Elijah Aldridge, the son of Francis and Margaret Cole Aldridge, was born February 18, 1792, in Rutherford County, North Carolina.1 When he was two, his family moved to Kentucky. It was there that he met his future wife, Jane, while working for her father, Charles White, as an overseer of slaves in Charles White's brewery.2 Elijah married Jane January 26, 1812, in Montgomery County, Kentucky.3 Elijah and Jane had twelve children, some born in Kentucky and some in Indiana, where they moved sometime around 1827. They lived in Putnam County, Indiana, about 29 years, first in Warren Township and then in Cloverdale Township, before moving to Boone County, Iowa, by 1860 where they settled in Dodge Township.4
In 1871 their son Franklin, known as Frank, brought Elijah and Jane out to California to live with him in Watsonville, California.5 Elijah died in his son's home about 2:30 in the morning May 24, 1878. He was buried twelve hours later at the Christian Church, of which both he and his wife were members. He was 87 years old at the time of his death, had been married 66 years and half his children were still alive.6
Jane Aldridge continued to live with her son, Frank, in Corralitos, near Watsonville, until she died the day before Christmas in 1884, age 90.7) She and Elijah are buried in the Aldridge plot next to their son, Frank, and other family members in the Pioneer Cemetery in Watsonville.8
Children of Elijah Aldridge and Jane White:
David Aldridge, ca. 1813 -
David, born ca.1813-1814 in Montgomery County, Kentucky, married Jane McPherrin on 8 March 1843 in Parke County, Indiana. He was buried in the town of Montezuma, Indiana, which straddles Parke and Vermillion Counties, according to a letter written by Frank Aldridge to his niece Eliza Ann Whitted, 11 Sept 1900.
Hamilton Aldridge, ca. 1818 -
Hamilton Aldridge was born about 1818 in Montgomery County, Kentucky. He married Lousina (?) and they had at least four children: Juchana (?), Rebecca, Joseph and Mary. He was buried in Iowa according to Frank in the letter to his niece Eliza Anna Whitted.
Charles Aldridge, ca. 1820 -
Charles was born about 1820 and married Mary Margaret Crider in Warren County, Indiana. He was in Warren County in 1840, age 20-30 with, presumably, his wife, age 15-20. He was buried in Williamsport, Warren County, Indiana, according to Frank Aldridge in the letter to his niece, Eliza Ann Whitted.
Caroline Aldridge, 1822-1900
Caroline Aldridge was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, moving with her family to Indiana in the late 1820s. She married Elbridge Mabrin Whitted in 1846 in Rockville, Parke County, Indiana. By the mid-1850s the family moved to Boone County, Iowa, and settled in Ridgeport in Dodge Township. Around 1880 the family left for Florida and settled in Manatee County where Elbridge and Caroline died in 1899 and 1900. They are buried in Major Adams Cemetery in Bradenton, known previously as the New Cemetery.
Nancy Jane Aldridge, ca. 1823 - ca. 1885
Nancy Jane was born about 1823-24 in Montgomery County, Kentucky. She moved with the family to Indiana in the late 1820s and married Thomas Hubbard in 1845 in Putnam County, Indiana. Thomas died sometime before 1848 when Nancy married Alvin Aldridge, her first cousin, in 1848 in Vermillion County, Indiana. In the mid 1850 they moved to Boone County, Iowa, and by 1880 she and Alvin were in Oregon, where she died in 1885. She was buried in Prineville, Oregon. Nancy and Alvin had eight children.
Franklin A. Aldridge, 1826-1900
Franklin was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, moving first to Indiana with his family and then to Boone County, Iowa. In 1853, Frank and family traveled by wagon train to Sacramento, setlling in Solano County in California and later in Watsonville in Santa Cruz County. He married Elizabeth Young in 1846, Sarah Jane Bradley in 1864, and Anna Margaret Fallien in 1871, fathering seventeen children. In 1871 he returned to Iowa to bring his parents out to California. Frank was ordained as a minister of the Gospel, served one session in the California state assembly from Santa Cruz in 1897 and owned flour mills in Corralitos and Watsonville. Frank died in 1900 in Watsonville and is buried along with other family members in the Pioneer Cemetery in Watsonville.
Jonathan Wesley Aldridge, 1827-1903
Jonathan Wesley Aldridge was probably born in Indiana soon after his family moved there. In 1847 he enlisted in the Army, serving in Company C, 5th Indiana Infantry, during the Mexican War. He was discharged in 1848. He joined his brother Frank in 1853 and headed to California in the wagon train. He married Elizabeth in 1858 and by 1875 he was living in the Los Angeles area in California, working at some point as a teamster. Elizabeth died in 1902 and is buried in the Angelus Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles. Jonathan then went to live in the Sawtelle Veterans home, near Santa Monica, which was a care facility for disabled American Veterans. He died in 1903 at the home and was possibly buried at the cemetery there, now the Los Angeles Veterans Cemetery, although his name is not on the list.
Sarah Margaret Aldridge,1831-1898
Sarah Margaret, who went by Margaret, was born in Indiana and married Absalom Kelly, of Kentucky, in 1852 in Putnam County, Indiana. They had four children. Margaret died in Nebraska and is buried in Oak Creek Cemetery in Webster County, Nebraska. Absalom Kelly was born about 1828 in Kentucky, the oldest child of John Kelly and Delilah Hayes. Absalom Kelly had a younger brother, William Former Kelly, who married Nancy Caroline Whitted, the maternal aunt of Caroline Aldridge Whitted and Sarah Margaret Aldridge Kelly. Sarah and Absalom had four children.
Rebecca Ann Aldridge, ca. 1834-1914
Rebecca, called Reba Ann by her brother Franklin in a letter to his niece Eliza Whitted Bass, was born in Indiana, moving with her family to Boone County, Iowa. In 1855 she married Austin C. Warwick, a blacksmith, in Boone County. Austin served in the 32d Iowa Infantry during the Civil War. By 1900 they were living in Lompoc, California. Austin died there in 1910 and was buried in the Lompoc Evergreen Cemetery. Rebecca died in Lompoc in 1914 and is also buried in the Lompoc Evergreen Cemetery. They had five children: Frank, Austin, Ed, Leona and Lucille, the first four born in Iowa and Lucille in Lompoc. Austin had a daughter, Margaret, from a previous marriage.
Alvin Aldridge, ca. 1835-
Alvin died young and was buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery, Putnam County, Indiana.
Mary Aldridge, 1840-
Mary died young and is buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery, Putnam County, Indiana
William Aldridge, After 1840 -
Thomas died young and is buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery, Putnam County, Indiana
Related Links
Aldridge Family - Brief history
Elijah Aldridge, notice of death, 1878
Jane White Aldridge, notice of death, 1884
7-generation descent report for Francis Aldridge and Henrietta Ritter Prince with index & sources
Letters written by Franklin A. Adridge and his wife Anna to their niece Eliza Ann Whitted Bass, daughter of Franklin's sister Caroline Aldridge Whitted
Francis Aldridge and Margaret Cole, parents of Elijah Aldridge
Marriage bond, 1792, Bourbon County, Kentucky: Charles White & Nancy Harper, parents of Jane White
Aldridge burial plot, Pioneer Cemetery, Watsonville, California
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My Aldridge Roots, by Anna Belle (Aldridge) Edwards, granddaughter of Franklin A. Aldridge. Unpublished document from the Aldridge family papers and records in the possession of Robert Aldridge, b.1926, and shared with the author.
Letter from Frank Aldridge to his sister Caroline Whitted, 1878, Resumé of letter excerpted from the book Aldridge Records, by Franklin Rudolph Aldridge, Nashville, Tennessee, 1966, pp.227-228.
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My Aldridge Roots, by Anna Belle (Aldridge) Edwards. Anna Belle's memoir says the family moved to Pulaski County, Kentucky, when Elijah was 2, but Elijah's father Francis and his second wife moved there later. They possibly moved to Fayette County. Some sources say Montgomery County, but Montgomery wasn't formed until 1796, formerly a part of Clark County which was formed from Fayette and Bourbon County in 1793.
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My Aldridge Roots, by Anna Belle (Aldridge) Edwards.
Letter from Frank Aldridge to his sister Caroline Whitted, 1878, Resumé of letter excerpted from the book Aldridge Records, by Franklin Rudolph Aldridge, Nashville, Tennessee, 1966, pp.227-228.
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1840 U.S. Census. Indiana, Warren Township, Putnam County.
1850 U.S. Census. Indiana, Putnam County, Cloverdale Township, p.556.
1860 U.S. Census. Iowa, Boone County, Dodge Township, p.34
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My Aldridge Roots, by Anna Belle (Aldridge) Edwards.
California Great Registers, 1866-1910, FarmilySearch.org database, Elijah Aldridge age 79, born North Carolina, p.5.
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Letter from Frank Aldridge to his sister Caroline Whitted, 1878, Resumé of letter excerpted from the book Aldridge Records, by Franklin Rudolph Aldridge, Nashville, Tennessee, 1966, pp.227-228.
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In Anna Belle's family memoir she says that Jane died on Christmas day. The notice of death in the Watsonville newspaper also gave 25 December as the date of death. The tombstone says 24 December. In her memoir, Anna Belle tells the story of her burial:
On Christmas day, Dad's grandmother Jane died. she was 90 years old. she died upstairs in the old house on the ranch [in Corralitos]. Someone made her a coffin and they took it upstairs and put her in it. then the stairway was narrow and had a turn in it. so the coffin had to be stood on end to get it downstairs. they loaded the coffin on a wagon and drove down the mountain to the canyon. the bridge in Brown's Valley Canyon was out so they had to go down Hazel Del.Quate a way down they came to a place where the road was partly washed out. As they worked the horses and wagon around the washed out place, they nearly lost the coffin off the wagon and into the creek. They finally got to the cemetery and got Grandma buried.
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Website: Find A Grave, http://www.findagrave.com/, Memorial #22715221.
Cemetery visit by author.
Photographs of Elijah and Jane provided by Leland George, an Aldridge descendant and researcher. More sources can be found in the descendant report for Francis Aldridge, b.1764.
