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Randolph County. He died on 24 October 1793 and is buried at Old McMasters
Cemetery in Randolph County. He named fourteen children in his will.
The land records and the early census records show that most of the children
of William Aldridge and Elizabeth Symons lived in North Carolina. On
6 February 1761, Nathaniel Aldrage received a grant for 220 acres on the
Bushy Fork of Flat river; Joseph Oldrage was a chain carrier. On 8 December
1762, Nathaniel Aldrage received another grant for 700 acres on both sides of
Flatt River; Joseph Oldrage was a chain carrier. On 11 December 1762, Joseph
Aldrage received a grant for 455 acres on both sides of Flat River. Both men
affixed their marks, unable to sign their names. There were several men by
the name of Alridge or Aldridge who appear in the early records of Randolph
County and vicinity. Among them were: Nicholas Aldridge (1768 tax list for
Orange County); William Aldridge and Nathaniel Aldridge (1779 tax list for
Randolph County); Joseph Aldridge (1784 tax list for Caswell County); and
Nathan Alridge (1790 census for Randolph County). All are said to be sons of
William Aldridge and Elizabeth Symons, and brothers of Sylvania Aldridge York.
The only question appears to be the parentage of William Aldridge, the
father. He is sometimes listed as the son of William Aldridge (Arledge) of
Wicomico Parish, Virginia. While this is not impossible, his marriage to
Elizabeth Symons took place in Maryland, according to a database entitled:
“U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900.”
Overwharton Parish, where Annie Hamilton was married, is actually closer to
All Hallows Parish (where the children of Nicholas Aldridge and Martha Besson
were born), than to Wicomico Parish (where the children of William Aldridge
and Alice Fallin were born). Nicholas Aldridge had at least three brothers,
but none of them came to America. Only two of his known descendants could
possibly have been the John Alridge who married Annie Hamilton:
John Aldridge (born 31 August 1688), son of Nicholas Aldridge and Martha
Besson, married Susannah Jones on 1 April 1719, who died four years later,
on 1 December 1723, in Anne Arundel County. If this is the John Alridge who
married Annie Hamilton, he would have been 95 years old when he and Lillie
Ann sold their land on Polecat Creek in Randolph County.
Thomas Aldridge, son of Nicholas Aldridge and Martha Besson, married
Elizabeth Purdy on 15 July 1702. They had at least six children (Edward,
Rebecca, Thomas, John, Martha, and Elizabeth). Their son John was born on
28 March 1712. So far as is known, he married Elinor Watkins and remained
in Maryland, raising four children (John, Jacob, Thomas and Susannah).
Long before the marriage of Seymore York and Sylvania Aldridge (c. 1749),
these two families were connected. According to the York family website,
the father of Seymore York was Jeremiah York. He migrated from England to
West Nottingham Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he appears on
the tax lists between 1718 and 1729. He married Sarah Seymore in 1724, and
their son Seymore York was born in 1727. Between 1729 and 1730 Jeremiah and
his family moved to the Pipe Creek Settlement, Carroll County, Maryland,
where their sons John York (1730), Henry York (6 August 1732) and Thomas York
(1734) were born. By 1736 Jeremiah and his family were living on part of a
1200-acre tract of land called the “Terrapin Neck” in Frederick County,
Virginia. On 7 June 1751 Jeremiah received a grant for the northeastern
323 acres of this tract, then sold it to William Chapline on 4 July 1753,
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