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== Records == | == Records == | ||
=== Birth === | === Birth === | ||
The birth of William Aldridge is recorded in the parish register of All Hallow's Parish, Anne Arundel County. He was born 13 March 1703, the son of Nicholas and Martha Aldridge, and christened 11 April 1703. He was the second son of Nicholas and Martha by the name of William: another child named William was born and died in 1702. For this reason, our William's name is sometimes given as "William II."<ref> | The birth of William Aldridge is recorded in the parish register of All Hallow's Parish, Anne Arundel County. He was born 13 March 1703, the son of Nicholas and Martha Aldridge, and christened 11 April 1703. He was the second son of Nicholas and Martha by the name of William: another child named William was born and died in 1702. For this reason, our William's name is sometimes given as "William II."<ref>It appears from currently available transcriptions that the first William was christened on 12 July 1702 ("Maryland Births and Christenings, 1650-1995", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:H515-QYW2 : 12 February 2020), William Aldridge, 1702); but this scarcely gives time for the first William to pass away and the second one to be born the next March. Mrs. Lester gives the birth date of the first William as 30 October 1700 and the burial date as 26 September 1702 (Lester, 5). Maryland State Archives, Finding Aids & Indexes, Maryland Indexes, Church Records, Deaths and Burials Index, A. | ||
MSA S1402, https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/stagser/s1400/s1402/html/ssi1402a.html (accessed 6 July 2024).</ref> | |||
=== Disputed marriage === | |||
Ever since Memory Aldridge Lester's book in 1957, the claim has been made that William Aldridge married Elizabeth Symons on July 3, 1726. Without qualification, Memory wrote, "William ... married Elizabeth Symons July 3, 1726."<ref>Lester, 6.</ref> There is only one problem: this is a misreading of the marriage record. I have not laid eyes on the actual record (as of 6 July 2023, I have ordered a copy of it), but all currently available transcriptions read "William '''Akeridge''' to Elizabeth Symmons." | |||
== References == | == References == | ||
<references /> | <references /> | ||
Revision as of 11:06, 7 July 2023
| Name: | William Alldredge |
| Born: | 13 Mar 1703 All Hallow's Parish, Anne Arundel County, Maryland |
| Died: | 11 Apr 1786 Mount Pleasant Creek, Randolph County, North Carolina |
| Parents: | Believed to be son of Nicholas Aldridge and wife Martha |
| Children: | Nathan Alldredge |
Overview
William Alldredge, also known as William Alldredge Sr., settled in about 1755 in what is now Randolph County, North Carolina, but then part of colonial Orange County. He was born on 13 Mar 1703 in All Hallow's Parish, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, the son of Nicholas and Martha Aldridge.[1] He died 11 Apr 1786, per Dennis York's reading of a discovered tombstone believed to belong to William.[2] Compared to his son Nathan, I have scant records on William. The purpose of this page is to collect and verify what I do have and know.
History
As early as 1957, Memory Aldridge Lester connected our common ancestor, Nathan Alldredge, to William Aldridge born 1703 and to Nicholas Aldridge. I do not know the process by which she came to this conclusion, only that there was not a tradition of who Nathan's father or grandfather was. She appears to have reasoned out the connection by thorough and diligent research.[3] I have known her book since I was very young, but was not completely certain of her conclusions until I was able to verify them though DNA research.
When I first became serious about Aldridge-Alldredge research in 2019–2020, I was concerned by the many unsupported claims (and it seemed to me, unsupportable) made by Dennis York and others on Find a Grave and Ancestry. I tried to get in touch with Mr. York, then the administrator of the Aldridge DNA Project, but was unsuccessful. Four years later, despite repeated attempts to contact him, I have never heard back from him. I can only conclude that he is no longer able to research or communicate.
Mr. York did not provide documentation for any of his claims. In the absence of any evidence, I am unable to accept his conclusions. They are, at least, pointers to possible places to search.
Records
Birth
The birth of William Aldridge is recorded in the parish register of All Hallow's Parish, Anne Arundel County. He was born 13 March 1703, the son of Nicholas and Martha Aldridge, and christened 11 April 1703. He was the second son of Nicholas and Martha by the name of William: another child named William was born and died in 1702. For this reason, our William's name is sometimes given as "William II."[4]
Disputed marriage
Ever since Memory Aldridge Lester's book in 1957, the claim has been made that William Aldridge married Elizabeth Symons on July 3, 1726. Without qualification, Memory wrote, "William ... married Elizabeth Symons July 3, 1726."[5] There is only one problem: this is a misreading of the marriage record. I have not laid eyes on the actual record (as of 6 July 2023, I have ordered a copy of it), but all currently available transcriptions read "William Akeridge to Elizabeth Symmons."
References
- ↑ From several inadequate transcriptions, we can get the gist of the record: "Maryland Births and Christenings, 1650-1995", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HYGP-L1W2 : 12 February 2020), William Aldridg, 1703; "Maryland Births and Christenings, 1650-1995", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4LPC-BBZM : 12 February 2020), William II Aldridge, 1703; "Maryland Births and Christenings, 1650-1995", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4Z2-RDH : 12 February 2020), William Aldridge, 1703. Mrs. Lester gives the birth as 13 March 1703 (Lester, 5).
- ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10522139/william-aldridge: accessed 05 July 2023), memorial page for William Aldridge II (13 Mar 1703–11 Apr 1786), Find a Grave Memorial ID 10522139, citing Sandy Creek Baptist Church Cemetery, Liberty, Randolph County, North Carolina, USA; by Dennis York (contributor 47405652).
- ↑ Memory Aldridge Lester, Alldredge-Aldridge-Bracken-Nesmith Families and Their Kin (Chapel Hill, N.C.: privately printed, 1957), 5–6 (available on Ancestry, Internet Archive, and FamilySearch).
- ↑ It appears from currently available transcriptions that the first William was christened on 12 July 1702 ("Maryland Births and Christenings, 1650-1995", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:H515-QYW2 : 12 February 2020), William Aldridge, 1702); but this scarcely gives time for the first William to pass away and the second one to be born the next March. Mrs. Lester gives the birth date of the first William as 30 October 1700 and the burial date as 26 September 1702 (Lester, 5). Maryland State Archives, Finding Aids & Indexes, Maryland Indexes, Church Records, Deaths and Burials Index, A. MSA S1402, https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/stagser/s1400/s1402/html/ssi1402a.html (accessed 6 July 2024).
- ↑ Lester, 6.