Can anyone help Lynn out on these families? Cross-posted from EFSS-L: "Lynn S. Teague" <teague@email.arizona.edu> wrote: > > For several years I've been pursuing Aldridges, in the belief that they may > help to clarify the origin of Joseph Duke(s) of Orangeburgh SC. My belief > stems from William Aldridge having acquired a land grant adjacent to that of > Joseph Dukes on the Edisto River in Orangeburgh Co (Royal Grants, Vol. 8, > page 428. South Carolina Department of Archives and History) and the > suggestive association of Duke and Aldridge families in quite a few VA/NC/SC > locations. Now I have another connection to look at, and would appreciate > any help. I'd like information on the origins of the Dobbs/Lenoir Co NC > Aldridge family. > > Thomas Dukes, grandson of Joseph Dukes, is said to have gone to visit > relatives on the Neuse River in NC and while there met his wife, Ann Ayler. > I've found an Ayler family on the Neuse that is very likely to be the right > one, although I haven't found proof of Ann's birth. There are numerous > records (see below) of William Ayler and his son William Ayler Jr. who lived > on the north side of the Neuse River in what is now Lenoir Co NC. William > Ayler appears in the list of those drafted for the militia 26 Jul 1777 in > Dobbs Co for Capt. Kennedy¹s company, along with Jesse Aldridge, Robert > Bird, Thomas Bird, William Aldridge, John Fontaine, Reuben Freeman, John > Aldridge, Francis Freeman. Numerous land records of the Neuse River area, > Lenoir Co., refer to William Aldridge. > > Can anyone enlighten me about the ancestry of the Dobbs/Lenoir Co NC > Aldridge family? The Duke family has lots of Freeman and Bird connections, > and is also associated with the Fontaines in both VA and SC, so it is > possible that one of these, rather than the Aldridges, were the relatives > that Thomas Duke was visiting, but the Aldridges seem most likely. > > Thanks for any help! > > Ayler records from Lenoir Co: > > William Ayler sold land to Obediah Smith as early as 1757/58 (Old Dobbs Co > VA Deed Book 5 - April 1757 ­ April 1758 p. 190). Not much later William > Ayler sold land to Thomas Thompson in Dobbs Co. (Old Dobbs Co NC Deed Book > 6, Apr 1758-1765, p. 563) and during the same period Thomas Williamson sold > land to William Ayler (Old Dobbs Co NC Deed Book 6, Apr 1758-1765, p. 260). > William Ayler or Aylor purchased several parcels of land from William > Barwick in 1771-3 (Old Dobbs Co NC Deed Book 9, Apr 1771-Apr 1773, pp. 272, > 275, 294). An additional deed represents a land sale from William Ayler to > Shadrick Hartsfield (Old Dobbs Co NC Deed Book 13, Apr 1784 to Apr 1789, p. > 16) and from John Hartsfield to William Aylor (Old Dobbs Co NC Deed Book 13, > Apr 1784 to Apr 1789, p. 308). William Ayler sold land to Benjamin Lewis > (Old Dobbs Co NC Deed Book 18, 1798-1799, p. 95). > > Date: 23 December, 1817 > Nature of document: Deed for sale of land > Grantor: William Croom > Grantee William Y.(?) Aldridge > Extent: Tracts of 150 acres, 200 acres, 40 acres, 77 acres, 77 acres, 27 > and one-half acres, 40 acres, and 100 acres. Included is "the mill and > plantation formerly owned by Paul Hartsfield, decd." In consideration of: > 5,600 dollars > Mentioned in description of bounds: Simon Lovick and Barwick lands, Joshua > Barwick, William Ayler's corner > > Witnesses: William Herring, John Sugg Aldridge > In 1772 William Ayler was security, with Gershom Wiggins, for the estate of > John Ratcliff, administered by Joseph Ratcliff (An Account of Letters of > Administration Granted for Dobbs County in the Year 1772). > William Ayler is on the 1780 tax list for Lenoir Co NC, District #1, from > Kinston west, north of the Neuse River along with Benjamin Bird, Reuben > Freeman, William and John Aldridge. > > William Ayler was later joined by William Ayler Jr. in the 1788 voting rolls > for Dobbs Co (Annals of Progress, the Story of Lenoir County and Kinston, > North Carolina, by William S. Powell). > > Lynn Teague > teague@email.arizona.edu