooks, Blount County, Alabama.
3. Jacob Chaney Alldredge, born about 1813 in Bledsoe County, Tennessee, died about 1863 in Blount County, Alabama; married Sarah Russell, 22 Jul 1838, Blount County, Alabama.
4. Elizabeth Alldredge, born 27 Apr 1816 in Bledsoe County, Tennessee, died 14 Oct 1888 in Blount County, Alabama; married Garlin A. Smith, 6 Aug 1835, Blount County, Alabama.
5. Mary Frances Alldredge, born 2 Jun 1819 in Blount County, Alabama, died about 1884; never married.
6. Nathan Alldredge, born about 1820 in Blount County, Alabama, died about 1875 in Blount County, Alabama; married Elizabeth Sivley, 9 Aug 1840, Blount County, Alabama.
7. Andrew Jackson Alldredge, born about 1822 in Blount County, Alabama; died between 1870 and 1880 in Desha County, Arkansas; married Susan B. Smith, 22 Sep 1846, Blount County, Alabama. Lester reported that he died in Bolivar County, Mississippi, but he appeared on the 1870 census in Desha County, Arkansas, and his widow and children appeared there in 1880.

Andrew Alldredge died 6 Nov 1848 in Brooksville at the age of sixty-six. Leah Alldredge died 4 Feb 1854 in Brooksville at the age of sixty-nine. They are both buried in the Salem Cemetery.

Nathan Alldredge (c. 1739–1826)

Nathan Alldredge, father of Andrew, was born about 1739, the son of William Alldredge. There is no direct documentation of Nathan’s birthplace; he could either have been born in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, or the North Carolina Piedmont, depending entirely on the date when his father William Alldredge migrated. (See the William Alldredge section below for more discussion of this date.) Nathan married his wife, Hannah, around 1766, in what would then have been Orange County, North Carolina. Despite the insistence of various online researchers and trees, I have seen no definitive evidence of Hannah’s maiden name, only unsupported speculation. She is variously claimed to have been a York, a Long, or a Madden or Maiden.

The earliest appearance of Nathan Alldredge is as a signatory to a May 1768 petition of the Regulators, an early protest movement against the colonial government that began in the Sandy Creek community of Orange County, North Carolina, where the Alldredges lived. The movement was led by Herman Husband, also a Maryland native and a neighbor and associate of the Alldredges — Husband was a chain carrier for William Alldredge’s 1755 land survey and had land directly adjacent. The names of three Alldredge men appear on the petition: Nathan, Nicholas, and James.

Firm family legend has held that Nathan Alldredge went on to fight in the Revolutionary War, which would be in keeping with the patriotic sentiment shown by his involvement with the Regulators. No definitive documentation of Nathan’s service, however, has ever been found. This may not be surprising, given the likely poor organization and recordkeeping of the frontier militia. The best documentation for many Revolutionary soldiers comes from their later claims for a pension, but Nathan Alldredge never applied for a pension. The first old-age pension act for which all, non-indigent veterans were eligible was not passed by the U.S. Congress until 7 Jun 1832, six years after Nathan’s death.

But, it is claimed, grandchildren of Nathan Alldredge made statements attesting to Nathan’s Revolutionary service. Mary Frances Alldredge, daughter of Andrew Alldredge, is noted as telling the story that Nathan fought in the war and was wounded — I do not, however, have a clear account of who recorded her saying this. Enoch Alldredge, son of Andrew Alldredge, is also said to have identified his grandfather Alldredge as a Revolutionary veteran — again, I do not have a firsthand record of Enoch himself stating this. The second or thirdhand report of this testimony was sufficient to authenticate Rev. Grady Alldredge’s membership in the Sons of the American Revolution in 1966, but I doubt it would be sufficient for either the SAR or DAR today.

Nathan Alldredge received a land grant, issued 24 Jul 1786, as assignee of William Alldredge — based on an earlier 5 Dec 1778 survey of which William Alldredge signed over the rights. This is a record that clearly connects Nathan to William, and also that clearly shows William Alldredge spelling his name Alldredge.

Nathan Alldredge remained in Randolph County, North Carolina, until 1794. He was recorded on the 1790 census there. Randolph County deeds record him selling his land there in September and October 1794, and in May 1795, a deed in Knox County, Tennessee, records him purchasing 640 acres of land “on the south side of Clinch River”.

Nathan Alldredge lived the rest of his life in East Tennessee. In 1799, he signed a Knox County petition requesting a division of the county for better administrative convenience; Anderson County was created in 1801. An 1802 Anderson County tax list records Nathan Aldridge holding 50 acres on Brushy Creek, a tributary on the south side of Clinch River, which is in keeping with the earlier deed. By the end of his life, Nathan was again in Knox County, where he signed his will on 23 Mar 1818.

Nathan Alldredge died on 31 Dec 1826 in Knox County. His obituary appeared in the Enquirer (Knoxville) on 17 Jan 1827:

DIED — On the 31st of last month, in this county, NATHAN ALDRIDGE, aged 87 years.

Nathan’s wife Hannah was living as late as 1818 when he made his will. It is not certain if she survived him or not. The 1820 census, which does not survive for any of East Tennessee, would have been helpful here.

Nathan and Hannah Alldredge had the following children (several of the birthdates, particularly of the daughters, are speculative):

1. William Alldredge, born about 1767 in Randolph County, North Carolina (then Orange County); died 1821 in Knox County, Tennessee; married Mary (maiden name unknown).
2. Eleanor Alldredge, born 17 Nov 1769 in Randolph County (then Orange County); died 26 Feb 1849 in Randolph County; married (1) Isaac York, (2) Jesse Julian.
3. Margaret Alldredge, born about 1772 in Randolph County (then Guilford County); died before 1850 in Blount County married Thomas Allred in North Carolina. They went to Tennessee with Nathan Alldredge and later went to Blount County, Alabama, with Andrew Alldredge. There is considerable confusion among public family trees and Find a Grave between at least three different Thomas Allreds and their families. This Thomas Allred, a widower in 1850 and living in Blount County, Alabama, appears to be the correct one.
4. Sylvania Alldredge, born about 1774 in Randolph County (then Guilford County); married Tobias Long in North Carolina. They also went to Tennessee with Nathan Alldredge and to Blount County, Alabama, with Andrew Alldredge. Many online trees report that Tobias and Sylvania died in Texas in 1845, but I find no evidence of this. Several of their children did go to Texas, but they were still in Blount County, Alabama, in 1850.
5. Mary Alldredge, born about 1776 in Randolph County (then Guilford County); married Solomon Allred, 17 Dec 1794, Jefferson County, Tennessee. Lester reports they went to Blount County, Alabama, with Andrew Alldredge, and records do show a Solomon Allred there very early; but other trees claim they remained in Anderson County, Tennessee, and there was also a Solomon and Mary Allred there.
6. Sarah Alldredge, born 7 Mar 1779 in Randolph County; died 10 Jan 1857, Cass County, Indiana; married John Julian, 4 Mar 1797, Knox County, Tennessee.
7. Nathan Alldredge, born about 1781 in Randolph County, died 4 Jan 1844 in Connersville, Fayette County, Indiana; married Elizabeth Julian.
8. Andrew Alldredge, born 11 Oct 1782 in Randolph County; died 6 Nov 1848 in Brooksville, Blount County, Alabama; married Leah Chaney in Tennessee.
9. James Alldredge, born 14 May 1785 in Randolph County (tombstone says 21 May 1788); died 18 Mar 1859 in Story County, Iowa; married Anna Wood, 23 Nov 1807, Knox County, Tennessee. Served in East Tennessee Militia during War of 1812. Moved to Carroll County, Indiana, in 1828, and to Iowa only in final years of life.
10. Enoch Alldredge, born 4 May 1790 in Randolph County; died 31 Aug 1852 in Carroll County, Indiana; married Elizabeth LaRue, 13 Aug 1840, Knox County, Tennessee. Served in East Tennessee Militia during War of 1812. Moved to Carroll County, Indiana, in 1840.
11. Elizabeth Alldredge, born about 1792 in Randolph County; named in will, but nothing else known.
12. Hannah Alldredge, born 17 Jun 1793 in Randolph County; died 29 Mar 1858 in Knox County, Tennessee; married Clement Wood, about 1812, Knox County.

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Suspect claims and Y-DNA proof

From this point, the record gets sketchier and more fragmentary. We believe Nathan Alldredge (b. 1739) was the son of William Alldredge (b. 1702), an older man who was living close to Nathan in Randolph County, North Carolina; but this geographic and chronological assumption is not by itself sufficient. At this locus in particular, many genealogists have assumed a connection from their various North Carolina Aldridge families to William Alldredge (b. 1702) based solely on chronology and location — in several cases incorrectly, as it turns out.

My Aldridge-Alldredge family had been written about in 1957 by Memory Aldridge Lester, a granddaughter of William Valient Aldridge and a close cousin of ours, in Alldredge-Aldridge-Bracken-Nesmith Families and Their Kin (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: s.p., 1957). Because of this early treatment, and because of the simple fact that our Aldridge line left records, it became an easy point of attachment for many researchers with less documented lines. But Y-DNA research has done much to prove and disprove which lines belong to this Alldredge-Aldridge line of Anne Arundel, Maryland, and which do not.

I came to the Aldridge Surname DNA Project in 2021 after years of seeing Aldridge claims on Find a Grave and other sites that I suspected weren’t well supported and might be based on such incorrect assumptions. In particular, there was a great deal of confusion between my ancestor Nathan Alldredge (b. ca. 1739) and another man, Nathaniel Aldridge (b. ca. 1730s), with a similar name and birthdate, who coincidentally ended up in some of the same places as Nathan, including Orange County, North Carolina. Y-DNA research conclusively proves that these are two distinct lines. Likewise, it proves that Joseph Aldridge (b. ca. 1730s) was probably a brother of Nathaniel, and that neither belonged to William Alldredge (b. 1702) of Randolph County.

Nathan Alldredge and Nathaniel Alldredge: Y-DNA mismatch

There was a man named Nathaniel Aldridge (b. ca. 1730s) whose descendants ended up in Lawrence County, Alabama, the Aldridges of Pinhook and Aldridge Grove. They had never appeared to have any connection to my Alldredges at Caddo — those communities separated by nearly twenty miles. Nathaniel’s Aldridges came to Lawrence County very early, in the 1820s; they lived in a different part of the county than my Alldredges; they never spelled their name Alldredge.

And yet because of the similarity between the names Nathan and Nathaniel, I had been seeing cases for years of people incorrectly conflating the two, treating the two men as the same person or ascribing records concerning one to the other. I learned that descendants of the Pinhook Aldridges in Lawrence County traced their ancestry to the same William Aldridge-Alldredge (b. 1702) in Randolph County, North Carolina, that we did.

Sorting out these two distinct lineages has been one of the primary projects of my Alldredge research since 2021. Y-DNA research has resolved definitively that Nathan Alldredge and Nathaniel Aldridge were two completely different, unrelated men, with distinct paternal lines.

Y-DNA, the DNA of the male Y-chromosome, is passed down from father to son mostly intact, such that a son has the same Y-DNA as his father. Y-DNA changes only very slowly, with a small, random chance of small variations occurring at each generation. Genetic genealogists compare Y-DNA between two men, both the parts that match and the variations between them, to determine how recently they shared a common paternal ancestor.

A direct-male-line descendant of Nathan Alldredge tested his Y-DNA at my request. His Y-DNA matches four other men descended from William Alldredge (d. 1702), the man we claimed as our ancestor, by his son William (b. 1729). All five of these men also matched two other men who claimed descent from Nicholas Aldridge (d. 1708) by different sons than William. Together these testers represent three different sons of Nicholas Aldridge, and they all match each other — proving that all seven men share the same paternal line with a common ancestor estimated to have been born about 1581 CE, a broad statistical estimate that precisely nails Nicholas Aldridge’s projected birthdate within a century. The Y-DNA descendants of Nicholas Aldridge are grouped into the broad Y-DNA haplogroup R-Z301.

On the other hand, a direct-male-line descendant of Nathaniel Aldridge does not match the Nathan Alldredge descendant or the other Nicholas Aldridge descendants, but instead matches men descended from Joseph Aldridge (b. ca. 1730s) and James Aldridge (b. ca. 1742) who were also in Orange County, North Carolina, as well as a descendant of Francis Aldridge (b. ca. 1730), who was in Surry County, Virginia. All of these men are classified into haplogroup I-Z165. They are likely to all share a common paternal ancestor within several generations.

According to genetic science, the two distinct lineages, R-Z301 and I-Z165, have not shared a common paternal ancestor in around 47,000 years.

A recent Big Y-700 test of one of these testers, the James Aldridge (b. ca. 1742) tester, indicates that the whole group is likely to belong more precisely to I-FTC79781.

Nathaniel Aldridge, Joseph Aldridge, and James Aldridge: Geographic disconnection

Nathaniel Aldridge had a 1761 North Carolina land grant in Orange County, “on Brushy Fork of the Flat River”. Joseph Aldridge had a 1762 land grant also “on Flat River”. Because these men were both in Orange County, receiving land grants around the same time as William Alldredge, whose grant “on a branch of Sandy Creek, the waters of Deep River, called Mount Pleasant” was issued in 1756, researchers, including Mrs. Lester, assumed a connection. But colonial Orange County covered a large area. Locating the grants on a map, it is clear that the two settlements, on Flat River and Sandy Creek, were separated by nearly fifty miles. Nathaniel’s and Joseph’s land would today be in Person County, not Randolph County.

A third man, James Aldridge (b. 1742), likewise had land on the Flat River and later ended up in Caswell County. He also has been grouped with William Alldredge (b. 1702) — but this is partly due to conflation, since William Alldredge also had a son named James whose name is distinctly spelled James Alldredge in records. This James Alldredge is the one who signed the Regulators petition with Nathan Alldredge, clearly a different person than James Aldridge (b. 1742) — as the above Y-DNA results, including a descendant of James Aldridge (b. 1742), make clear.

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Below I will attempt to bring the record back on track, with what I know and can prove to be true about our Alldredge line.

William Alldredge (1702–1788)

William Alldredge was born 13 Mar 1702 in All Hallows Parish, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, the son of Nicholas Aldridge and Martha Besson. Memory Aldridge Lester first made this connection in Alldredge-Aldridge (1957), without definitive proof. “From here on I shall deal with what SEEMS to be our line,” she began. Her argument was based primarily on the fact of a man named William Aldridge being found in Orange County, North Carolina, in 1755, and the birth record of a child named William Aldridge born to Nicholas Aldridge in Maryland in 1702. Looking at it objectively, this was not a strong case. Even in 1750 in the British colonies, William Aldridge was not an uncommon name. How could we verify that this was the right connection? That William Aldridge in North Carolina was the same one born in Maryland to Nicholas? This was where I entered the field in 2021, and based on the Y-DNA research mentioned above, we have proven Mrs. Lester correct.

Y-DNA proves link to Nicholas Aldridge

As discussed above, Y-DNA conclusively proves there is no recent paternal connection between our Aldridge-Alldredge paternal line and several other Aldridge lines that were present in colonial Orange County, North Carolina, and elsewhere. The Y-DNA also proves that our Nathan Alldredge is connected to William Alldredge (b. 1702), and that William Alldredge is connected to Nicholas Aldridge (d. 1708).

First, our tester from Nathan Alldredge matches three other men descended from William Alldredge (b. 1729), believed to also be the son of William Alldredge (b. 1702). William (b. 1729) lived on adjacent land to William Alldredge (b. 1702) and remained in Randolph County his whole life. Both the Nathan tester and one of the William (b. 1729) testers have taken the Big Y-700, the most advanced Y-DNA test available. The Big Y reveals that the Nathan descendant and William (b. 1729) descendant share a unique mutation that no other testers share — indicating with certainty that Nathan and William (b. 1729) were brothers, and that William (b. 1702) himself developed that mutation and passed it on to his descendants.

Second, the Nathan tester and two William (b. 1729) testers — together representing the William (b. 1702) line — match the Big Y tests of two Aldridge men whose paper trail traces to Nicholas Aldridge (d. 1708), one from his son Thomas Aldridge (b. 1680), and the other from his son Nicholas Aldridge (b. 1698). All three lines match each other at the Big Y level, with the common ancestor between them estimated to have been born about 1581. This is a statistical estimate based on a range of uncertainty, often accurate only to within several centuries, but 1581 easily fits the projected birthdate of Nicholas Aldridge to within 75 years. This aligns with the paper trail of each line, and confirms with certainty that they all descend from Nicholas Aldridge (d. 1708).

The Big Y-700 test shows that the Nicholas Aldridge (d. 1708) line is classified as haplogroup R-FTC89975. The William Aldridge (d. 1702) line has two additional SNPs beyond R-FTC89975, and is further classified as R-FTB32679.

Birth and name

There were actually two children named William born to Nicholas and Martha Aldridge who appear in the Anne Arundel parish register, one born 30 Oct 1700, baptized 12 Jul 1702, and buried 26 Sep 1702, and the other born 13 Mar 1702 and baptized 11 Apr 1703. These dates do overlap — the second William being born before the first was buried — leading some researchers to an inclination to fudge the second William’s birthdate to 13 Mar 1703. But this is not what the record says. As strange as we might find it, it does appear that Nicholas did name a second child William while the first was still living. Perhaps it was a case of the first child being sick and expected not to live; or perhaps the new William didn’t receive that name until his baptism.

Researchers also often attach a suffix “II” to William (b. 1702) — but this was not his name. The suffix “II” never appeared in any records. While adding the suffix may be convenient for your recordkeeping, it does not belong in a public profile or presentation. Don’t name creep.

Breaking with the tradition of Lester, Sausaman, and others who spelled the surname Aldridge in William’s case, I have chosen to spell William’s surname as Alldredge. There are clear cases, as in his 1783 assignation of his 1778 land survey to Nathan Alldredge, when Alldredge was the spelling used for William, and by the 1770s, this spelling was common in deeds. Each of William’s documented sons used the Alldredge spelling as well and handed it down to their descendants.

Disputed wife: not Elizabeth Symmons

Mrs. Lester also made a mistake which will plague the Aldridge family forever. “William [Aldridge] married Elizabeth Symmons July 3, 1726,” she stated without qualification. But this is a gross misreading of the record, which says plainly, “William Akeridge & Elizabeth Symmons were married.” This citation is the only record of William Alldredge’s wife, and it’s not William Alldredge’s wife. William Alldredge’s wife was not named “Elizabeth Symmons”, and we have no source that even identifies her name as Elizabeth. We have no record at all of the wife of William Alldredge. The name of his wife, both first and maiden, should be left blank.

Researchers additionally pull from thin air, or possibly by conflation with another Aldridge brother’s wife, a middle name, Elizabeth Ursula Symmons, but this middle name has no foundation. The matter is complicated even further by the fact that William’s son, William (b. 1729), did factually have a wife named Elizabeth; but her name was not Elizabeth Symmons either.

Settlement in North Carolina

There is no known record of William Alldredge in Maryland after his birth. We have presumed that he remained in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, until he went to North Carolina, and that his children were born there; but since we have no record of their birthplaces, this is only a presumption. While researching this article, I discovered two land grants for a William Aldridge dated 1 Feb 1725 in the Bertie Precinct of eastern North Carolina, precursor of Bertie County. There is no other context for this William Aldridge and cursory searches turn up no more records of this man in Bertie County. It is plausible that this early record could be our William Alldredge, and that he could have soon journeyed on into the backcountry, leaving no more record in the east.

Pioneers began trickling into the North Carolina Piedmont around the 1730s, and by the 1740s were coming in droves. It is entirely possible that William Alldredge joined the early migration, leaving the established colonial government behind, thus explaining his disappearance from records until the 1750s. Orange County — which originally included what is today Randolph County — was established in 1752, and the name “William Alridge” appeared on the first tax list of Orange County in 1755.

The area that is now Randolph County was still the deep frontier into the 1750s. As an illustration of how deep, see this map, by Emanuel Bowen, published in 1752. Though the map is not very accurate, and may not reflect the recent influx of settlers (the cartographer was based in London), it appears that at least into the late 1740s, there were no major white settlements for many miles. “Keeouwee Old Town” on this map was the town of the Keyauwee Indians, a tribe native to present-day Randolph County. Asheboro, North Carolina, the county seat of Randolph County, is near the site of their town.

Explorer John Lawson made contact with the Keyauwee tribe in 1701 and described his visit to their town in detail. See page 50 in his book (page 56 in the PDF), A New Voyage in Carolina (1709).

It is noteworthy that the Upper Road, an early American north-south migration route often discussed in genealogists’ lore, began in southern Maryland and is said to have passed directly through Randolph County, North Carolina, within a few miles of William Alldredge’s land, according to this popular sketch. The Upper Road followed the same route marked on the 1755 Jefferson-Fry map as “the Trading Path leading to the Catawban & Cherokee Indian Nations” — other literature confirms that the Upper Road and the Trading Path were the same through the North Carolina Piedmont — and continued to be marked as the Trading Path on the more detailed 1770 Collet map. The Trading Path would indeed have run within five to ten miles of the land William Alldredge settled on.

Notably, this map shows William Alldredge as a close neighbor to Herman Husband, the farmer and agitator hailed as the leader of the Regulator movement. William Alldredge did indeed have adjacent land to Husband, and when William had land surveyed for a grant on 27 Oct 1755, Herman Husband, together with Seymore York, another neighbor, carried the chain. The land grant was issued 12 Nov 1756, with Husband again a witness. Clearly influenced by their proximity to and association with Herman Husband, three of William Alldredge’s sons — Nicholas, Nathan, and James — appeared on the May 1768 Regulators petition. At least two of William’s daughters married sons of Seymore York.

William’s land was “on a branch of Sandy Creek … commonly known as Mount Pleasant.” Mount Pleasant Creek is still called by that name. In combination with Herman Husbands’ grant on that same creek — which indicated that Husbands’ land contained the “head branches” of the creek, and also referred to William Alldredge’s boundary — I was able to fit the sketch of William’s tract to the approximate path of the creek, and identify the bounds of his land to within just a few feet. Remarkably, William Alldredge’s land is less than four miles from yet another community called Liberty, to the northeast. It is about two miles from Sandy Creek Church where William is supposedly buried, and about a mile from the Old McMasters Cemetery, where William’s son William Alldredge (b. 1729) is buried.

Death and burial

William Alldredge — it would at least appear to be William (b. 1702), the father — was living, and perhaps in failing health, on 24 Dec 1783, when he signed over the rights to a 1778 land survey in his name to his son Nathan Alldredge, which was issued as a grant 24 Jul 1786. Nathan is the only Aldridge listed on the 1790 census in Randolph County, indicating that William had probably died by then.

Dennis York interpreted a recovered tombstone at Sandy Creek Baptist Church as bearing the initials “W. Ad.” and the date “11 Apr 1786”, and proclaimed this the tombstone and death date of William Alldredge. The only photo currently available of this tombstone has been digitally enhanced by Mr. York. I remain somewhat skeptical whether the inscription is really as legible as his enhancement would indicate. But 11 April 1786 is a reasonable date for the death of William Alldredge. He would have been eighty-four years old, quite an old age for that period.

Children

William Alldredge had these children I am reasonably sure of. Other children are possible; but several children included in other public lists, like Joseph (b. ca. 1730s), Nathaniel (b. ca. 1730s), and James (b. ca. 1742), do not belong, their connection to this family having been disproven by Y-DNA.

1. Eleanor Alldredge, born about 1726 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, died 1795 in Randolph County, North Carolina, married Thomas York
2. William Alldredge, born 27 Sep 1729 in Anne Arundel County; died 13 Nov 1789 in Randolph County; married Elizabeth
3. Sylvania Alldredge, born about 1731 in Anne Arundel County; died 1791 in Randolph County; married Semore York
4. Nicholas Alldredge, born about 1732 in Anne Arundel County; died 1794 in Columbia County, Georgia; married Rebekah
5. Nathan Alldredge, born about 1739 in Anne Arundel County; died 31 Dec 1826 in Knox County, Tennessee; married Hannah (maiden name unknown).
6. James Alldredge, born 1730s in Anne Arundel County; signed the Regulators’ petition in 1768 and appeared in Guilford County, North Carolina, deeds in the 1770s; documented in Randolph County as late as 1782.

Nicholas Aldridge (d. 1708)

Name and spelling

I revert here to the “standard” spelling of Aldridge, because there is no clear evidence of the Alldredge spelling in the extant records of Nicholas Aldridge. In my line of Aldridges, beginning with William Alldredge, the Alldredge spelling clearly became dominant, but it did not in the several other lines of documented descendants from Nicholas Aldridge.

With Nicholas Aldridge, we have no primary sources in which he himself signed his name. The only surviving records of him were written by parish and legal clerks. So, even if the original spelling of the name were Alldredge — as I personally suspect it was — it is possible that these clerks simply spelled it the way it sounded.

Doubtful birth and ancestry

Nicholas Aldridge of Anne Arundel County, Maryland (d. 1708) is our immigrant ancestor. His birthdate, birthplace, and parentage are unknown — contrary to many unsupported claims on the Internet. Many public family trees have adopted an ancestral family line for Nicholas Aldridge going back a half dozen generations at least in England — but any connection between Nicholas Aldridge of Anne Arundel County and this line is not well documented, as far as I have seen, and is doubtful.

The baptismal record of a Nicholas Aldridge christened 28 Dec 1653 in East Wellow Parish, Hampshire, England, is commonly asserted as belonging to our Nicholas Aldridge — which would connect Nicholas as the son of another man named Nicholas Aldridge. But there is no concrete evidence connecting Nicholas Aldridge of Anne Arundel, Maryland, to Wellow or to this record — only the happenstance of the name Nicholas Aldridge and a birthdate around the time we might expect an immigrant to the American colonies to have been born.

This record comes from the LDS-published collection of English birth and christening records, “England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538–1975.” There is, immediately, a fundamental problem with identifying a record out of this dataset as belonging to our ancestor, based only on a coincidence of name and a convenient date: This is a small, very limited dataset. As the label states, “only a few localities are included and the time period varies by locality.” This dataset represents only a small, minority subset of births in seventeenth-century England; births in only a small selection of parishes. Even if every extant birth register from every sixteenth-century English parish were included in this dataset — there are many births, no doubt the majority, that were not recorded in parish registers at all, or which were recorded in registers that no longer survive. We are not even certain that Nicholas Aldridge was born in England, rather than Scotland, Wales, Ireland, or anywhere else.

Even in this limited dataset, there are six other men named Nicholas Aldridge — five of them in Wellow, probably of the same dynasty; one in Kent, too young to be ours — but this doesn’t account for other name variations. There is, for example, a Nicholas Aldredg born in Bratton, Wiltshire, in 1648, who I’d be very interested to know more about. And other men named Nicholas Aldridg, Nicholas Aldrege, Nicholas Aloridge, Nicholas Eldridge, from Westminster, Warwickshire, Surrey, and other places, some of whose dates would fit our Nicholas. Even in this limited dataset, there are multiple other possibilities — how many more Nicholas Aldridges were there who were not included? To assume that this convenient Nicholas Aldridge in Wellow, cherry-picked from this dataset, is necessarily our Nicholas Aldridge would be like assuming we have definitely found our grandfather when we find his name in one of a few, random, discarded U.S. phone books from the 1970s. There is no other context, no other supporting evidence, by which to identify the Wellow record as the same person who went to Maryland.

There is additional reason to question the identification of the Wellow record and line. Cousin Susan Robinson on FamilySearch has identified several court cases in Wellow that appear to place Nicholas Aldridge (b. 1653) of the above record still in Wellow in 1682 and 1686 — appearing in court with the same siblings indicated by the parish birth records — when our Nicholas was documented as already having been in Maryland since 1674.

It is therefore unproven and doubtful that Nicholas Aldridge (d. 1708) of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, is the same man who was born 28 Dec 1653 in Wellow. It is not appropriate to label our ancestor “Nicholas Aldridge IV” (don’t name creep), a name he certainly never used, and a name that carries the loaded assumption that his father was also named Nicholas Aldridge, which is not proven and not certain.

Immigration to Maryland, military service, and land patent

Nicholas Aldridge, our progenitor, immigrated to Maryland no later than 4 Jun 1674, when he was first claimed as a headright; he might reasonably have arrived as long as a year before this. In October or November 1678, the Maryland General Assembly made payment to Nicholas Aldridge for his militia service in an expedition against the Nanticoke Indians, probably earlier in the year 1678.

Nicholas Aldridge entered a land patent in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, of 300 acres on the south side of the Magothy River, surveyed 20 Aug 1680. The grant was issued by Charles Calvert, Lord Baltimore on 11 Jul 1681, a tract called Aldridge’s Beginning (text of grant, with land description, is linked). The exact location of the parcel is difficult to identify, since the only fixed landmark it refers to is being “opposite a small island.”

Westminster Parish, created in 1696, whose church was located on the Magothy River, should have been closer to Nicholas, yet records of Nicholas and his family continue in All Hallows Parish, created in 1692, which would have been twelve miles from the Magothy River minimum. I found no deeds indicating that Nicholas sold this land or bought other land. It is possible that the Aldridges participated in All Hallows Parish because of family associations with that parish, perhaps through the Besson family.

Marriage and children

Nicholas Aldridge married Martha Besson, daughter of Captain Thomas Besson, a justice of the Anne Arundel county court, and his second wife Hester. This connection is convincingly documented by references to a mare named Nobsey left to Thomas’s daughter Martha in his will, and later given to Martha Aldridge by his executrix. It is not certain when Nicholas and Martha married, but their oldest child was born in 1680, according to the All Hallows Parish register.

Nicholas and Martha Aldridge had these children, as recorded in the parish register:

1. Thomas Aldridge, born 5 Nov 1680; married Elizabeth Purdy on 15 Jul 1703.
2. Anne Aldridge, born 6 Nov 1684; married Richard Richardson, 3 Dec 1707, All Hallows Parish, Anne Arundel County.
3. John Aldridge, born 31 Aug 1688; married Susannah Jones on 1 April 1719, Westminster Parish, Anne Arundel County.
4. Joane Aldridge, born 10 Sep 1689.
5. Sendy Aldridge [the name is difficult to read], born 9 August 1693; baptized 19 May 1700.
6. Jane Aldridge, born 3 Apr 1696; baptized 19 May 1700.
7. Nicholas Aldridge, born 16 May 1698; died 1758, Anne Arundel County; married Ursula (maiden name unknown, possibly Grimes).
8. William Aldridge, born 30 Oct 1700; buried 26 Sep 1702.
9. William Aldridge, born 13 Mar 1702; died 11 Apr 1786, Randolph County, North Carolina.
10. James Aldridge, born 1 Jul 1706; married Mary Gassaway, 25 Feb 1741, All Hallows Parish, Anne Arundel County.

Death and burial

Nicholas Aldridge died in November 1708 in All Hallows Parish, Anne Arundel County, and was buried 21 Nov 1708. His grave is no longer marked, and not even the location of the cemetery is known. A geophysical survey of the All Hallows Churchyard found no graves predating 1729 in this cemetery, and concluded that “somewhere in the parish, at an unknown location, there is a large 17th century graveyard.” Neither the All Hallows Cemetery at the Old Brick Church near Birdsville, built in 1729, nor the All Hallows Chapel Cemetery in Davidsonville, at the parish’s chapel-of-ease, completed in 1865, is the correct cemetery where Nicholas Aldridge and his family would have been buried.

There is a record of Martha Aldridge marrying John Roberts on 5 Nov 1709 in Westminster Parish, Anne Arundel County, about ten miles from All Hallows Parish. This may be the remarriage of Nicholas’s widow. The All Hallows Parish register records Martha, wife of John Roberts, being buried 22 Apr 1722.

Recovering the path

I realize I may have just chopped down a cherished branch of some people’s family tree (on FamilySearch, it is traced all the way back to the Norman Conquest, with little or no documentary support) — but if the branch was not well supported, or worse, was incorrect, then we need to prune it to make the tree stronger.

So where do we go from here? I can think of several things that might lead to re-discovering the ancestral path of Nicholas Aldridge:

• Y-DNA testing. We need more American Aldridge-Alldredge families to test their Y-DNA; and even more than that, we need British Aldridges to test. I would like (1) to test a direct-male-line descendant of the Wellow Aldridges; (2) to test any other British Aldridge men who might be willing; (3) to test as many American Aldridges as possible. If we are fortunate, we can find one or more additional Y-DNA matches to the Nicholas Aldridge line.
• Additional records processed for full-text-search. As more and more records are scanned, parsed and processed for FamilySearch’s full-text search, on both sides of the pond, it is my hold that some reference to a Nicholas Aldridge who went to Maryland will fall out and give us a lead.
• Continued mining of autosomal DNA. Finding helpful autosomal matches from ancestors as far back as 1650 is an extreme long shot, but not impossible.

As I poke at the English birth datasets myself, Nicholas Aldredg continues to look promising. Born 4 Apr 1648 in Bratton, Wiltshire, the son of John and Jone Aldredg. Our Nicholas named children both John and Joane, his second-oldest son and daughter. — But the same problem applies here that applied with the other birth record: no other context; only coincidences.

Until more evidence comes to like, I’m content to have Nicholas Aldridge (d. 1708) at the top of my Aldridge-Alldredge tree.