Aldridge Surname DNA Project

Overview

The Aldridge Surname DNA Project at Family Tree DNA has conducted DNA research primarily on the Y-DNA of various Aldridge-Alldredge paternal lines. It has documented two major Aldridge-Alldredge family lineages in the United States:

• Haplogroup R-U106 – including descendants of Nicholas Aldridge (d. 1708) of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, and William Alldredge (b. 1703) of Randolph County, North Carolina.
• Haplogroup I-M223 – including descendants of Nathaniel Aldridge Sr., Joseph Aldridge and Francis Aldridge.

Several other Aldridge men with unique lineages (i.e. they do not match any other Aldridge men) have also been identified.

Analysis

On account of William Alldredge-Aldridge, Nathaniel Aldridge, and Joseph Aldridge all taking land grants in colonial Orange County, North Carolina within a decade or so of each other, between 1755 and 1762, many researchers have previously concluded that they all belonged to the same family, presuming they were brothers and sons of Nicholas Aldridge of Anne Arundel County, North Carolina. The Y-DNA indicates otherwise. Descendants of each of these men have tested their Y-DNA, one from Nathaniel, two from Joseph, and five from William. The testers from Nathaniel and Joseph match each other, having haplogroup I-M223. The descendants of William all match each other, having haplogroup R-U106. But the two groups do not match each other. They are decidedly different, unrelated families.

The descendants of Nathaniel and Joseph also match two testers from Francis Aldridge of Surry County, Virginia, whom I have not been able to relate to them by records. This appears to show that the R-U106 group is its own Aldridge lineage, extending beyond the two men in colonial Orange County and probably back to Britain.

The descendants of William Alldredge also match another tester, a descendant of Thomas Aldridge, born 1680 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, and a documented son of Nicholas Aldridge. Thomas's family remained in Maryland for several generations. The DNA match between William's descendants and Thomas's descendant offers proof of William's connection to Nicholas.

Lineages

R-U106 Group

The R-U106 lineage is represented by six Y-DNA testers. Their ancestry is as follows:

• Nicholas Aldridge (d. 1708 Anne Arundel, Md.)
  • Thomas Aldridge (b. 1680 Anne Arundel, Md., d. c. 1712 Maryland) md. Elizabeth Purdy
    • John Aldridge (b. 1712 Anne Arundel, Md., d. 1750 Prince George, Md.) md. Eleanor Watkins
      • Thomas Aldridge (b. 1744 Maryland, d. Kentucky) md. Elizabeth Crow
        • 1 tester: #854545 (Big-Y 700)
  • William Alldredge (b. 1703 Anne Arundel, Md., d. 1789 Randolph, N.C.)
    • William Alldredge (b. 1729 Randolph, N.C., d. 1789 Randolph, N.C.)
      • Ezekiel Aldridge (b. 1757 Randolph, N.C., d. 1824 Posey, Ind.) md. Rachel Huff
        • 4 testers: #B704071 (Big-Y 700), #860485 (Y111), #17831 (Y37), #69744 (Y37)
    • Nathan Alldredge (b. 1739 Randolph, N.C., d. 1826 Knox, Ala.) md. Hannah Madden-Maiden
      • Andrew Alldredge (b. 1782 Randolph, N.C., 1848 Blount, Ala.) md. Leah Chaney
        • 1 tester: #957073

The three R-U106 Big-Y testers have led to the discovery of the lineage's terminal <acronym title="Single Nucleotide Polymorphism">SNP</acronym>: R-FTC89975, a subclade of R-Z154. According to Family Tree DNA's analysis, the median time-to-most-recent-common-ancestor (TMRCA) for this group of testers is about 1500 CE, approaching reasonably close to the supposed birthdate of Nicholas Aldridge of 1653. Further, the two Big-Y testers for William have led to the discovery of a new SNP and haplogroup, R-FTB32679. If it is true that Thomas and William were brothers, then this SNP appears to have originated with William (b. 1703) himself.

R-U106

~2950 BCE

R-Z301

~2500 BCE

R-Z154

~250 CE

R-FTC89975

~1500 CE

Descendants of Thomas Aldridge (b. 1680)

R-FTB32679

~1550 CE

Descendants of William Aldridge (b. 1703)

I-M223 Group

IJK-L15

~44,000 BCE

K-M9

~43,000 BCE

R-M207

~26,000 BCE

I-M223

~15,000 CE

Descendants of Nathaniel Aldridge (b. ~1730), Joseph Aldridge (b. ~1735), and Francis Aldridge (b. ~1730s)

R-M269

~4,350 BCE

R-U106

~1550 CE

Descendants of Nicholas Aldridge