The day had come, the funeral was over, the dishes were washed and labeled and ready to return to the kind neighbors, church family and kin who had brought food for the survivors. It had came time to sort through the deceaseds belongings, what to keep, what to distribute, what to sell, what to discard. I came across an old picture box from my mother's side of the family. My mother had volumes upon volumes of albums with those sticky, peel away sheets, but this box was different. The box was fragile,and the contents much older than the those behind plastic barriers. I came across a familiar face.
The frail, elderly man in overalls, looked out at me from the undated black and white snapshot. A faded house behind him, mostly no longer visible save the steps and porch rails. There was no name on the photograph, and I had never met the man, but I knew who he was. I promptly labeled the back of the photo for future finders.
The reason I knew the mans name was because I had came across this very same photo before, not the same print, but the same image. It had been in the photo box of my grandmother from the other side of the family. Why had a box of photos from my mother's side of the family held a photo of this older gentleman, who was not a member of the immediate family, that was a copy of a photo that my Grandma Thompson had, the mother of my daddy, my daddy who raised me, but with whom I don't share DNA? Grandma Thompson had labeled her copy of the photo. I had looked through her collection, this grandmother born just before the turn of the century, many times as a child. She told me who each person, or event was. There was a picture of a school, with name, address and teacher's name on the back, that no one in the local history museum knew existed, but that my grandmother had attended around 1906-1912. She had photos of not only her siblings, but also friends in the neighborhood of Cottonville. Then she also had this one.
The slim old farmer, with his tiny head nearly hidden by an oversized bowler was Math Aldridge. This is the story of how his photograph ended up in the family photos of both my Mom's family and my Daddy's family.
James Matthew Aldridge was born November 28, 1878, in Stanly County, North Carolina. According to his World War I Draft Registration Card, he was of medium height and build at the age of 39, and had blue eyes and light, or blonde hair. His wife was named, Berta, and they were farmers living along Route 2, Norwood.
My personal family tree declares that Math is my 2nd cousin 4 times removed. This is through my mother's side, as the other is not biological. Math was the son of Josiah W. Aldridge and his wife, Martha Susan Floyd, in the Tyson Community, near the town of Aquadale. His family was a large one, typical of the day, and his father, known as "Pink", had a storied past. Pink had fathered a child with a married woman, 18 years his elder, when he was but 14 years old, and that is a story all its own. The pedifiliac woman would wear a certain attire when she desired to meet the lusty young teen, and stand at a fence waiting, but that's for another time. Tyson was a land of its own.
Pink was 22 when he married Martha Susan Floyd in November of 1867.
| Name | J. P. Aldrage |
|---|---|
| Age | 32 |
| Birth Date | Abt 1848 |
| Birthplace | North Carolina |
| Home in 1880 | Tysons, Stanly, North Carolina, USA |
| Dwelling Number | 65 |
| Race | White |
| Gender | Male |
| Relation to Head of House | Self (Head) |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Spouse's Name | Martha S. Aldrage |
| Father's Birthplace | North Carolina |
| Mother's Birthplace | North Carolina |
| Occupation | Farmer |
| Sick | Well |
| Cannot Read | Y |
| Cannot Write | Y |
| Neighbors | View others on page |
| Name | Age |
|---|---|
| J. P. Aldrage | 32 |
| Martha S. Aldrage | 29 |
| Sarah E. Aldrage | 9 |
| Juda E. Aldrage | 8 |
| Wm. M. Aldrage | 6 |
| Jas. M Aldrage | 1 |
Math would make his first appearance in a record in 1880, as a one year old and fourth born child of this union. He followed Sarah Elizabeth, Judith Edith, and William Martin.
His Mother's People:
Martha Susan Floyd was the daughte of Josiah (sometimes seen as Joseph) "Joe" Floyd IV, and wife Sarah Sophia "Sophie" Easley, two family names with deep Tyson Community roots. Joe's parents had migrated from the Mecklenburg and Brunswick County area of Virginia in the 1790's, with a 19 year old Job Davis in tow, the ancestor who I named my blog in honor of. Joe's mother, Mary Tillman Floyd was a Davis descendant, her mother, Rebecca Ann Davis, the oldest daughter of Henry Davis and Mary Marriott, who married Roger Tillman first, and James Taylor second. I believe Mary to be the first cousin of Job Davis.
The Easleys, in kind, were a big Cotton raising family in the area known as Cottonville, but not as big as the Crumps, but fairly equal to that of the Davis family.
Math's older sister, Judith Edith "Judie" Aldridge, would marry James Robert Hudson, and they would become my Grandma Thompson's parents. That made Math Grandma's Uncle, but it's not a biological connection to me. That comes a different way. So Math ended up in Grandma's picture box by virtue of being her Uncle.
So, how did he end up in my mother's family pictures?
Let's go back to Pink, Math's father. Josiah Pinkney Aldridge was the younger of the two sons of Josiah W. Aldridge and his first wife, Elizabeth Ledbetter. Josiah would remarry and have 8 more children, ten altogether. Josiah W. Aldridge was one of the two sons of Caleb S. Aldridge II and his wife, Rebecca Louise Cagle. The other son of Caleb Aldridge was David Henry Garner Aldridge, most often seen as "Garner". Garner had married Priscilla Murray and they had a family together of 12 children, before he died of disease during the Civil War. One of the youngest daughters was Frances Julina Aldridge, who would marry Horton Hampton Davis. Their son William Hampton Davis was my mother's grandfather. The picture of James Matthew Aldridge had ended up in my Mother's family via this connection to her Great Grandmother, Frances Julina Aldridge Davis.
Josiah and Garner were brothers, therefore;
-Pink and Julina were first cousins.
-Judith and Will were second cousins.
-Hattie and Lewis were third cousins.
-Daddy and Momma were fourth cousins.
So unbeknownst to my mother her second husband was her fourth cousin and that had dire effects in the way of defective recessive genes. I was a child of the first husband, so was therefore a possible carrier, but not a victim of the bad genes.
The above map, circa 1905, of the area in Tyson Township, near the Rocky River, south of Aquadale and southwest of Cottonville, is where James Matthew Aldridge lived. A big serpentine swirl of my DNA helix came from Tyson. "Mat Aldridge' is listed right there on the left side of the map. The 'Col Ch' marked below him was on part of the Old Davis property that lie on that part of the river and north, towards Cottonville.The parts on the map labeled "J. T. Crump", was the property of John T. Crump, who had married beneficially to Rebecca Hathcock Davis, the widow of Edward Winfield Davis. Uncle Ned Davis had married in his 50's to an 18 year old girl, so unsurprisingly, she outlived him. Thus, the "JT Crump" lands were actually Davis lands. "J. T. Crump Jr." was actually John Teeter Davis, youngest son of Rebecca and E. W. Davis. I had doubted John T. Davis's paternity for awhile, because at times, he is seen as John T. Crump, Jr., which wasn't his real name, and in truth, he was raised primarily by his stepfather. In addition to that, he suspiciously carried the same first name, John, and middle initial "T", though John was a very common name. John Teeter Davis would have a substantial number of chldren by three different wives. DNA has proven, to me, several times over now, that he was definately the biological son of Edward Winfield Davis, and not John T. Crump, as I have many of his descendants among my DNA matches.
Above Crump is the name, J. P. Aldridge. That would be J. Pinkney Aldridge, Math's father. The road trailing up is the Old Davis Road, whose path changed somewhat over the century, but still led through what was the Old Job Davis plantation. The road that branches off to the right, in the middle of the Davis/Crump lands would be Aldridge Road, on up is the name 'C. H.Aldridge'. That would be Caleb Hampton Aldridge, the oldest surving brother of Julina Aldridge Davis, and cousin of Math.
The 1900 census would find Math at 20, living at home on the family farm with his parents and older brother, Martin Aldridge, and older sister, Sarah, or Sally. The family had been joined by two younger sisters, Ella and Docia, after the birth of Math. Some family trees include an untraceable Jasper and Ephraim Aldridge. These could have been children who died young, that appear in a Family Bible or other record, that I've not had the priveledge to see, but I can't say. By 1900, next to the oldest child, daughter Judith Edith Aldridge, had married James Robert Hudson on December 6, 1890.
Next to youngest sister, Martha Ella Aldridge, was a bride, having just married two months before this census, on April 26, 1900, to William E. Boone.
Mathew, himself, would marry Arey Alberta Turner, known affectionately as "Berta", on August 10, 1904. Math and Berta were both 25. His bride was the daughter of Benton Ausborne Turner and Martha Jane High Turner, both of sturdy North Anson County families. I've posted a good deal on George Turner and wife, Obedience Broadway Turner who lived on Richardsons Creek, near its confluence with the Rocky River, just across the Rocky, aka, the county line, in Anson County. Their daughter Elizabeth, married Marriott Freeman Davis, at a young age, and died at about 20 years old, leaving M. F. Davis with a young son, Millard Filmore Davis, and a baby girl named Rebeth, who would pass away some five months after her mother at 18 months old. Benton Ausborne Turner was a grandson of George and Beadia, via their son Wilson Pinkney Turner who lived in Burnsville.
Math's single siblings would marry near about this time, too.
Oldest child, Mary Sarah Elizabeth Aldridge, aka 'Betty', was at 38, already an "Old Maid" by the standards of that day, but on March 8, 1908, she became the second wife of William R. McSwain, 68, thirty years her elder, who had 9 children, the oldest the same age as Betty. She would have one son with William R., himself the son of Lewis Jones McSwain and Lucinda Randle, a boy born in 1910 named Thomas Pincus McSwain. Despite the enormous age difference, the marriage would last nearly 20 years, and she would only outlive him by three, passing at age 59 of uterine cancer.
Older brother, William Martin Aldridge would marry in 1907, to Effie Jenette Turner, the sister of Math's wife, Bertie. They would raise a family of six sons and a daughter: Thomas High, Wilson Burns, Cecil Turner, Jason, Ouisa Pines, Charles E. and James Sanford "Jim" Aldridge.
Youngest sister, Docia, married in 1908, to William Henderson Eury, and had one son, James Lonnie Eury, the next year, in 1909. She would pass away three years later of tuberculosis at age 27.
This wasn't the only tragedy in the family in that early decade of the 20th century. Sister Ella became a young widow, losing her husband, W. E. Boone in 1905. She would move back home and raise her two children with her parents, Pink and Susan.
 |
| Pink and Susan Aldridge (sitting) Martha Ella Aldridge Boone (standing in back) with son James Roy on the left and Nannie Lou on the right. |
Math and Martin remained, both for quite awhile.
Math and Berta would raise a fine family of 9 children in the rolling hills of Tyson Township.
1905 -1986 Jessy Mae Aldridge, married James Valentine Caudle.
1906-1979 Fred Harold Aldridge, married Mattie Lee Crump.
1908-1998 Myrtle Lee Aldridge, never married.
1910-1976 Arthur Benton Aldridge, never married.
1912-1943 James Blake Aldridge, never married, died in WWII in the Phillipines
1913-1968 Myron Clay Aldridge, never married.
1915- 1984 Herton Craig Aldridge, married Hannah Pines Carpenter.
1917-1973 Houston Campbell "Cam" Aldridge, never married.
1923-1967 Laura Christine Aldridge, married Edgar Asbury Hinson.
Math lost his only brother, Martin, in 1941 and tragically, lost his bride of 43 years, Berta Turner Aldridge, in 1947.
| Name | James M Aldridge |
|---|---|
| Age | 71 |
| Birth Date | abt 1879 |
| Gender | Male |
| Race | White |
| Birth Place | North Carolina |
| Marital Status | Widowed |
| Relation to Head of House | Head |
| Residence Date | 1950 |
| Home in 1950 | Tyson, Stanly, North Carolina, USA |
| Street Name | On Road Boding Cottonville to acquadale road to left toward rocky drive |
| Dwelling Number | 101 |
| Farm | Yes |
| Questionnaire Number | 69 |
| Occupation Category | Other |
| Worked Last Week | No |
| Seeking Work | No |
| Employment Status | No |
| Name | Age |
|---|---|
| James M Aldridge | 71 |
| Myrtle Aldridge | 41 |
| Auther B Aldridge | 39 |
| Myron C Aldridge | 36 |
| Herton C Aldridge | 34 |
| Christine Aldridge | 25 |
Above is Math and family in the 1950 census. He's 71 years old at this point and aided in running the farm by his five unmarried children, Myrtle, Arthur, Myron, Herton and Christine. The street name is given as "On road leading off Cottonville to Aquadale to left toward Rocky River". Others on the same road were Robert Kendall, J. J. Biles, Renus Floyd, Sara Eury, Tom Floyd, Jason Burris, Charlie Poplin, Carl Fred Hill, Effie Aldridge, his Sister-in-law, James Talbert, Jake Crump, Earnest Richardson, Craig Aldridge, his son; Lucy Allen, Mary Kepley, Willie Turner, James Caudle, Joseph Kendall, and Jarvis J. Burris.
James Matthew Aldridge was released from his earthly shell a few days before Christmas in 1951, December 23rd to be exact. He was 73 years old. His body was laid to rest at old Rehobeth Church, the Aldridge home church. Most of the familly, both children, parents and siblings, rest at Rehobeth. A few are interred at Cottonville Baptist, where most of the Rehobeth Congregation relocated after the congregation disbanded. Many family members would move to Albemarle, or Norwood. His unmarried children would remain on the old farm until the last son, Craig, passed in 1984 and daughter, Myrtle, stayed in the old house until 1998.
Math Aldridge, the tall, frail old fella in the boiler hat, would stand for a picture in his latter years in front of his old house, and copies would be made. One would end up in the collection of his niece, Hattie Helen Hudson and another in the collection of his cousin, Lewis Theodore Davis.
