Norfolk, England lies in East Anglia, with a long, North Sea coastline. It's a ceremonial county, with a deep, lowlands history. It's name means "North Folk", as is was populated by Angles after they arrived to the Island. It's also the speculated homeland of my Aldridge line.
The name Aldridge derived from Aldrich, which itself derived from the early given names of AElfric or AEthelric, meaning 'Elf ruler'or 'Noble ruler'. Think "The Last Kingdom", Uhtred and all of the Ethel's.
The line of Caleb Aldridge of Stanly County can be traced all the way back to John Aldrich in the 1500's, a pre-immigrant ancestor, through no sweat or labor of my own. Caleb is my fifth great grandfather.
A son of John Aldrich, Clement, arrived in Northumberland County, Virginia, prior to 1666. He was married to Susan Crompton, a widow of Edmond Boswell. Clement, born in 1601, had a son named Clement II, born in 1636, who had a son named William, who had a son named Isaac who had a son named Caleb, who had a son named Caleb.
The Aldridge family, also seen in old records as Ardlege, also as Eldridge, even, was the family that actually triggered my dive into the genealogy pool. I have two lines back to Caleb Aldridge, one biological, one not.
Two events happened in my teens that would launch an all-out investigation. On July 31, 1973, my mother's paternal grandfather, Will Davis, passed away. I was 13. My mother was a serious scrapbooker, clipping every news article concerning the family. It was in his obituary that I discovered that Papaw Will's mother was named Juliana Aldridge before her marriage. Her full name was Frances Juliana, pronounced "Jew -leyena" as in North CaroLINA.
And then a few years later, Uncle Ted, on the other side of the family, my grandmother's brother, passed away, and in the obituary, his mother was named as Julie Aldridge. That caught my attention. The names were so similar. This took me straight to the History room at the library, digging through old records. There were not too many teenagers digging through the old genealogy books and census records, or showing up at the courthouse looking for historic deeds and death records. Actually, I was the only one.
I discovered that Julina Aldridge had a twin sister named Julia. For a time I thought my mother's Great Grandmother and Daddy's (my non-biological father) grandmother were twin sisters. They were not.
I was very young and still had a great deal to learn, both about genealogy and life in general. I found out that Julie was a typo, Grandma's mother was called Judy, not Julie. Her full name was Judith Edith Aldridge Hudson, and while she and Juliana were not sisters, or even first cousins, they were related, both descendants of Caleb Aldridge Jr.
Caleb had only two sons, Henry Garner Aldridge, some will throw a David in there, David Henry Garner Aldridge, the older of the two, and Josiah. An unusual situation for the time frame. Julina, my mother's Great Grandmother, was the daughter of Garner. Judy, my Daddy's Grandmother, was the granddaughter of Josiah, through his son J. Pinkney Aldridge. This relationship has no affect on me, as I was seven when they married and not his biological child, but it had a tragic effect on the two children they had together, and therefore on the entire family. It seems both carried the same recessive gene through their previously unknown Aldridge connection, and with each of their two children together, only a 25 percent chance did the defective condition have to show up. Both were victims of it. And I had found the relation between them as fourth cousins.
I was fortunate later on, after joining the Stanly County Genealogical Society, around 2012 or so, I met Stanly County's premier expert on the Aldridge family, Don Aldridge, a distant cousin. He had compiled information on all things Aldridge, and a great deal of personal information on individuals that I found captivating. They were no longer just names and dates, but fully fleshed individuals with quirky traits and fascinating lives. Don is no longer with us, but the information he shared with me goes on forever. He had conducted interviews with his oldest relatives, those who knew things about the people who had made up the community in their youth. I recall one conversation that he shared with me, that has stuck with me ever since. It was a conversation he had with his elderly aunt, Maudie Scarboro. He had questioned her about a certain sect of the family that had ran afoul of the association with 'decent folk', the church, and perhaps even, the law. "They weren't good people", she reluctantly informed him. He replied, "I don't care if they were good people or not, I just want to know if they lived and if they died."
I'm glad that I was able to contribute and correct certain information as new records became more easily accessible, for instance the fact that Garner and his wife, Priscilla's youngest son was not John Adam Aldridge, but Joseph Benjamin Aldridge, who was born November 6, 1861, in Stanly County, lived primarily in Cabarrus County, and died in 1925 at 63, in Broughton Hospital in Morganton of "Exhaustion of Mania". Joe wasn't found in the 1870 or 1880 census, and it is unknown who raised him, but he was an infant when his father died during the Civil War. There were also loose daughters of my Great Great Grandmother, Julina Aldridge, and one attributed to the wrong parent, but Don's research is indispensable, and I hope his family treasures it as much as I have.
Caleb Aldridge II was my 4th Great Grandfather on my Maternal Grandfather's side.
He and his own father show up in the 1820 census of Anson County, side by side. According to Don, Caleb Jr., born in 1794, had moved to Stewart County, Tennessee, then changed his mind, sold his property and returned to Anson County to be with his ailing father in his last days.
The above is a record of Caleb Aldridge, next to Clement Aldridge, in an 1811 listing of the taxable men of Stewart County, Tennessee. I don't know if this is Caleb Sr. or Jr., but Clement would have had to been Caleb's brother, Clement, born in 1789, so I believe it was Caleb Jr. In fact Caleb, the son of Caleb, Jr. and Anna, had several siblings: Clement, Jonathan, Erza, Isham, William and Eleazar "Eli" Aldridge.
The above Grant, No. 2531, dated 1819, and entered July 26, 1816, concerns a 100-acre tract on Ginger Pin Branch, in Anson County. Now, I have no idea where that little stream is, but one piece of information I disagreed with Don on was that Caleb, Jr. was born in Anson County. In the 1800 census, the one following his birth, his father is recorded in Mecklenburg County, Salisbury indicates not the town, but the Superior Court District. I believe that "Ginger Pen" was intended to be Chinkapin, instead.
| Name | Caleb Aldrige |
|---|---|
| Home in 1800 (City, County, State) | Salisbury, Mecklenburg, North Carolina |
| Free White Persons - Males - Under 10 | 2 |
| Free White Persons - Males -10 thru 15 | 3 |
| Free White Persons - Males - 45 and over | 1 |
| Free White Persons - Females - Under 10 | 2 |
| Free White Persons - Females - 26 thru 44 | 1 |
| Number of Household Members Under 16 | 7 |
| Number of Household Members Over 25 | 2 |
| Number of Household Members | 9 |
Caleb doesn't appear in the 1820 census of Anson, and the Montgomery doesn't have an 1820, so I believe Caleb was in Montgomery by 1820.
His younger brother, Eli, appears in the 1830 census, near people, some relatives, whom I know lived in the part that would become Union County.
In 1832, Eli enters a grant on Chinkapin Creek in Anson County, bordering Mecklenburg, and this stream is now in the Goose Creek Township of Union County. Eli would eventually remove to Alabama and Clement had remained in Tennessee.
Caleb Jr. does appear in the 1840 census of Montgomery County, and in the very next year, the area where he had settled was part of the new County of Stanly. In the early tax lists, it shows that Caleb and his two sons lived along Alligator Branch. Caleb had 150 acres of land, and it appears his two boys had started their own families but were living on their father's land.
Alligator Branch runs through the town of Aquadale, in Tyson Township, starting on the northeast side of town and following a southwest trajectory to the Rocky River Springs, where it curves off sharply to the west between a set of hills, to meet the Murray Branch, which empties into the Rocky River.
It is in this exact neighborhood that in 1841, when the newly formed County of Stanly had made plans to greatly increase the roadways throughout the County, and in order number 28, Stokes McIntyre, who was married to Elizabeth Murray, was appointed overseer of the road leading from Winfields Ford to Salisbury,beginning where Parham's Path crosses said road, and work to the head of Cat tail and that Daniel Crump and hands, William Hinson, Shelby Carpenter, George Coley, Sally Easley's hands, Caleb Aldridge and John G. Aldridge work as hands on said road. Now, there was no 'John G. Aldridge', so I must conclude that the writer was referring to Garner, because of the 'G'. Garner married Priscilla Murray, sister of Elizabeth Murray McIntyre, so Stokes was his brother-in-law. The road would become known as the Winfield Road and crossed into Anson County at the Winfield Ford, which would become the Davis Ford.
Margaret Jane
Caleb Aldridge and his first wife, Rebecca Cagle Aldridge, only had two known sons, but they may have had other sisters.
| Name | Calep Andrew Junior |
|---|---|
| Enumeration Date | 7 Aug 1820 |
| Home in 1820 (City, County, State) | Anson, North Carolina, USA |
| Free White Persons - Males - Under 10 | 1 Garner (born 1818) |
| Free White Persons - Females - Under 10 | 2 |
| Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 15 | 1 |
| Free White Persons - Females - 26 thru 44 | 1 Rebecca |
| Number of Persons - Engaged in Agriculture | 1 |
| Free White Persons - Under 16 | 4 |
| Free White Persons - Over 25 | 1 |
| Total Free White Persons | 5 |
| Total All Persons - White, Slaves, Colored, Other | 5 |
In the 1820 census of Anson County, there is clearly a transcription error, but in the visual document, there is a mark for an adult male between 26 and 44. Rebecca is in that same age group. Garner would be the under 10 at two years old, but there is also a female between 10 and 15 and two under 10. If these were daughters, their identities were unknown.
In 1840, his next, the family setting has changed.
| Name | Caleb Alldridge |
|---|---|
| Residence Date | 1840 |
| Home in 1840 (City, County, State) | West Pee Dee River, Montgomery, North Carolina |
| Free White Persons - Males - 15 thru 19 | 1 Josiah |
| Free White Persons - Males - 40 thru 49 | 1 Caleb |
| Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9 | 1 Jane |
| Free White Persons - Females - 40 thru 49 | 1 Rebecca |
| Persons Employed in Agriculture | 1 |
| No. White Persons over 20 Who Cannot Read and Write | 1 |
| Free White Persons - Under 20 | 2 |
| Free White Persons - 20 thru 49 | 2 |
| Total Free White Persons | 4 |
| Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves | 4 |
Garner is now a young adult and newly married. The two children are likely Josiah (1823) and Margaret Jane (1828).
Margaret Jane was an adopted daughter of Caleb Aldridge. In Don's records, he recounts an old wives tale about how a man wanted to cross the Rocky River, but the river was swollen and Caleb offered to let him spend the night with his little girl. The next morning, the man said he had to cross the river, do or die, but didn't want to take the little girl, so he left Margaret Jane with the Aldridges, and never returned. She remembered her first and middle name, but not her last. The courts tell a different story.
Margaret Jane grew up to marry Green Wesley Simpson, a devout and curious man. He would later seek out the truth of his wife's origins and discovered she was a Ross.
There existed a woman in the area named Polly Ross. I am unsure of whose daughter, or widow, (if she was one), she was, but I know whose mother she was.
In the February, 1843 Session of the court of Pleas and Quarters of Stanly County, was the following entry:
"James, William, Jane and Ervine Ross to Benjamin Murray. Bond filed. Jane may have been living in the home of Caleb Aldridge prior to this, but the court changed the order to Ben. Ben then obviously allowed her return the to older couple. Their mother is revealed in other entries in the court orders
In a separate entry in the same session, William was ordered to be brought to court to be bound out.
Irvin was already bound to Benjamin Murray until he was 21 in 1842
A few years later, William Ross, now an adult, enters 100 acres on Long Branch, near his brother, James Ross.
In 1848, William Ross was excluded from the poll tax.
In November of 1846, Sarah Ross was appointed administratrix of the estate of 'Willie' Ross, with Woodson Ross giving a $100 security bond.
The above shows an August 1855 suite of Polly Ross vs Heirs of Woodson Ross. Evidentally, there were more than one Polly Ross. I must explore this part of this family more in depth, but of the four Ross children of a Polly Ross, only James and Jane made it to 1850. Ervin Mauldin, another Stanly County researcher, author and distant cousin, once told me that he thought Ben Murray had worked those poor children to death. Ervin was also a Simpson, related to Green Wesley. He had in his possession the Green Wesley Simpson Bible, which chronicled many events in the community.
1850
Caleb's family was enumerated in the Ross District of Stanly County in 1850, which would become Tyson Township. He is 56, his wife Rebecca, 58 and their adopted daughter, Margaret Jane, was 18. They are living between George Coley and William McIntyre, a Cooper. Caleb is still shown with his 150 acres on Alligator Branch.
Rebecca was born Rebecca Cagle about 1792. She is often merged in family trees with the Rebecca Cagle of the same time period who married George Whitley. They were two very different Rebecca Cagles. I have not attempted to sort through the Cagle family, although I am obviously a descendant, beyond the knowledge that nearly all, if not all, of the Cagle family that settled in our locality were the descendants of one Leonhart "Leonard" Kegel, which had been anglicized into Cagle. He was a German immigrant from Obermehlingen, Renish, Palatinate, Germany.
The Palatines came from along the Rhine River and Leonard had settled, as many did, in Berks County, Pennsylvania. If the consensus of descendants is factual, Rebecca descends through his son, Johan Theobald Dewalt "David" Kegel/ Cagle, who died in Moore County, NC in 1793, and then through his son, George Cagle (1750-1825), who then migrated to Cabarrus County, and finally to Montgomery, to the part that became Stanly.
The Cagle Family Bible gives Rebecca a birthdate of April 4, 1791, which corresponds closely with the census records.
Rebecca passed away on Saturday, November 8th, 1856. This was recorded in the Green Wesley Simpson Bible. He was her son-in-law, having married Jane.
"Rebecca Ardledge wife of Caleb Ardledge departed this Life on Saturday Nite the 8 of November 1856. she departed this life in place with her God on her death bed. She departed with a heavenly smile, loving countenance and she told all that stood by to meet her in Heaven. Glory be to God."
Green Wesley Simpson, a deacon and teacher at the Rehobeth Church, was also an archivist of sorts, and recorder of information in the Rocky River Springs community. It is believed, and rightly so, that she was buried at the Rehobeth Church cemetery.
There are two deeds that dealt with the founding of the church, one dated 1852 and the other dated 1856. Both dealt with the sale of property along the Winfield Road, belonging to Benjamin Murray, for the establishment of the church. Ben was the brother of Caleb's daughter- in- law, Priscilla, who had married Garner. The property had been sold to the trustees of Rehobeth Episcopal Church South, named for the Rehobeth Springs nearby. The trustees were named as John Poplin, James M. Davis, William Hendley, William R. Randle and Caleb Aldridge. There were two tracts, one for 9 acres and the other for 6 and 3/4 acres. The witnesses were A J Green and G. W. Simpson. The flock was led by Green W. Simpson and itinerate ministers, until the arrival of Rev. J. W. Pruitt, a permanent placement. Rebecca may have been the first internment in the cemetery but was certainly one of the first if not.
There is no doubt that Caleb missed his devout and dedicated Christian wife. He was older, but still very much alive, so two months after her passing, he went in search of a wife. For that role, in found Elizabeth Osborne Bullard.
Elizabeth was a 41-year-old widow and the wedding took place in Union County on September 18, 1858. Jacob Tomberlin was the bondsman.
1860 finds Caleb at 66, with his 43-year-old bride, Elizabeth, living next to two of the other trustees, William Hendley and John Poplin, and Jesse Murray II, son of Ben Murray, named for Ben's father, Jesse, another fourth Great Grandfather.
The 1870 census was Caleb's last. He's listed next to his soul surviving son, Josiah, having lost Garner to the Civil War. His age is given as 80, with Elizabeth 49. They are still in the same area, and still near George Coley. It is all based on which way the census taker drove his wagon.
Caleb passed away sometime between 1870 and 1880, probably closer to 1870, and we all feel he was likely buried at Rehobeth next to Rebecca.
The three known children of Caleb Aldridge and Rebecca Cagle, his first wife, were:
1) Henry Garner Aldridge, aka "David" Garner Aldridge, (1818-1862), Married Priscilla Murray, daughter of Jesse Murray and Elizabeth Bass. 13 children. Served in the Civil War as a substitute for Ben Murray, his brother-in-law. Died of disease. His son J. Walker Aldridge has one of the first legible standing markers in Rehobeth Cemetery.
2) Josiah W. Aldridge (possibly Josiah Walker) (1823-1899) Married first, Elizabeth Ledbetter, daughter of William Johnson Ledbetter and Penelope "Nelly" Wall. Two children: William Edward "Will Ed" and James Pinkney "Pink". Married second, Martha Elizabeth McIntyre, daughter of Stokes McIntyre and Elizabeth Murray. Eight children, buried at Rocky Mount Church in Anson County.
3) Margaret Jane Ross Aldridge (1828-1887) Married Green Wesley Simpson, 12 children. Buried at Rehobeth.
Elizabeth Osborne Bullard Aldridge, his young widow, outlived Caleb by around two decades. In 1880, she is found living with her nephew, Joshua. She died in 1893, and was planted in the old Rehobeth grounds.
Her scratched out slate maker remains, in the old section, threatened to be swallowed by the encroaching woods. Who knows how many old ancestors remain in that woodland edge.
Dedicated to Donald Aldridge
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