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Variations of the Name
In many old records are found variations of the name that differ from today's commonly used spellings. The many orthographies in which the name is found are: Aldriche, Aldritch, Aldrige, Aldrigge, Aldretch, Aldrech, Aldredge, Aldridgh, Aldrigh, Aldridge, Aldrich, Aldreidge, Aldrage, Alldredge, Alldridge, Aldred, Allred, Alred, Auldridge, Arledge, Oldridge and others. The most common spellings today are: Aldridge, Alldredge, Aldredge, Aldred, Allred, Alred, Aldrich and Arledge.
Origin of the Name
One writer says the name derives from a Saxon word - "Aldred" meaning old or ancient - also "Ald" and "Eld" means old. The first syllable of the name Aldridge, viz, "Ald" is a corruption of the English word "Auld." The last syllable is from a word meaning "point of land or ridge." The Welsh pronunciation is "redge," sometimes sounding nearly like "retch." When our ancient people decided to have a surname, they were living in a primitive manner in the hills of Wales as freemen. To designate themselves, they were known as the people from the "Auld Ridge," this being the designation of their chain of hills, which was known far and wide as "The Auld Ridge."
History of the Name
One of the first references to this name in England is Aldred, or Ealdred, or Alred who became Abbot of Tavistock in 1027, Bishop of Worcester in 1044, and Archbishop of York in 1060. This man died at York in 1069. He undertook several diplomatic missions to the Continent, and was the first English bishop to visit Jerusalem in 1058. It has been alleged that he crowned Harold in 1066; he certainly crowned William the Conqueror, and proved a faithful servant to the Norman king. He was active and courageous, but ambitious, greedy and self-seeking.
Families bearing this name were to be found at early dates in the English counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, Oxford, Derby, Surrey, Hants, Stafford and London. Records indicate that they were, for the most part, of the landed gentry and yeomanry of Great Britain. In early American records the name of Aldrich and Aldridge are used interchangeably and, in some cases, are even confused with the name Eldridge or Eldredge.
One of the earliest known lines of the family in England was that of William Aldrich, who was Bailiff of Yarmouth, County Norfolk, as early as the year 1468 and possibly before. Another early branch of the family in England was that of Robert Aldriche or Aldrich, who resided in Staffordshire before the beginning of the 17th century, having been born about 1575. While it is not definitely known from which of the several lines of the family in England the first emigrant of the name to America was descended, it is generally believed that most, if not all, of the Aldrichs and the Aldridges derive from a common ancestor of a remote period.
One Robert Aldridge appears to be the first Aldridge that set his foot on the soil of the new country called America. What day or year he arrived is not known, or if he had a family. The record only says, "Muster of inhabitants across the water at Virginia, 1624/25. Those that lie in ye Treasurors Plantation at James City ", on the dead list "at these Plantations" is the name of Robert Aldridge.
Robert Aldred left England in June 1635 for Virginia. Robert Aldred was brought into the county of Nansemond, Virginia 1650 by John Perrott and may be the ancestor of the Aldred family that later appears in North Carolina. If these two are the same person, he may have stopped over at Barbados a few years before coming on to Virginia. Nansemond County was formed in 1637 from New Norfolk (called Upper Norfolk until 1642).
Another early arrival to Virginia was one Francis Aldridge. He is mentioned in a grant of land provided to Bridges Freeman in 1637 for transporting, at Freeman's cost, 16 persons to America. Francis Aldridge was one of the 16 transportees. His wife was Jane, and he left a will upon his death in 1678 in Norfolk County, Virginia. He mentions no children.
Nicholas Aldred is also found in the early records of Virginia. Here the spelling is found as "Aldred" which may be "Aldridge." Land transactions in 1645 and 1655 involving this man appear in the Isle of Wight County Virginia - Deed Book A. He is also mentioned in the will of Edward Chetwine, Isle of Wight County, dated 7 Sept. 1647.
Other early arrivals in Virginia were Thomas, George, William and Clement Aldridge. Here we find in the records various spellings of the name, and perhaps the origin of the orthography "Arledge" which is very commonly used today.
More detailed information on these early immigrants and many others is available in the book by Franklin Rudolph Aldridge, Aldridge Records Volume II.
The Arledge Variation
It appears that the name or spelling "Arledge" first originated in America, a corrupted form of Aldridge or Aldrich. (to be continued )