The family of John Aldridge 1712-1750, maybe

 And here is yet another Aldridge in this line, with disputed dates and wife (or wives) and children.  I sure hope someone in Maryland can do some research with original documents and figure this out.  

The one thing I'm fairly sure about is John Aldridge's will.  (Note: I have seen this man referred to as John Simpson Aldridge, but I think this is two generations too early to have the name Simpson.  There may be something, somewhere, to show I am wrong, and I'd be happy to hear about it.)  In his will, John names his wife Elinor, and sons John, Jacob, Thomas, and Susannah.  These are the only children known for certain, but there may have been others, presumably dead or perhaps already given their inheritance, at the time of John's 1750 will.  

John's birthday is variously given as 1702 and 1712.  There were at least two John Aldridges in the Anne Arundel and Prince Georges County areas in Maryland.  One went south, to North Carolina, and one, this John, had land in Prince Georges County in 1733.  He would have been a young man, when he acquired his land, and still relatively young when he died, whether he was 38 or 48 when he died.  

If the birth dates given most often for his children are correct, then it's possible he had two wives.  Two children are shown with birthdates in 1730 and 1732, and two in 1740 and 1744.  It's also possible that there were births between the two sets of children, and there was just one wife.  

 The known wife's name is also not entirely certain.  She seems to have been Elinor Watkins, the daughter of John Watkins, with her mother's name variously seen as Mary Warman and Anne Gassaway.  Here is the sparse information I have been able to glean about their children:

Susannah was born about 1730.  Her inheritance was just five shillings, so she must have received a gift, perhaps at the time of her marriage to Samuel Prather, son of William Nathan and Martha Prather.  Prather.  (The two were first cousins).  Their children were William, John, Anne, Eleanor and  Thomas. Susannah died in 1790.

Jacob was born about 1732.  He married Elizabeth, possibly Soper.  Their known children are James, John Simpson, Andrew, Jacob, Elinor, and Betsey.  I'll write more of this family in my next post.  

John was born about 1740.  He appears to have been married twice.  His first wife was Sarah, possibly Crow, and his second wife was Dolly Hoskins.  Most if not all of his children would have been through his first wife, as the marriage to Dolly was in 1786 and John died in 1799, in Montgomery County, Maryland.  Again, the children's names are taken from his will.  They are Mary, Eleanor, James, Sarah, Nancy, John, Elizabeth, Joshua, Isaac, Rebekah, and Ann.  

The final son was Thomas, born about 1744.  He married Elizabeth Crow, the daughter of James and Mary Farmer Crow.  They had a son, James Thomas, and perhaps another son, Thomas Jackson.  Thomas himself is said to have died in 1840 in Henry County, Kentucky, or perhaps much earlier in Montgomery County, Maryland.  1840 would have given Thomas quite a long life, and it is possible that this information is for another of the many men by the name of Thomas Aldridge.

So here it is, the last of the very nebulous and mostly undocumented information about the John (not Simpson) Aldridge in the line I am following.  It's been fascinating because some of the names I've come across are surnames that are brick walls for me in my own family-Dunn, Mackall, and one in another of husband's lines, Farmer.  Are there clues here?  Time will tell.  Hopefully time will also allow us to document and either confirm or deny the possible information presented here.  The next family I write of will be on firmer ground than these posts have been.