Thank you for this information but your right I was aware of it. There must be some relation between Ransom and William other than being married to sisters. They named their children the same and lived in close proximity all their lives. I wish I knew who the "Miss Eldridge" was that was Greenberry Short's mother as Ransom was living with Greenberry's family in 1850. Have you ever searched the court house for adoption, indentured, bonded records? Do you know if Lee County had a newspaper between 1835 and 1850? Shirley ----- Original Message ----- From: <StarrZahn@aol.com> To: <valee@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2008 9:47 AM Subject: Re: [VALEE] Ransom Eldridge >I have worked on the Lee County Virginia/Kentucky families for a long time > now. I saw where someone claimed Ransom's parents were Levi and Mary from > England. I do not think this is true. When you look at a map and follow > migration > patterns it seems highly likely Ransom was indeed related to Levi and > Mary, > but they stayed in the United States and stated they were both born in > Virginia. > The 1840 Lee census has Levi between 20 and 30 with 2 sons under 5 years > old, 1 son between 10 and 15, no daughters and a wife between 30 and 40 > > Levi and Mary show up in 1850 in Hancock, Tennessee as follows: > Levy Eldridge 38 born VA > Mary 40 born VA > Alexandria 15 > Andrew 14 > Joshua 12 > William 8 > Elizabeth 4 > > The problem I came across was this family unit accounts for the 2 sons > under > 5 in 1840 and the 1 son between 5 and 10. It also accounts for Mary being > in > the older age group as she would have been 30 in 1840 and Levi 28. That > would > put her in the 30-40 group and him in the 20-30 group. > The problem I encountered was where was Ransom in 1840 if he was their > son. > Ransom could have been 13 and between Joshua and Andrew or a twin as > there > are a number of twins in the Eldridge lines, but he should still have been > in > their household in 1840 when he was about 4. > > There was only a matter of a few miles between the families in 1850. > Hancock > and Claiborne Tennessee both are just across state line from Lee County > VA. > > Ransom marries in 1857 in Claiborne County to Martha Harris. Her sister > marries William Eldridge, son of Levi and Mary. The naming pattern > persists with > Ransom naming sons Alexander, Joshua and William. > > In 1870 Ramson, William, Alexander and their families, as well as Levi and > Mary Polly are all living in Pulaski, Kentucky. This makes it, again, > highly > likely Ransom was a relative, if not a son, of Levi and Mary. > There were only 2 other Eldridge families in Lee in 1840. One was a widow > between 70-80. The other was a widow, Nancy. Neither had a son under 5. > They all > lived nearby making it likely they were all related. > > I'll have to go through some more of my Eldridge data and see if there is > anything else. You probably have all this information already so let me > know if > you want me to continue searching my records. > Zahn Burdick > > > > > > **************New MapQuest Local shows what's happening at your > destination. > Dining, Movies, Events, News & more. Try it out! > (http://local.mapquest.com/?ncid=emlcntnew00000001) > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > VALEE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >