| SPOUSE | CHILDREN | ||
|---|---|---|---|
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? m. by 1776 ?NC b. by 1760? ?NC d. after 1816 ?Baldwin/Washington Co. AL |
David b. by 1776 ?Corrituck Co. NC d. by ?Sep 16, 1799 ?Miss. Terr. |
George b. by May 1782? ?NC d. after 1816 ?Adams CO. MS |
Thomas (Jr.) b. between May 1782 and 1789 ?Natchez Dist. d. after 1841 ?Franklin Co. MS |
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Godfrey b. by 1789? ?Natchez Dist. d. after 1830 ?Franklin Co. MS |
James b. by 1793 ?Natchez Dist. d. after 1824 ?Baldwin/Washington Co. AL |
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In May 1782, "Thomas Ethridge, wife & children" arrived via flatboat at Natchez
with 4 "individuos" and no "esclavos", that is no slaves.
Among others arriving was a single man,
William Barland [Natchez Court Records]. |
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A "Wm. Barler" was a private in the NC 1st Regiment commanded by Capt. Tilghman
Dixon, when it was formed in 1777. This regiment was camped near Halifax NC
on Aug 15, 1777. It fought at Brandywine PA on Sep 11, and at the Battle of
Germantown outside of Philadelpia PA on Oct 4. Barler was imprisoned, possibly
near the Hudson River NY, Apr 14, 1779 and was mustered in Nov 1779 [docsouth.unc.edu,
website,
vol 16, p. 1009]. |
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A "Jno. Ethridge" was a private in the NC 1st Regiment commanded by Capt. Tilghman
Dixon, when it was formed in 1777. Unlike "Wm. Barler", John served a total of
seven years according to a pension application dated Oct 20, 1818 at age 97
[TNGenWeb, Blount Co.]. He enlisted in the regiment of Henry "Hal" Dixon Jr.
(17840?-1782), Tilghman's older brother. A "John Etheridge" served from 1776-1783
and was wounded at Charleston by May 12, 1780 and was taken prisoner [Davis, Am.
Rev. in NC]. He received a military warrant for 640 acres as a result in TN
[National Archives, Oct 23, 1778, footnote 7], as did the heirs of another
Ethridge (Corp. Daniel) who enlisted in 1777 in Walsh's 8th Regiment company,
deserted in Oct 1777, rejoined Dec 1, 1777, and died Jan 19, 1778. There is a private "Thomas Aldridge" who enlisted in Michael Quinn's company on Jul 20, 1778 for 9 months service which would have ended Apr 20, 1779 [docsouth.unc.edu, website, vol 16, pp. 1006, 1049, 1052]. |
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Capt. Tilghman Dixon, became Captain of the 1st NC Regiment on Feb 15, 1777.
After several NC regiments suffered losses, the 1st NC Regiment was consolidated
into the 2nd NC Regiment. He was taken prisoner in the fall of Charleston, exchanged
on Jun 14, 1781 and retired on Jan 1, 1783. In 1782, Capt. Tilghman Dixon was one
of three NC Continental officers elected to accompany a party, commissioned by
the NC Assembly, to survey "bounty lands for it's soldiers along the Cumberland River".
If William Barland and Thomas Ethridge
were members of that party under their former company commander surveying lands
west along the Cumberland River after William Barland
was imprisoned, it would explain why William Barland and Thomas
Ethridge were both in the area of
the Cumberland Settlement by early 1782 when they both left there on the flatboat
voyage to Natchez. |
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Map of
the Cumberland Settlement Washington Co. NC in 1780. |
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In May 1782, "Thomas Ethridge, wife & children" arrived via flatboat at Natchez
with 4 "individuos" and no "esclavos", that is no slaves [Natchez Court Records].
A total of
13 families
were recorded by Spanish authorities as arriving, and the record was signed by
Carlos de Grand-Pré on Jul 6, 1782. |
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On May 16, 1782 Thomas made a
deposition to the Natchez
District Commandant, Carlos de Grand-Pré,
responding to questions regarding the arrival of families on flatboats down the
Mississippi River [Farrell Family History website]. |
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Map of
the Natchez District as it may have looked between 1779 and 1799. |
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According to a translation of the 1792 Spanish Census for the Natchez District,
there is no Ethridge household, but there is a "Jorge Aldrige" household
with 2 White members, and no Blacks, living on 361 arpents of land in the Second
& Sandy Creek area (Adams and Franklin Co. after 1802). There is also an
"Erange" household in Buffalo Creek which is in the part of Adams Co. that
became Wilkinson Co., with no land and one White person, possibly Thomas'
widow [Adams Co. Gen. Hist. Network]. |
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1895 Map
of Natchez from the Ancestral Trackers
website, shows the likely routes of the Second and Sandy Creeks in 1792. |
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Thomas' son David married a woman named Esther who became the first wife of
Abner Lawson Duncan, Esq. on Sep 16, 1799,
performed by William McGuire. "David Eldridge" had a Spanish grant of 400 acres
on Bayou Sara in 1797, "40 miles from Fort, b. [bordered] by James Mather" the
father of Abner L. Duncan's second wife. Abner and Esther had one son,
John Nicholas Duncan. They sold the 400 acres on Bayou Sara on Mar 24, 1804
[McBee, p. 445]. Abner Lawson Duncan
(1774-1823) was a prominent Louisiana attorney, businessman, politician and
aide-de-camp to General Andrew Jackson during the Battle of New Orleans. |
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A David T. Etheridge (maybe a nephew because his father was Amos Etheridge)
was born in Corrituck Co. NC in 1772 and died Jan 1823 in Davidson Co. TN.
He married into the large Williams family there [wikitree, website]. |
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Bayou Sara no longer exists because the Mississippi River now runs through it.
In 1820 it was partly in Wilkinson Co. MS (formed in 1802 from a part of Adams Co.)
and a part of West Feliciana LA, south of the town of Natchez
(see present day map
for location of Wilkinson Co. and
present day map
for location of West Feliciana Parish. |
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In 1810, there were two Ethridge or Aldridge households in the Franklin Co. MS
1810 Census: "Godfree Etherage" (page 6): 1 male and 1 female over 21, 1 male under 21, and no slaves. In 1816 for the same county, on page 6, line 36, "Godfry Ethrige" had one more person, a female under 21. "Thomas Aldridge" in 1810 (page 4): 1 male over 21, 1 female over 21, 1 male under 21, and no slaves. In 1816 for the same county, on page 9, line 5, Thomas had 2 more males under 21. Sons Godfree and Thomas would have both been born by 1789. |
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Franklin Co. MS was formed on Dec 21, 1809 from the eastern part of Jefferson
Co. and parts of Amite, Wilkinson and Adams Counties
(see present day map
for location). |
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In the 1816 Adams Co. MS Census, on
page 16
(line 9), there was a household headed by "Geo Eldridge Senr " with: 1 adult male [son George Sr.], 4 male children under 21 [incl. George Jr.], no adult females, 2 females under 21, and no slaves [MDAH, 1816 Adams Co. Census]. |
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On May 2, 1812, a "White Etheridge" entered a $150 note bound to John Powell in
Baldwin Co., Miss. Terr. [Baldwin Co. Early Court Records 1801-1825, Folder 15]. |
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A "James Ethredge" household with 3 adults (2 female), 3 children (2 female)
and 2 slaves was listed in the
1816 Census for Baldwin Co. in the part of the Mississippi Territory that
bordered Spanish West Florida. There are no households with a similar name
found in the previous Baldwin Co. census taken in
1810
[Genealogy Addict, "Tensaw Settlement, part 4, 1800-1816", online blog]. |
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Baldwin Co. was formed from the southern part of Washington Co. in the Mississippi
Territory on Dec 21, 1809. 1801 Map
of the Mississippi Territory shows Washington Co. northeast of Mobile Bay and
west of the Tombigbee River. Baldwin's county seat was McIntosh Bluff on the
Tombigbee River. This area became part of the state of Alabama in 1819. |
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In the 1850 census for Washington (adjacent to Baldwin) Co. AL there were no
Ethridge or similarly named households, but a young Showmaker family had a
24 year old "Eilza Ethrage" born in AL (about 1826), unable to read or write,
possibly an orphan of the son James [U.S. Census, 1850, Washington Co. AL,
usgwarchives.net, sheet #334A-B]. |
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On Oct 25, 1824, Godfrey Etheridge married Eleanor Alexander [MSGHN.org]. |
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In the 1830 Census for Franklin Co., "Godfrey Ethrige" and Thomas Aldrige headed
households [S-K Publications]. In the 1841 Census "Thomas Aldrige" had 5 white
males and 6 white females in his household [MSGHN.org]. |
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In the
West Feliciana Parish LA 1850 Census, household number 262, "A.H. Etheridge"
was listed as a white male "Overseer", born in "Alabama", 40 years old, with
no other persons living with him [U.S. Census, 1850, usgwarchives.net]. |
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Sources: Adams Co. Mississippi Genealogy & History Network, "1792 Census for Natchez District (under Spanish Government control)", 2009, 1792 Census. "George W. Humphreys Bible", Claiborne MS Bibles, photostat of original bible, recorded 1957 by May Wilson McBee, in Mississippi Genealogy Trails, website. Baldwin Co. AL, "1810 Citizens of Baldwin County, Mississippi Territory", website. Baldwin Co. AL, "1816 Citizens of Baldwin County, Mississippi Territory", website. Baldwin Co. Archives & History, "Early Baldwin Co. Court Records 1801-1825", orig. documents, Folder 15, Bay Minette AL. Cumberland Compact, original document signed May 13, 1780, Washington County NC, website. Clayton, Prof. W.W., History of Davidson County Tennessee, reprod. 1971 by Charles Elder, Nashville TN. Farrell Family History, website. Genealogy Addict, "Tensaw Settlement, part 4, 1800-1816", online blog. MS Dept. Archives & Hist. (MDAH), 1816 Census, Territorial Census 1801-1816, website, microfilm. MDAH, Will Book Vol. 1, Adams Co. Courthouse, Natchez MS, microfilm, Apr 1816. Drake, Doug, Jack Masters and Bill Puryear, Founding of the Cumberland Settlements, The First Atlas, 1779-1804, Warioto Press, 2009, pp. 23, map E7. Lewis, J.D., "John Etheridge" in "The American Revolution in North Carolina", 2012, The privates,etc., website. McBee, May Wilson, comp., "Land Claims", in Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Book F, p.21. McBee, May Wilson, comp., Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Greenwood MS, 1953, v. 2, numerous ref. MSGenWeb, Natchez District 1792 Census Index, comp. by Ellen Pack, Index, transcribed and translated from Spanish. National Archives, "Washington Papers", website, footnote 7, on General Orders 23 Oct 1778. Potter, Dorothy Williams, Passports of Southeastern Pioneers 1770-1823, Gateway Press, Baltimore MD, 1982, p. 342. TNGenWeb, "Blount County, Tennessee", Rev. War Pensions, "John Etheridge", website. Tuller, Roberta, "1777 Petition of Holston Men", in An American Family History, website, Amazon Services, 2020. Univ. of NC, Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, "Roster of the Troops in the Continental Army", vol. 16, on website, 1st Reginment, pp. 1006, 1009, 1049, 1052. U.S. Census, 1850 West Feliciana Parish, La., submitted by Donald W. Johnson, usgwarchives.net, website. Wells, Carol, Natchez Postscripts 1781-1798, Heritage Books, pp. 101, 144-5, 151, |
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