Thomas E. Ridley was married to Asenath-Reese Hudson by the Reverend Hartwell Brown, all of Maury County, in July 1834. They were the parents of five children. On the first of December, 1834 he was elected to be constable of the county. In August of 1838 he entered into an indenture to Robert C. Love yielding his properties for $5,000, with a year's grace for final settlement, to provide money for Thomas to pay his debts to James M. Thompson, Frederick Zollicoffer, I. Robison, T. Cole & Co. the Union Bank of TN at Columbia, TN; Jno. Clanton, Jonothan Amin, and Wm. Kerr. The deed book does not show final settlement. After the War of 1812 the US enjoyed prosperity, which attracted foreign investments and resulted in inflation and the "Panic of 37" which resulted in the collapse of approximately 900 banks. Thomas' borrowed $5,000 inflated dollars apparently exceeded the value of his assets and resulted in the indenture. In addition to farming, he was in business with Hezekiah Ward, the husband of his sister, Elizabeth Ridley. The were partners in the Ward-Ridley Company which used to fund the slave trade in Tennessee. They would go to Virginia & Maryland to purchase slaves and then finance the loans of those who bought the slaves in Tennessee. There are several court cases where Ward sued for lack of payment on the loans in Maury County. About 1849, when the excitement began over the California gold rush, Thomas left for California in the company of several other men from Maury County. He assisted in the organization of Mariposa Co, CA near today's Yosemite National Park. While there he as voted Justice of the Peace for Township #2 in the election of 1850. Also in 1850 he was licensed to run a ferry boat on the Merced River at a place called Ridley's Ferry. He charged fifty cents for both footmen and horses. He is found on the 1850 Census in Mariposa County, California in dwelling 910, family 910, with Thomas Payne, 40, male, physician, born VA. THomas E. Ridley, 40, male, trader, born TN. In 1852 Thomas was elected assemblymen to the third legislature of the state of California. In May 1852 he filed a claim for a quartz vein near the Haden vein. Also named in this claim was D. Ridley. Shortly afterwards, he departed California for Maury County. He intended to bring his family back to California but when he boarded the ship, Philadelphia, at Chagres in the Caribbean he became ill with cholera and died aboard ship. He was buried at sea. In August 1852 Samuel Merritt of Mariposa County filed his petition for letters of administration for the estate of Thomas E. Ridley, deceased. No records exist today which reveal Ridley's estate in California, although the entire land area containing his properties and claims became the property of Col. John C. Fremont a few years later. Henry Miller was appointed guardian of the four children of Thomas in Maury County, 2 May 1853. He was an uncle by his marriage to Lydia Everett Ridley, Thomas' sister. Thomas' widow, Asenath/Senath, according to family history, died of a broken heart upon learning of his death. No record of her death has been found. Does anyone know of descendants of Thomas and Senath and where she might be buried? Check out more on Ridleys, Everetts, Buchanans on my home page at: http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/b/i/c/Margaret-J-Bice Janie Ridley Bice jrbice1@airmail.net