Nicholas Aldridge, Maryland

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History of Nicholas (IV) Aldridge (1653 - 1708)
27 September 2014 · 0 Comments

by Garry Bryant

Nicholas IV Aldridge
Tobacco Farmer
(1653 - 1708)

Nicholas was the son of Nicholas Aldridge and Margaret Allred. Christiened 28 December 1653, at East Wellow, Hampshire, England. He died 21 November 1708, Severn River, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, USA.
Married about 1678/1679 to Martha Besson.

Martha was born about 1657, the daughter of Capt. Thomas Besson and his wife Anne ???. (Please see Besson family history.)

The couple attended the church at South River called All Hallows Parish. He was living in Anne Arundel County as early as 1678, for a payment of 50 pounds of tobacco was made to him. Tobacco was the money currency. Nicholas paid rent in August 1680, for land on the south side of Mag-othy River. He was still living on the same 300 acres in 1707, at which time he paid 12 shillings for rent.

It is believed that he died on 21 November 1708. His wife Martha remarried to John Roberts on 5 November 1709, and died about 1719.

There are numerous court proceedings on record that involve Nicholas. The first record is in March 1702, as a defendant against Taylor & Company. More than likely the first few years concern Nicholas (Sr.). The last court record is dated August 1787, and is the grandson of the first Nicholas. His Will is dated 22 August 1708.

Nicholas and Martha (Besson) Aldridge had ten children. (Please see Besson family history.)

CHILDREN

1. Thomas Aldridge - Born 5 November 1680. Married on 15 July 1702/03, to Elizabeth Purdy, All Hallow’s Parish, Anne Arundel Ann Aldridge - Born 6 November 1684. Married to Richard Richeson on 3 December 1707. She died 1761.

3. John Aldridge - Born 31 August 1688. Married on 1 April 1719, to Susannah Jones.

4. Joane Aldridge - Born 10 September 1689.

5. Sydney Aldridge - Born 9 August 1693.

6. Jane Aldridge - Born 3 April 1696. Married 1st Thomas Disney; 2nd John Watts.

7. Nicholas (V) Aldridge - Born 11 May 1698. Married to Ursula ???. He died 17 March 1762.

8. William Aldridge - Born 30 October 1700. Died young.

9. William Aldridge - Born 13 March 1702. Married to Elizabeth Symons.

10. James Aldridge - Born 1 July 1706. Married 25 February 1761, to Mary Gassaway, All Hallows Parish, Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

SOURCE
Franklin R. Aldridge, Aldridge Records .Volume II. (Nashville, Tennessee: Self published, 1975.)
(FHL-USA/CAN 929.273 AL24a v.2.) (NOTE - all data from this source.)

Birth: Mar. 13, 1702
Anne Arundel County
Maryland, USA
Death: Apr. 11, 1786
Randolph County
North Carolina, USA

William ALDRIDGE II was the ninth child of ten children born to Nicholas ALDRIDGE IV and his wife Martha BEESON who had settled in the South River tidal basin of All Hollows Episcopal Parish of Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The South River enters the Chesapeake Bay south of the historic port city of Annapolis where the first ALDRIDGE arrived from England.

The father of William ALDRIDGE II was Nicholas ALDRIDGE IV born 25 December 1653 in England who was among the first emigrants from East Wellow Parish, Wiltshire, Hampshire, England very near the port of South Hampton to arrive in America at Annapolis, Maryland in 1667 on a sailing ship as a young man.

Nicholas ALDRIDGE IV age 26 married Martha BEESON age 17 in 1679 in All Hallows Parish, Anne Arundel, Maryland. Nicholas ALDRIDGE IV died on 21 Nov 1708 age 54 and his wife Martha BEESON died 19 Oct 1719 age 57 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. It is suggested that at least one adult child of the Nicholas ALDRIDGE IV family migrated between 1735 -1740 after the death of their parents from All Hallows Parish, Anne Arundel County, Maryland into western Frederick County, Maryland. This was William ALDRIDGE II and perhaps his brother James who located near the great wagon road that crossed the Potomac River at a ford into colonial Frederick County, Virginia (now Jefferson County, West Virginia). Two daughters of William married two York brother neighbors across the Potomac River before 1750 from Terrapin Neck, Colonial Frederick County, Virginia.

The children of Nicholas ALDRIDGE IV and his wife Martha BEESON included:

1. Thomas ALDRIDGE, b.1680 who m. Elizabeth Purdy d/o John and Mary,
2. Nicholas ALDRIDGE, b. 1698 who married Ursula,
3. Ann ALDRIDGE, b. 1684,
4. John ALDRIDGE, b. 1688 (may have married Susannah),
5. Joane ALDRIDGE, b. 1689,
6. Sidney ALDRIDGE, b. 1693,
7. Jane ALDRIDGE, b. 1696,
8. William ALDRIDGE I, b. 1700, d. 1702,
9. William ALDRIDGE II, b. 1702, d. 1786
10. James ALDRIDGE, b. 1706

William ALDRIDGE II married Elizabeth Ursula SYMMONS in Anne Arundel County, Maryland on about 1727, when he was 25 years old and she was 24 years old.

Their first five children were born in All Hallows Parish, Ann Arundel County, Maryland. Then they migrated west to Frederick County, Maryland by 1735 where their next three children were born. William and Elizabeth Aldridge with all of their children most likely joined the wagon train with several other family groups in 1755 to migrate into central colonial North Carolina into the Sandy Creek Settlement. This migration to flee the dangers and fears in Virginia was following the great unrest that was caused by Indians after the French and Indian War in July 1755.

[Note: There is on going research regarding William Aldridge vs William Akeridge, FAG Memorial#149058230. William Ezekiel Akeridge married Elizabeth "Eliza" Symmons, FAG Memorial #139170012, on 3 July 1726 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Apparently a William Ezekiel Akeridge migrated into Georgia around the mid 1750's. Some descendants of the Georgia Akeridge families believe Akeridge/Akridge is an unrelated separate surname family while others believe it is is most likely a nephew that choose to use or adopted an alternate spelling of Aldridge which was very common. (YDNA testing of living male Akridge members would resolve this issue.)]

The children of William ALDRIDGE II and Elizabeth Ursula SYMMONS most likely included:

1. Joseph ALDRIDGE (1728 -1808)I*
2. William ALDRIDGE III (1729-1789)
3. Elinor ALDRIDGE (1730-1795)*
4. Sylvania ALDRIDGE (1731-1791)
5. Samuel ALDRIDGE (1735-?)
6. Nicholas ALDRIDGE (1737-1807)
7. Nathaniel "Nathan" Benjamin ALDRIDGE (1740-1826)
8. James ALDRIDGE (1742 - 1807)

Note: There has been much confusion between William ALDRIDGE II the father with eight children, and William ALDRIDGE III the son with fifteen children. The death date of 13 Nov. 1789 or more correctly 13 Oct 1789 age 60 per the inscription on his tombstone belongs to William ALDRIDGE III, the son who is buried at the McMasters Cemetery a few miles south east of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church Cemetery. There has also been considerable confusion with a nephew William Ezekiel Akeridge who married Elizabeth Symons on 3 July 1726. William Ezekiel Akeridge and Elizabeth Symons migrated from Anne Arundel, Maryland into Montgomery County, Georgia where their descendants flourished for generations....Genealogist Dennis York.

In 1748 John Carteret, the 2nd Earl of Granville, began to parcel out acreage to settlers in colonial North Carolina which he had purchased from King George II of England. These were the first privately owned properties in North Carolina, known as land grants. Residence within a year was a requirement of ownership. In 1752 Orange County, North Carolina was designated. William ALDRIDGE'S name appears on the first colonial Orange County tax list in 1755.

The REGULATORS ADVERTISEMENT No. 9 of 1768 documented in the North Carolina Colonial Records Volume VII, pages 735-737 identifies three Aldridge men as "REGULATORS" from colonial Orange County, North Carolina area. These were most likely three of the oldest sons of William Aldridge II, listed as Nicholas, Nathan and James Aldridge. No doubt these three brothers Nicholas, Nathan and James Aldridge were involved in the 16 May 1771 Battle of Alamance Creek. It appears their older brother William Aldridge III served on the opposite side as a British red coat guard that guarded the sick and wounded from that 16 May 1771 Battle of Alamance. William Aldridge II received 5 pounds 14 shillings for 58 days of service per the North Carolina Colonial Records Volume XXII, pages 418-419.

These three Aldridge men signed this petition to colonial British Governor William Tryon for redress of grievances such as over taxation and extortion along with many other backwoodsmen from this area. The names Nicholas, Nathan and James Aldridge appear on the Regulators Advertisement, but without listing a particular farm, property, or family relationship. It is noted that many of the names in the list are those of neighbors known to have lived in the Sandy Creek and Mount Pleasant Creek communities of colonial Orange (now Randolph) County.

The Aldridge family members were also known to have militia service in Revolutionary War activities. The North Carolina Colonial Records, Volume XXVII, pages 189-190 lists the abstract of Army accounts of the North Carolina Line for services from 1 September 1784 to 1 February 1785, paid at Halifax in 1786. William Aldridge (III), Joseph Aldridge, Thomas Aldridge, and Jesse Aldridge are listed with the amounts of their army pay. In Nov 1786 the Commissioners of the Army Accounts in the North Carolina General Assembly awarded a certificate from the Comptroller
to officers including William Aldridge (III). Documented in The North Carolina Colonial Records, Volume XXVIII, pages 253-254.

A William ALDRIDGE II had a land grant (or deed) for 256 acres along a branch of Sandy Creek, (in that part of Orange County that in 1779 became Randolph County, North Carolina), issued in 1756. Source: "Aldridge Records" by F. R. Alldredge, pg. 52. Book 14 P328 File 312.

Other sources: Randolph County, North Carolina, Book 66 P 373 File 486, "Alldredge Records" by F.R. Alldredge, pg. 52.

U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900. Family Data Collection - births, deaths, and individual.

Family Data Collections - Deaths. Edmund West, comp. Family Data Collection - Deaths [database on-line]. Provo, UT.

Family Data Collections - Individual Records. Edmund West, comp. Source Citations.

Alldredge-Aldridge-Bracken-Nesmith families and their kin", by Memory Aldridge Lester, private printing in 1957.

Maryland, Marriages, 1634-1777

Sons of the Revolution (SAR) application for Grady Aldridge in 1966.

There are many variations found in spelling the surname ALDRIDGE that researchers acknowledge as the same family. One can find even in the same family records, on tombstones inscriptions, U S Census records, transcribed records in court houses, SAR or DAR Applications and printed books these variations; such as, ALLRIDGE, ALKRIDGE, ALLREDGE, AKERIDGE, etc..

In conclusion, I believe there is much more to be learned by studying the ALDRIDGE families of southern Maryland, Georgia and central North Carolina. Perhaps even more will be discovered by those that pursue the ALDRIDGE research further, especially among living descendants of this William ALDRIDGE II family.

Mike Marshall
michaelm@inna.net
Dennis York, Editor
dryork2@airmail.net

Family links:
Parents:
Nicholas Aldridge (1653 - 1708)
Martha Besson Aldridge (1662 - 1719)

Spouse:
Elizabeth Ursula Symmons Aldridge (1703 - 1773)

Children:
Joseph Aldridge (1728 - 1808)*
William Aldridge (1729 - 1789)*
Elinor Aldridge (1730 - 1795)*
Sylvania L. Aldridge York (1731 - 1791)*
Nathaniel Benjamin Aldridge (1739 - 1826)*

Sibling:
Thomas Aldridge (1681 - 1726)*
William Aldridge (1702 - 1786)

*Calculated relationship

Burial:
Sandy Creek Baptist Church Cemetery
Staley
Randolph County
North Carolina, USA
Plot: Row 4, Grave 3b
GPS (lat/lon): 35.8237, -79.64325

Maintained by: Dennis York
Originally Created by: rosehill9
Record added: Feb 24, 2005
Find A Grave Memorial# 10522139

Fortunately, the Last Will and Testament of William Arledge of Northumberland
County, Virginia has survived. Dated 5 August 1724, and proved on 21 January
1725, the will names four sons: William, John, Clement, and Isaac Arledge.
These names match perfectly with the “ent” “m” “aac” and “hn” in the
fragmentary birth records for the sons of Clement Aldridge. This is powerful
evidence that, in Wicomico, the names of “Aldridge” and “Arledge” were
interchangeable, and that this William Arledge was in fact the son of Clement
Aldridge. Also, the will names William Fallin as guardian of William Arledge
“until he Comes to the age of Twenty one years,” and Charles Fallin as
guardian of John Arledge “until he Comes to the age of Twenty years.” From
this it may be deduced that William was born before August 1703, and that
John was born before August 1704. William Fallin and Charles Fallin were
brothers of Alice Fallin, first wife of William Aldridge or Arledge. But it
does not prove that this John Aldridge or Arledge, son of William, grandson
of Clement, was the man who married Annie Hamilton.

Stafford County, Virginia, where John Alridge and Anne Hamilton were married,
was on a migration route along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay.
There were other Allred or Aldridge families along this route.

Among the early settlers of Anne Arundel County, Maryland was Nicholas
Aldridge, who acquired 300 acres of land called “Aldridge’s Beginning” on
20 August 1680. (Ref. “Settlers of Maryland 1679-1783, page 8) He married
Martha Besson, and they had eleven children, whose births were recorded at
All Hallows Parish on South River. The parish records date back to 1 March
1669. (http://www.allhallows.ang-md.org/history.shtml) The children were:

Thomas (Born 5 November 1680)
Anne (Born 6 November 1684
Martha (Born 1686)
John (Born 31 August 1688)
Joane (Born 10 September 1689)
Sydney (Born 9 August 1693, died young)
Jane (Born 3 April 1696)
Nicholas (Born 16 May 1698)
William (Born 30 October 1700, died young)
William (Born 13 March 1702)
James (Born 1 July 1706)

William Aldridge, son of Nicholas Aldridge and Martha Besson, married
Elizabeth Symons on 3 July 1726, in Maryland. It is believed that William
was the father of Sylvania Aldridge (who married Seymore York Sr.), and the
grandfather of Jeremiah York. Seymore York Sr. died 8 February 1783 and is
buried in the Sandy Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in Randolph County, North
Carolina; his will names “Salvania” and Semore (Jr.), “my wife and my son” as
executors. It was this Jeremiah York, the son of Seymore and Sylvania, who
purchased 144 acres on Mount Pleasant Creek from Thomas Aldred on 10 April
1788, and who married Sarah Alred, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Allred.

On 26 January 1749, William Aldridge the elder, son of Nicholas Aldridge
and Martha Besson, was named by William Peele of Anne Arundel County, in his
will, as his godson. He received £10. He is believed to have died in Anne
Arundel County. But his son, William Ezekiel Aldridge, did move to North
Carolina. He is listed as Ezekiel Alred in the 1790 census records for Randolph County. He died on 24 October 1793 and is buried at Old McMasters
Cemetery in Randolph County. He named fourteen children in his will.

The land records and the early census records show that most of the children
of William Aldridge and Elizabeth Symons lived in North Carolina. On
6 February 1761, Nathaniel Aldrage received a grant for 220 acres on the
Bushy Fork of Flat river; Joseph Oldrage was a chain carrier. On 8 December
1762, Nathaniel Aldrage received another grant for 700 acres on both sides of
Flatt River; Joseph Oldrage was a chain carrier. On 11 December 1762, Joseph
Aldrage received a grant for 455 acres on both sides of Flat River. Both men
affixed their marks, unable to sign their names. There were several men by
the name of Alridge or Aldridge who appear in the early records of Randolph
County and vicinity. Among them were: Nicholas Aldridge (1768 tax list for
Orange County); William Aldridge and Nathaniel Aldridge (1779 tax list for
Randolph County); Joseph Aldridge (1784 tax list for Caswell County); and
Nathan Alridge (1790 census for Randolph County). All are said to be sons of
William Aldridge and Elizabeth Symons, and brothers of Sylvania Aldridge York.

The only question appears to be the parentage of William Aldridge, the
father. He is sometimes listed as the son of William Aldridge (Arledge) of
Wicomico Parish, Virginia. While this is not impossible, his marriage to
Elizabeth Symons took place in Maryland, according to a database entitled:
“U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900.”

Overwharton Parish, where Annie Hamilton was married, is actually closer to
All Hallows Parish (where the children of Nicholas Aldridge and Martha Besson
were born), than to Wicomico Parish (where the children of William Aldridge
and Alice Fallin were born). Nicholas Aldridge had at least three brothers,
but none of them came to America. Only two of his known descendants could
possibly have been the John Alridge who married Annie Hamilton:

John Aldridge (born 31 August 1688), son of Nicholas Aldridge and Martha
Besson, married Susannah Jones on 1 April 1719, who died four years later,
on 1 December 1723, in Anne Arundel County. If this is the John Alridge who
married Annie Hamilton, he would have been 95 years old when he and Lillie
Ann sold their land on Polecat Creek in Randolph County.

Thomas Aldridge, son of Nicholas Aldridge and Martha Besson, married
Elizabeth Purdy on 15 July 1702. They had at least six children (Edward,
Rebecca, Thomas, John, Martha, and Elizabeth). Their son John was born on
28 March 1712. So far as is known, he married Elinor Watkins and remained
in Maryland, raising four children (John, Jacob, Thomas and Susannah).

Long before the marriage of Seymore York and Sylvania Aldridge (c. 1749),
these two families were connected. According to the York family website,
the father of Seymore York was Jeremiah York. He migrated from England to
West Nottingham Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he appears on
the tax lists between 1718 and 1729. He married Sarah Seymore in 1724, and
their son Seymore York was born in 1727. Between 1729 and 1730 Jeremiah and
his family moved to the Pipe Creek Settlement, Carroll County, Maryland,
where their sons John York (1730), Henry York (6 August 1732) and Thomas York
(1734) were born. By 1736 Jeremiah and his family were living on part of a
1200-acre tract of land called the “Terrapin Neck” in Frederick County,
Virginia. On 7 June 1751 Jeremiah received a grant for the northeastern
323 acres of this tract, then sold it to William Chapline on 4 July 1753,

at which time the family moved to North Carolina. On 27 October 1755 the
name of Seymore York appears as a chain carrier for a survey of 256 acres of
land on Mount Pleasant Creek entered by William Aldridge. Appearing on the
1755 tax list for Randolph County are Henry York (next to Thomas Allred),
Simore York (next to William Aldrige), and John York & Son.

The name of Solomon Alred appears on the tax lists for West Nottingham
Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1724, at which time he and
Jeremiah York were neighbors, and again in 1730 (the township was established
in 1718). Also appearing on the West Nottingham Township tax lists, between
the years of 1718 and 1726, is the name of Samuel Finley, who in 1737 willed
his entire estate to a minor named “Johnny Aldridge.” The beneficiary
appeared in Orphan’s Court in Chester County on 30 May 1738 under the name
of John Aldred. His court-appointed guardian, and the administrator of the
Finley estate, was Joseph Chapline of Prince Georges County, Maryland, the
brother of the man who later purchased Jeremiah York’s “Terrapin Neck” tract.

http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/print.cgi?beck::3779.html

The name of William Alred appears in 1752 as the seller of three tracts of
land to Charles Higginbotham in Frederick County, Maryland, one of them
located on the Potomac River opposite Jeremiah York’s “Terrapin Neck” tract
in Frederick County, Virginia. Being illiterate, he left his mark on this
deed of sale, and it clearly matches the mark he left on a land grant in
North Carolina on 11 December 1762 (see above). However, this could be the
mark of William Elrod Jr., who was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania,
married in Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia, and died in Yadkin County,
North Carolina. He, too, would have followed the same migration route.

The memoirs of the Reverend Brazilla Allred, written in 1922, contain the
following passage: “My great-grandfather, William Allred, was born and reared
to manhood in Pennsylvania. In early life he came to North Carolina and
entered a large tract of land ... where he lived to a good old age and reared
his family.” Brazilla Allred, born c. 1841, was the youngest child and third
son of Clarborne Allred (born c. 1814), whose parentage is unknown. For
William Elrod Jr. (born c. 1738, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania) to have been
the grandfather of Clarborne Allred, and the great-grandfather of Brazilla
Allred, is certainly possible in terms of chronology. But this William Elrod
Jr., whose father was born c. 1708, Palatinate, Hesse, Germany, was an Allred
by name change only, and was probably unrelated to the “original” Allreds.

If Solomon Alred of Chester County, Pennsylvania appeared on the tax list
in 1724, he was born no later than 1706. If Johnnie Aldridge or Aldred of
Chester County, Pennsylvania was still a minor when he petitioned the court
in 1738, he was born no earlier than 1721, would have been a generation
younger than Solomon Alred, and might not have even been related.

The Allred family has gone to great lengths to establish a tie between the
Solomon Alred of Chester County, and John Allred and Ellen Pemberton of
Eccles Parish, Lancashire, England. They were married c. 1659 and had at
least ten children, the youngest being a son named Solomon who was baptized
on 12 November 1680. A letter from Phineas Pemberton to his father Ralph
Pemberton, dated 2 November 1678, describes “Uncle J. Alred” as quite
impoverished, “him suffer very begerly.” On 29 September 1686 a petition for
financial relief was filed in Manchester, England on behalf of John Allred.