Dear Guy and Jean, I went down to the SC/GA coast this week and on the way home happened to drive through Barnwell County SC so stopped at the courthouse and went through the deed indexes. Got a bunch of early Arledge deeds starting in 1818 (David Arledge), one in particular that names David and Elizabeth Arledge/Arldridge/Aldrich/Aldredge as grandparents of your James Wolf Arledge and Henrietta Arledge, named os two of the children of David's son James. Haven't had a chance to transcribe them yet. So now we clearly know that your James Martin Arledge was the son of David. David, born around 1793, is the mystery man. Who was he? Lots more work in SC courthouses is needed. I only had a minute in the probate office but didn't see an estate record for David. But at least I know he sold land in Barnwell as early as 1818. Where did he get that 200a on Tobes Creek to sell, I wonder? That's the big question since I didn't find that he had bought any land prior to that. Needs further research. There were many, many AldriCH records in the deeds office but my suspicion is that most of the Aldrich family here in SC came from up north (Rhode Island?) and just happened to live in the same county as the Arledges. I didn't have a chance to look at those deeds but they include Alfred P. Aldrich (b 1814) and wife Martha and James T. Aldrich *b 1819) and wife Isabella. Both Aldrich men were prosperous attorneys. I wonder if any ALDRICH researchers might be able to identify this family. I think the two families are distinct. The ALDRICH family seems to have ties to Rhode Island, and they are very wealthy lawyers. The ARLEDGE/ALDRIDGE family, on the other hand, seems to be of the farming/planter class. From the page numbers of the 1860 census, they seem to cluster in two different parts of the county. However, often the census taker misspelled the names. One of the documents I found for David spells the name at least 5 different ways in the SAME deed. So my suspicion is that David's 3 sons were John (m Nancy), James Martin (m. Rachel Wolf) and Thomas (m Francis Dyches then Martha Morris). I'll copy this to the Arledge list and Aldridge-L list too. Pam