Allred Family Organization 
AFO Mission Statement
Identify and Unite the Allred Family Through
Gathering, Storing and Sharing Information
A talk presented to the Allred Family Organization at their
annual reunion
held at Gray’s Chapel School, Randolph County, North
Carolina, September 7th,
2002
by: Michael Marshall
In the early 1750s,
Solomon, John, Thomas and William Allred received land
grants in
central North Carolina, in what is now Randolph County.
Solomon was the
first to settle there, receiving two grants on 10 March
1752. The first
was for land along Cain Creek. In the second grant,
Solomon’s name
is spelled “Aldricks,” and the land was described as lying
at the mouth of
Sandy Creek. Today, thanks to research by a number of
Allred Family
Organization researchers, we know that the exact spot where
Sandy Creek
branches away from Deep River is located at the western edge
of the town of
Ramseur in Randolph County.
Before returning
to the Allreds, let me note that there were two other
grants made that
day, both were for land also lying along Cane Creek, so
they were
probably close to Solomon’s land. One of these was to Hugh
Locken and
Valentine Hollingsworth, and the other to Hollingsworth alone.
It turns out the
man called Hugh Lockin in the grant was actually Hugh
Laughlin who was
born about 1715 in Ireland. He married Mary Harlan in
Kennett township
in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Mary
was born 26 Feb
1717. Valentine Hollingsworth was the husband of
Elizabeth Harlan, so he
and Laughlin
were related through their Harlan wives. Valentine was the
grandson of
another Valentine Hollingsworth who came from County Armagh,
Ireland in 1682
and settled in New Castle County, Delaware.
Now, a question
of great interest to all of us here today is: who were
these Allred
men, and where did they come from before they settled in
North Carolina?
I can’t provide a definite answer, but I hope I can shed
some light on
the subject as I proceed.
As to William
Alred, it now seems likely he was the son of Johan Dider
Elrod, a German
who settled in New Castle County, Delaware some time
between 1710 and
1714. In the old records, William’s name is spelled both
as ELROD and
ALROD, then later as ALRED. Few people could read and write in those days
and those that did spelled phonetically, and this probably
accounts for the
change of the name Elrod into Alrod then into Alred.
A substantial
amount of genealogy research has also been done on the
Solomon, John,
and Thomas Allred, but much more needs to be done before we will have a
clear picture of these men and their origins. We do know that
Solomon named
his sons John, Phineas, and Solomon, and the name Theophilus was given to two
of his grandsons. The names “Phineas” and “Theophilus” are not very
common and that is a great help in genealogical research. In fact, in
researching the origins of Solomon Allred, these two names helped point to a
possible origin of the Solomon Alred line in the county of
Lancashire in
northern England. In particular, these names appear in the
records of
Eccles parish which is near present-day Manchester, England. In
fact, there was
a John Allred of Pendleton, a village in Eccles parish,
who had sons
with the peculiar names of Phineas and Theophilus. He also
had sons named
John and Solomon.
This John Allred
of Pendleton married an Ellen Pemberton in about 1658.
They had at
least 10 children: JOHN born 1 Nov 1660; 2. MARY born 9 Aug
1661; 3. WILLIAM
baptized 3 Feb 1664/65; 4. ALICE b.c. 1668; 5. OWEN b.c.
1670; 6.
PHINEAS, baptized 7 Nov 1672; 7. ENOCH baptized 16 Jun 1675; 8.
THEOPHILUS
baptized 4 Oct 1677; 9. ELLIN baptized 15 Jun 1679; and 10.
SOLOMON baptized
12 Nov 1680.
John and Ellen
Allred lived in England during a very turbulent time. For
example, it was
during this time that King Charles I was deposed by the
Puritans under
Oliver Cromwell. Much of the religious unrest in England
was caused by
growing resistance to the Church of England, which was the
official
religion of England at the time. This resistance was especially
strong in the
north of England where John and Ellen Allred lived. Those
who resisted the
official state religion were called “dissenters” or
“non-conformists,”
terms that included groups like Quakers, Presbyterians,
Baptists and
others.
The meager
records we have concerning John and Ellen suggest they were
dissenters. John
was associated with the Presbyterians and his wife Ellen
was a Quaker.
This probably caused them much hardship as dissenters were
often fined,
imprisoned, whipped, and otherwise punished by the
authorities for
the non-conformity.
We have
indications of John Allred’s Presbyterian leanings from a book
called “The
Eccles Presbyterians 1662-1765,” which contains a list of
members of the
congregation of the Rev. Edmund Jones taken in 1673. The
name John Allred
of Pendleton is among those listed. John was also named
in a list of
those who attended an illegal Presbyterian service held by
Rev. Jones at
Lever’s barn on 12 Oct 1673. A man by
the name of Boardman
witnessed this
religious service and later testified about it in court. In
the proceedings,
Boardman gave the following testimony.
“On the Twelth
day of October laste being the Lords day, there was a
conventicle or
meeting in a Barne in the parish of Eccles within this
County
belonginge to one Alexander Lever of the same place, husbandman,
where mett
together under pretence of religious worshipp. These several
persons
following vis:-Mr. Edmund Jones of Barton a non-conformist
minister and his
wife…(a list of 45 members of the congregation followed,
which included
the name John Allred)…together with many more who were
unknowne to this
informer, All of them subjects of this Realme and above
the age of
sixteene years; he further saith that the said Mr. Jones did
preach to them
both ends of the day, and that the said Mr. Jones did not
use the booke of
Common prayer, accordinge to the Constitution of the
Church of
England.”
I have already
mentioned that Ellen was a Quaker. In fact, she was a
member of the
East Hardshaw Quaker Meeting near Manchester. Some of their
records remain,
including a notice of her death which reads:
“Ellin
Allrod of
Pendleton Pool departed this life ye 21st of ye 10th month 1684
and was buried
at our burying place.” In those days, the new year began in
March which was
the first month, so the 10th month was December. So, Ellen
Allred died on
the 21st of December 1684.
We also have
indications that the John Allred family was not very well off
because in
1680/81, he petitioned the Eccles parish church wardens for
relief. In other
words, he asked them for assistance for his family.
Records of the
relief petitions for the year 1686 also list John Alred in
the parish
church accounts. These records, and the fact that the births
and baptisms of
several of his children are recorded in the Eccles parish
register, do
seem to show that despite his Presbyterian leanings, John had
not entirely
severed his connections to the official church.
We do not know
when John Allred died, or what became of most of his
children. His
son Theophilus seems to have stayed in the area, because his
name appears in
the records of Pole, another village near Pendleton, when
his son Thomas
was christened on 7 Jul 1717. However, a search of the
Eccles records
and those of the surrounding area of Lancashire disclose no
further mention
of the names Phineas and Solomon Allred and this could
indicate they
left that part of England, or perhaps England itself. In
fact, many
religious dissenters began to leave England in the latter part
of the 1600s to
escape religious prosecution. This was especially true of
the Quakers many
of whom followed William Penn to what would later be
called
Pennsylvania.
Some of these
Quakers settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania, one of
Penn’s original
counties after he founded his Pennsylvania colony in 1682.
This area was on
the western frontier of Pennsylvania at that time, and
the lands west
of Chester county were still inhabited by Indians. In
speaking of
Chester County, it should be noted that Lord Baltimore, the
proprietor of
the colony of Maryland, also claimed part of this same area,
and this led to
a continuing dispute between Penn and Lord Baltimore over
the boundary
between the two colonies. This dispute continued for another
50 years after
William Penn died in 1718, before it was finally settled by
the survey
carried out in 1764 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon who
established the
now-famous “Mason Dixon” line.
Now, let me say
a few words about a large tract of land established by
Penn in Chester
County which became known as the Nottingham Lots. The name “Nottingham" most likely came from William Penn's home in
Nottinghamshire, England.
Establishment of
the Nottingham Lots grew out of Penn’s eagerness to
establish his
border rights. In 1702, he granted a land warrant for 18,00
acres which was
carved up into a number of so-called lots. To help
solidify his
claim to this border area, Penn attracted and settled a
number of Quaker
families from the Philadelphia area and what was called
West Jersey to
settle in this disputed border area. When these lots were
settled, this
entire tract of land was in Chester County. However, after
the completion
of the Mason-Dixon survey, only 1,300 of the original
18,000 acres
remained in Pennsylvania. The remainder fell in Cecil County,
Maryland.
After its
settlement, the local townships in the area became known as East
Nottingham and
West Nottingham. West Nottingham township was settled
almost
exclusively by Quakers and Scots-Irish Presbyterians—groups that
had been among
the prominent non-conformists in England.
Original
purchasers of the Nottingham lots included Joel Baily, John Bales
or Beals, Edward
Beeson, James Brown, William Brown, John Churchman, James Cooper, Robert
Dutton, Cornelious Empson, Ebeneser Empson, Randal Janney, Andrew Job,
Samuel Littler, Henry Reynolds, and John Richardson. Most of them were
middle-class yeomen, born in England during the middle 1600's.
And most came
from the north of England, from the counties of Cheshire,
Durham,
Lancashire, and Yorkshire. Also, most had lived within a 50-mile
radius of
Philadelphia before moving to Nottingham.
Perhaps the
greatest problem facing the Nottingham Lot landowners and
their
descendants was gaining title to their property after the death of
William Penn in
1718. The problem was that both Pennsylvania and Maryland
claimed the
area. So, many of the Nottingham lot owners did not pay the
quit rents due
on the land because they didn’t know whether to pay them to
Penn or to
Baltimore. In fact, most didn’t pay their rents at all, and
this made it
difficult to obtain a good title.
This confusion
over land titles finally led many of the Nottingham
residents to
pick up and move elsewhere. This move accelerated after 1730
as more and more
of the Nottingham descendants began to immigrate to other
regions to find
cheaper land and better opportunity. The evidence shows
that many who
left moved to that part of Prince George’s county Maryland
that became
Frederick County in 1748. Others moved to old Frederick
County,
Virginia, to Loudon County in northern Virginia, and to central
and southside
Virginia. Some moved directly to the central Carolinas and
Georgia.
Hopewell Monthly
Meeting, which is near present-day Winchester, Virginia,
in the
Shenandoah Valley, was settled in large part by Quakers from
Nottingham who
followed Alexander Ross to the Shenandoah Valley to settle
100,000 acres in
the 1730's.
Now, why have I
spent so much time on this discussion of the Nottingham
lots and the
townships of West and East Nottingham? The answer is because
a number of
names we might find very interesting appear on the tax lists
for these
townships between the years 1718 and 1730. These names include
SOLOMON ALRED
and JEREMIAH YORK, both of whom appear on the tax lists for
West Nottingham
Township. Solomon appears on the lists for 1724 and 1730.
On the 1724 tax
list, the names Solomon Alred and Jeremiah York are
written one
under the other possibly suggesting they lived close to each
other. Another
name that appears on these same tax lists is that of Samuel
Finley whom I
will discuss in more detail shortly.
Now, there are
several reasons why it seems highly likely that the Solomon
Alred on these
West Nottingham township tax lists is a direct descendant
of John and Ellen Pemberton Allred of
Eccles parish, Lancashire, England,
maybe even the
son Solomon who was baptized 12 Nov 1680. If so, he would
have been about
44 when he first appears on the 1724 tax list. It also
seems likely that
the Solomon Alred who received a land grant in central
North Carolina
in 1752 is descended from this earlier Solomon of Chester
County,
Pennsylvania, perhaps his son. For one thing, the names Phineas,
Theophilus,
John, and Solomon appear in the North Carolina Solomon’s line
as well as among
the names of the children of John and Ellen Allred. For
another, there
is the Quaker-Presbyterian connection both in England and
in Chester
County where many of the dissenters who left England settled.
There is also
another item which I won’t dwell on here, but it involves
the name Randle
Janney. You will recall that I mentioned one of the
original
settlers of the Nottingham lots was also named Randle Janney. It
turns out that
these Janneys were Quakers who came from a part of
Cheshire,
England that is not too distant from the part of Lancashire
England where
John and Ellen Pemberton lived. This Janney family is the
subject of two
articles published by Miles White, Jr. who researched this
family
extensively. One appears in the Southern
Historical Association
Magazine., the
other in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and
Biography.
White’s research
shows there was a Randull Janney who married an Ellen
Alrodd in
Cheshire. Their son Thomas married Elizabeth Worthington by whom he had a son
Thomas Janney who married Margaret Heath. Margaret’s sister, Ann Heath, married James Harrison., and
their daughter Phoebe married
Phineas
Pemberton, son of Ralph Pemberton. It was Ralph’s sister Ellen
that married
John Allred. In short, there is some connection between the
Randall Janney
family, the Allred family, and the Harrison, Heath, and
Pemberton
families that goes back to England. A number of these families
immigranted from
England and settled in Chester County in the late 1600s.
Let me turn for
just a minute to Jeremiah York who appears on the tax
records of West
Nottingham township between the years 1718-1729. Jeremiah
is also
mentioned in the 1722 will of a John Wilson of Cecil County,
Maryland who
left him some personal property. Remember that I said that
Cecil County
bordered West Nottingham township on the south and this area
was in dispute
until the 1764 Mason-Dixon survey.
Jeremiah
disappears from the West Nottingham tax lists after 1730
indicating he
and his family moved about this time to the Pipe Creek area
of Prince
Georges County, Maryland. In a book on old southern Bible
records by
Memory Aldridge Lester, there is a record that says that
Jeremiah's son,
Henry Yorke, was born on Pipe Creek on 6 Aug 1732. This
Pipe Creek area
would have likely fallen in Monocacy Hundred of Prince
Georges County
for which a 1733 tax list exists. However, Jeremiah York is
not listed on
this tax list suggesting he had moved on by this date to an
area that is
today in Jefferson County, West
Virginia, but was then part
of old Frederick
County, Virginia.
We know for sure
Jeremiah was in old Frederick County, Virginia by 1736
because the land
records show he was living on part of a 1,200 acre tract
of land called
"Terrapin Neck," by 25 Oct 1736. Most probably, Jeremiah
Yorke moved into
this area of Virginia in late 1732 or early 1733.
The
"Terrapin Neck" tract had been purchased by John Browning from Jost
Hite who had
James Wood make a survey on 10 Nov 1735. Hite, one of the
Palatine Germans
who came over with Johan Dider Elrod, had moved into this
area of old
Frederick County sometime between 21 Oct 1731 and 28 Nov 1732
and acquired
large tracts on condition that he induce settlers to come and
take up land
there. I suspect Jeremiah York was one such settler.
Jeremiah was
still living on the Terrapin Neck track in 1751, because on 7
June 1751 he
received a Fairfax grant for 323 acres of the NE-most part of
the Browning
tract. However, York sold this property a couple of years
later to a
William Chapline. This was on 4 Jul 1753. In the deed, he was
called Jeremiah
York Sr. The chain carriers on the survey were THOMAS YORK
and DAVIS YORK,
probably sons. The name JOHN YORK also appears in the
records of
"old" Frederick County, Virginia when he and Thomas were chain
carriers in a
survey of a tract on Opeckon Creek made in 1763. His son
Jeremiah Jr. was
living on an adjacent tract on 13 Jul 1773 when Joseph
Mitchell received
a Fairfax grant "on Great Cacepehon" which is a river in
what is now
Hampshire County, West Virginia. It is possible that Jeremiah
Sr. moved to
North Carolina about the time he sold his land to William
Chapline, or he
may have moved in with one of his sons and remained in
Virginia.
I want you to
remember the name William Chapline—the man who bought
Jeremiah York’s
property -- because he had a brother named Joseph Chapline
whom I will say
more about. But first, let me now return to Solomon Alred
and Chester
County, Pennsylvania. As I have already said, Solomon’s name
appears on the
West Nottingham township tax lists for the years 1724 and
1730.
Unfortunately, despite a great deal of searching, I have not been
able to find any
other record relating to him. However, there is an
interesting
connection that involves the name Samuel Finley. As I said
earlier, Finley
also appears on the West Nottingham township tax lists
during the same
period as Solomon Alred and Jeremiah York. He first
appears in 1718
while 1732 is the last year he is listed.
We know that
some time in the early 1730s, Samuel Finley left Chester
County,
Pennsylvania and moved to Prince Georges County where he died in
1737 leaving
only an oral or nuncupative will. It was dated 16 Oct 1737,
and it was
proved in court on 2 Feb 1737/38. In his will, Finley leaves
his entire
estate to "JOHNNY ALDRIDGE" but does not say who this Johnny
Aldridge is, or
where he lived. Henry Enoch and Joseph Metcalf witnessed
the will. I
won’t go into it here, but I can show this Enoch family was
well acquainted
with Jeremiah York in old Frederick County, Virginia.
Now, I mentioned
earlier that Jeremiah York sold his land in old Frederick
County, Virginia
to a William Chapline. It turns out that William’s
brother, Joseph
Chapline, was named as executor of Samuel Finley’s estate
during the
administration proceedings. Chapline began settling Finley’s
estate with an
appraisal dated 15 Mar 1738 and proved in court on 29 Jun
1738. The
appraisers were Johannes Noll and John More. Thomas Wale and
William Norris
were named as creditors. There were two inventories taken
of the estate.
The first was dated 24 Jun 1738 and proved in court 31 May
1739. A second
was proved on 24 June 1739 and it shows payments to a
number of
individuals including Joseph Medcalfe, Henry Enoch, and William
Norris. It is
stated in the inventory that there were no known heirs. In
this court
proceeding, there was testimony that Samuel Finley had been
charged by a
Joseph Evans, in Oppeckon, County of Orange, with stealing a
horse in Chester
County, Pennsylvania in 1735. The reference to Oppeckon,
County of
Orange, is to that part of Orange County, Virginia that later
became old
Frederick County, Virginia, and Oppeckon refers to a creek near
present-day
Winchester, Virginia.
The
administration of Samuel Finley’s estate in Maryland took some time
because we find
a court proceeding of 23
Jun 1741 which ordered payments from the estate to a number of
creditors including Thomas Wale and Robert Finley, who was probably
Samuel’s brother. Joseph Chapline was again the administrator.
So, who was the
“Johnny Aldridge” to whom Finley left his entire estate?
We don’t know
for sure, but it appears likely he was living in Chester
County,
Pennsylvania in the late 1730s at which time he was still a minor.
We know this
from a court proceeding which Joseph Chapline instituted in
an Orphan’s
Court proceeding held in Chester County, Pennsylvania on 30
May 1738. In
this proceeding, Chapline set forth a petition to the court
which was worded
as follows:
"JOHN
ALDRED having petitioned the Court Setting forth that being a minor
and a
Considerable Estate being left him by SAM'L FFINLEY which if not
timely taken
care of may Suffer very much and therefore prays to be
Admitted to
Chuse his Guardian which is allowed of and the minor
Nominating
JOSEPH CHAPLAIN of Prince Georges in the province of Maryland who is hereby
Admitted to prosecute & defend all Suits pleas and actions for and in the
acct of the S'd Minor as the Law directs."
So, the man
called “Johnny Aldridge” in Finley’s Maryland will was
actually a young
boy named John Aldred who probably lived in or near West
Nottingham
township in Chester County. And it appears that Joseph Chapline
may have been
appointed his guardian. Perhaps he moved back to Maryland
with Chapline since he became the court
appointed guardian.
At the present
time, I cannot tell you anything further about this John
Aldred except
that he was born between 1722 and 1738. Nor can I say
anything about
his relation to his Finley. My best guess at the moment is
that he may have
been a son of the Solomon Alred who appears on the West
Nottingham tax
lists up to 1730. If so, he may be the John Allred who
received a land
grant in what is now Randolph County on 15 Mar 1755.
John’s grant
also refers to Thomas Alldrid. Perhaps both John and Thomas
were sons of the
Solomon of Chester County. More research will be needed
before we can
say with certainty.
What about
Samuel Finley? Research by others that have studied this Finley
family, say he
was born in May of 1684 in County Armagh in Ireland, the
son of Robert
Finley and Margaret Lauder who were married in 1680. Robert
died there on 18
Jun 1712. You may remember that the Hollingsworth family
also came from
Armagh. It is also said that Samuel Finley had a daughter
named Isabella
who married James Patterson, son of James Patterson Sr. and
Anne Corry.
There was a James Patterson on the West Nottingham township
tax lists at the
same time as Samuel Finley, Jeremiah York, and Solomon
Alred.
Besides, Samuel,
it is said that Robert and Margaret had 4 other sons:
Michael, Robert,
Archibald, and John, all of whom were staunch
Presbyterians.
Robert and John also settled in Nottingham township. A John
Finley of
Nottingham, perhaps Samuel’s brother, is listed in 1739 as an
Elder of Donegal
Presbytery. He may also be the John Finley who died
intestate in
Nottingham in 1753. Robert Finley of West Nottingham died in
West Nottingham
in 1741.
I wish I could
give you answers to all the questions you must have about
the origins of
the family, but I can’t. Perhaps with more work, we will
eventually put
the puzzle together.
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