There were three men named William with similar surnames on the 1755 tax list for Orange County, North Carolina, which then included what is now Randolph County. The list is not alphabetized. Its arrangement may have been geographical. Names appearing immediately above and below may have been neighbors. William Aldrige, who received a land grant on Mount Pleasant Branch of Sandy Creek on 13 November 1756 (see below), is listed directly above Simore York, who received a land grant on Sandy Creek on 5 August 1750 (see previous page). Also listed are two men named William Alred, probably William Elrod Sr., who received two land grants on Deep River on 29 November 1753 and 1 April 1754, and William Elrod Jr., who received a land grant on Deep River on 11 December 1762 (see below). They were living in the neighborhood of one Solomon Alred. There were at least two men by that name (see next page).
Land Grants from Lord Granville, abstracted in Patent Books 12 and 14. Eight abstracts were found containing the name of William Aldridge (Oldridge, Aldrige, Aldrage) or Alred. (1) As early as 1749, William Aldrage turns up as a Chain Bearer for a survey of land on the Haw River in Bladen County (from which Orange County was created in 1752), in present day Alamance County. (2) In 1751 William Aldridge was a Surveyor's Chain Carrier at Conway Creek in Granville County (near the Edgecomb County line). (3) In 1753 William Oldridge is named in a surveyor's description as having adjoining land on the North Fork of Little River in Orange County. (4) In 1755 Hermon Husband (Harmon Husbands), in a survey of his own land, named William Oldridge as having adjoining land on Mount Pleasant Run, a fork of Sandy Creek, in Orange County (now Randolph County), which places William in close proximity to lands held by John, Thomas, and Solomon Allred. (5) In 1755 William Aldrige was a Surveyor's Chain Carrier for land on Cain Creek on the north side of the Haw River in Alamance County, near the Chatham County line. (6) In 1756 William Aldridge received a Land Patent for 256 acres on Mount Pleasant Branch of Sandy Creek in Orange County (now Randolph County). (7) In 1758 William Aldridge is named in a surveyor's description as having adjoining land on the South Branch of the North Fork of Little River in Orange County. (8) In 1762 William Alred Jr. received a Land Patent for 296 acres on Bush Creek of Deep River in Orange County (now Randolph County). William Alred Sr. was a Surveyor's Chain Carrier; this refers to William Elrod Sr., who received Land Patents for 640 acres on Deep River in 1753, and 180 acres on Deep River in 1754 (for which William Elrod Jr. was a Surveyor's Chain Carrier. Abstracts for these patents are not shown above, because I did not search for names beginning with the letter E, being at the time unaware of William Elrod.
