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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
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