Research Report on

John Allred b abt 1720

By: Dawnell Griffin

Published in the Allred Family Newsletter, issue #17, October 1993

John Allred was born about 1720 (possibly in Maryland) and when a young man in his twenties removed to North Carolina. In 1755 he entered a land warrant in Orange County, North Carolina, for 640 acres of land on the east side of Deep River, on the mouth of Mount Pleasant Run on Sandy Creek, and included both his and Thomas Alldrid's improvements. The land had previously been entered by John McDaniel. This warrant was entered the 15th of March 1755.

John was a planter and the land he was applying for lay on both sides of Mount Pleasant Creek in what is now Randolph County. (NC Patent Book 14:332) The rent was twenty shillings ten pence per year for 520 acres. The land, surveyed on the 2nd of May 1755 by Thomas Allred and Harmon Husbands, chain carriers, was filed in March on 1756. Witnesses were John McGee and James Hunter. Apparently John could not sign his name, but made his mark, three plus signs or +++.

The name of John's first wife is unknown, but according to records of the Horner family, John's daughter, Elizabeth, was born on the 30th of October 1746 in Orange County, North Carolina. John would have been about 26 years old. As appears in the land warrant, we know that John and Thomas Allred had made improvements on the land by the year 1755 and more than likely the 1746 birth date for Elizabeth is correct. John named twelve children in his will, three of them documented children of his second wife. According to the "Allred Family in America", p. 5-1, one of John's wives was Margaret Chaney. However, this has recently come into question.

Wne Mr. Archibald F. Bennett wrote his introduction for the book "The Allred Family in America", it was his contention that one John Allred was the father of at least two brothers, Thomas and Solomon. As I began doing research, I accepted this premise, but I not longer do so. Following Mr. Bennett's lead, I compiled a work booklet entitled "John of Orange" in which I made the same assumption as Mr. Bennett. I would now like to correct that error.

Whenever I go back and read the research paper submitted by Archibald F. Bennett, I am reminded of the expertise that he possessed and the great responsibility I have taken upon myself by disagreeing with him. In order to vindicate myself, I will present some of the material I have researched and will expound upon the points where I have chosen not to accept his findings.

The first 82 pages of Mr. Bennett's 104 page document, I do not hestitate to accept. The points upon which I disagree, begin with a statement made on page 83: "These are evidently William Aldridge and his brother John......and the older sons of these two brothers. Each brother had a son Willam; both here being listed as Alred. Solomon and Thomas were sons of John. Judging by later deeds and family traditions and other evidences."

Mr. Bennett based this supposition upon the following evidence. On page 61 of his report he refers to the parish register of St. Stephen's Parish in Virginia where in Clement Aldredge had these children:

....ent Aldridge, son of Clement was borne Sep.....
.....d Aldredge, daughter of " was borne Mar.......
.....ce Aldredge, daugher of " was borne Oct......
....m Aldredge, son of " was borne S......
..ohn Aldredge, son of " was borne Feb.......

He concludes that the names of these children were Clement, born 1669, two daughters, Winifred (which he deducted from a single letter "d")...possibly, Alice or Grace, William Isaac and John.

William, the second son of Clement and Elizabeth Tills/Tulles (listed above) was born about 1675 in Northumberland, Virginia. The same parish register from St. Stephen's also records the births of William's children, the next generation:

William born about 1704
John, born 16 May 170 (probably about 1706)
Clement, born about 1708
Jane, born about 1710 and living in 1724
Isaac, born about 1722 (by a second wife)
Sarah, born 1724 (by a second wife)

In 1724, William Aldridge died and left a will in which he left his property to his children. Mr. Bennett stated that William , his son, "appears to have gone to North Carolian shortly afterwards (after his father's death) and is said to have had a grant of land in what was then Bertie Co. (North Carolina) in the year 1725."

Then follows a "genealogy" of the counties of North Carolina to wit: Bertie County was formed in 1722 from Bath County, Edgecombe County was formed in 1735 from Bertie, Granville County was formed from Edgecombe County in 1746, Orange County was formed from Granville in 1753, Guilford County was formed from Orange in 1770 and Randolph from Guilford in 1779. Mr. Bennett continued:

"Thus if a family of Aldridges or Allreds settled on the water of Deep River or the branches thereof prior to the year 1755, they would in that year be in Orange County and until 1770; from 1770-1779 in Guilford; and subsequently in Randolph. William Aldridge obtained a grant in Bertie Co., in 1725 and could conceivably appear on the records of these counties successively......His posterity could undoubtedly be found in the records of Randolph County from 1779 on."

On page 84, Mr. Bennett continues, "No record has yet been found of the name of the wife of William Aldridge. In the absence of more direct evidence it is presumed the following are his children:

William, born about 1733; d. Nov or Dec 1789; mar Elizabeth Nathaniel, born about 1735; living in 1790; mar.... Samuel, born abt 1737; living 1789 Nathan, born about 1740; will dated 23 Mar 1818; mar Hannah Nicholas, born about 1742; mar..... James, born about 1745

At this point in time, there is evidence that this William (whom Mr. Bennett referred to as the son of William Aldridge and Alice Fallin) was not born in Virginia, but was the son of Nicholas Aldridge and Martha, his wife of Maryland. Nicholas and Martha had children; Thomas, Ann, John, Joane, Sidney, Jane, Nicholas, William (died young), William and James. The two youngest boys, William and James, left Maryland and settled in North Carolina.

The tax list for Orange County, North Carolina for the year 1755 includes the following:

Thomas Allred 2 whites
William Aldrige 1 white
Solomon Alred 1 white
John Alred 1 white
William Alred 1 white
William Alred 1 white

Thomas listed here was married to Elizabeth (purportedly Twiggs). On the Ancestral File at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, she is listed as Elizabeth Diffee. This is wrong! Elizabeth Diffee is the wife of William Allred.

William Aldrige was the son of NIcholas and Martha Aldridge of Anne Arundle County, Maryland. Solomon Alred married Mary, last name unknown and died