Francis Aldridge was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina about 1764.1 His parents are thought to be Francis Aldridge and Henretta Ritter Prince who came from Virginia to North Carolina in the 1700s. Francis served in the Revolutionary War as a private in the North Carolina Line during 1782 and 1783, later receiving a pension for his service.2
Francis married Margaret Cole in Rutherford County, North Carolina, Octorber 19, 17893 They had seven children: David, Elijah, Francis Jr., Nancy, Margaret “Peggy,” Rebecca and Thomas.4 Margaret died before 1805, perhaps in childbirth as Thomas was born after Rebecca, b. 1802, and Francis remarried in 1805.
Francis married Mary “Polly” Patterson in 1805 in Fayette County, Kentucky5 and they eventually settled in Science Hill, Pulaski County, Kentucky, where Francis died May 17, 1845.6
Children of Francis Aldridge & Margaret Cole:
David Aldridge, 1790 - 1877
David, born in North Carolina, served in the War of 1812, subsituting for his brother Elijah. He married Rebecca Davis probably sometime in the 1820s in Montgomery County, Kentucky. By 1850 the family had moved to Vermillion County, Indiana. Rebecca died in 1861 and was buried in Memorial Chapel Cemetery in Newport, Vermillion County. After Rebecca died, David remarried in 1868 to a woman named Julia. In 1870 he was living next door to his sister Margaret and very close to his son Benjamin. He died in Vermillion County in 1877 and is buried there in Helt’s Prairie Cemetery in Hillsdale. David and Rebecca had five children: Helen Jane, Alvin, Benajmin F., Charity, and Benjamin.
Elijah Aldridge, 1792 - 1878
Elijah, born in North Carolina, married Jane White, in 1812, probably in Montgomery County Kentucky as that is where her parents were living at the time. Family papers handed down in their son Franklin’s family said that Elijah worked at a brewery for Charles White, Jane’s father, in the early 1800s. Elijah and Jane were in Putnam County, Indiana, by 1840, first living in Warren Township and then in Cloverdale Township. By 1860 they had moved to Boone County, Iowa, where several other family members had moved, including son Franklin, and daughters Caroline and Rebecca. In 1853 their son Franklin moved to California and in the early 1870s he returned to Boone County and took his parents with him back to California. They lived in Watsonville where Elijah died in 1878 and Jane in 1884. They are buried in the Pioneer Cemetery in Watsonville. They had twelve children.
Nancy Aldridge, 1794 - after 1870
Nancy, born in North Carolina, married Alexander “Sandy” Hudson in 1809 in Pulaski County, Kentucky. They remained in Pulaski County where Alexander died in 1864. He is buried at Mount Gilliad Cemetery in Pulaski County. Nancy was living with her daughter Louise Jane and her husband Alexander Reed in the town of Somerset in Pulaski County in 1870. No date of death or burial has been found for Nancy. Nancy and Alexander had five children: Malvina, Louise Jane, Cinderalla (or Cinderilla), Mary Ann and Nancy.
Margaret “Peggy” Aldridge, 1798 - 1877
Margaret was born in North Carolina (or possibly Kentucky) and married John Moore in Pulaski County in 1831. John probably died sometime after 1850 as she is the head of household in 1860. She and John had been living in Huntington County in Indiana but by 1860 Margaret had moved to Vermillion County where her brother David lived. Margaret took in a young girl whose parents were heading West because the girl was not in good health. Margaret raised the girl, Minverva Sutton, and when Margaret died, she left her estate to Minverva. Minverva had a tombstone erected for Margaret and asked that she be buried next to her when she died. They are both buried at Memorial Chapel Cemetery in Newport, Vermillion County. Margaret and John had three children: Alford, Sarah and Jane.
Francis B. Aldridge, 1800-1872
Francis was born in Fayette County, Kentucky and married Mary “Polly” Harper in 1827 in Montgomery County, Kentucky. By 1850 they had moved to Haw Creek Township in Bartholomew County, Indiana. After her husband's death Mary moved to Scott County, Indiana to live with her son Benjamin and his family. Francis and Mary had six children: Margaret, James, Benjamin, John, Samuel and Christopher.
Rebecca Aldridge, 1802-after 1880
Rebecca was born in Kentucky and married Joseph Johns in 1822 in Pulaski County, Kentucky. They had two sons, William and Franklin, in Kentucky. Joseph must have died because Rebecca is living with her stepmother, Mary Aldridge, in 1850 in Pulaski County. In 1860 she was living with her son William in Mercer County, Kentucky. In 1870 she is living with a granddaughter, Mary and her husband George M. Wheeler. Next door is her son Franklin and his family. By 1880 she is living with her daughter-in-law, Catherine Johns, wife of her son William who had died. It is not known when or where she died.
Thomas Aldridge
Little is known about Thomas except that he married Elizabeth Sawyers in Shelby County, Kentucky, in 1829.
Related Links
Marriage bond: Francis Aldridge and Margaret Cole, 1789, Rutherford County, North Carolina
Will of Francis Aldridge, 1764-1845, Pulaski County, Kentucky
Marriage bond of David Cole, possibly a brother of Margaret Cole Aldridge
A brief
history of the Aldridge Family
7-generation descent report for Francis Aldridge and Henrietta Ritter Prince with index & sources
Elijah Aldridge, 1792-1878, son of Francis, and Jane White, 1795-1884
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When he appeared before court on 20 December 1830, Francis was said to be 67 years old. I have seen no proof yet that Francis was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina. His sister Delilah, born about four years before Francis, was born in Virginia, but his brother Isham, born just after Francis, is said to have been born in Wilkes County, North Carolina. None of Francis’ children were alive for the 1880 census where birthplace of parents was on the form. I have not researched the Aldridge family in Virginia and North Carolina, but the answer might lie there.
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Pension Application of Francis Aldridge, Southern Campaign American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters, transcribed by Will Graves 6/25/07 rev'd 7/12/14. Accessed at http://revwarapps.org/s35170.pdf.
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Marriage bonds (Rutherford County, North Carolina), 1779-1868, Rutherford County (North Carolina). Clerk of the County Court, Raleigh, North Carolina : North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Division of Archives and Manuscripts, 1976, FHL MF 2447752: Abram - Byrd. Copy of the original marriage bond between Frances Aldrig and Margaret Cole.
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Will: Francis Aldridge, d.1845, County Courthouse, Pulaski County, Kentucky. Will Book 3A, 1838-1845, pp.756-757. FHL MF 804642. Mentioned in the will: wife Mary, (2d wife), daughters Rebecca Jones, Nancy Hudson, Margaret Mour and sons Thomas, Francis, David and Elijah.
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Marriage records, Fayette County, Kentucky, 1803-1814, Chillicothe, Missouri : E.P. Ellsberry, [19--] p.13, p.13: Francis Aldridge and Polly Patterson, 25 Mar 1805. Of age. bondsman: John Ward.
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1830 U.S. Census. Kentucky, Pulaski County, p.10.
1840 U.S. Census. Kentucky, Pulaski County. p.310.
There is no death certificate for Francis Aldridge and no burial memorial in Find A Grave. He left a will which he wrote in 1841. The will was admitted into court and proved on 19 May 1845. Family tradition says that he died on the 17th of May, two days before the will was proved.
A remark in the Revolutionary War pension ledger for Kentucky notes that Francis Aldridge “Died 17 May 1845.”
United States, Department of the Treasury, United States. National Archives and Records Administration, Ledgers of payments, 1818-1872, to U.S. pensioners, under Acts of 1818 through 1858, from records of the office of the Third Auditor of the Treasury
FamilySearch.org, MF 1319385, image 138.
