Drewry ALDRIDGE b. Abt 1734 , Isle of Wight, Virginia, USA d. 1795 , Greene, North Carolina, USA: An Armstrong & A Heffernan

Abt 1734 - 1795 (~ 61 years)

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Name	Drewry ALDRIDGE
Born	Abt 1734	, Isle of Wight, Virginia, USA
Gender	Male
Died	1795	, Greene, North Carolina, USA
	Address: Drew Creek Greene County Greene County, North Carolina
Person ID	I9917	An Armstrong & A Heffernan
Last Modified	14 Feb 2014

Father	William ALDRIDGE, b. Abt 1690, Isle of Wight, Isle of Wight, Virginia, USA , d. Deceased, , Dobbs, North Carolina, USA
Mother	Mary SMITH, b. Abt 1695, Isle of Wight, Isle of Wight, Virginia, USA , d. 1760, , Greene, North Carolina, USA (Age ~ 65 years)
Married	Abt 1713	, Isle of Wight, Virginia, USA
Family ID	F3933	Group Sheet \| Family Chart

Family Mary BARRINGTON, b. Abt 1734, , Craven, North Carolina, USA , d. 1790, , Greene, North Carolina, USA (Age ~ 56 years)

Married Abt 1750 , Craven, North Carolina, USA

Children

	1. Mary ALDRIDGE, b. Abt 1751, , Dobbs, North Carolina, USA , d. Deceased
	2. John ALDRIDGE, b. Abt 1754, , Greene, North Carolina, USA , d. Aft 1820 (Age ~ 67 years)
	3. William ALDRIDGE, b. 1756, , Greene, North Carolina, USA , d. Bef 1830 (Age 73 years)
	4. Jesse ALDRIDGE, b. Abt 1758, , Greene, North Carolina, USA , d. Abt 1798, , Greene, North Carolina, USA (Age ~ 40 years)
	5. Thomas Barrington ALDRIDGE, b. 1763, , Greene, North Carolina, USA , d. Abt 1810 (Age 47 years)
	6. Drewry ALDRIDGE, Jr, b. 1766, , Dobbs, North Carolina, USA , d. Aug 1840, , Greene, North Carolina, USA (Age 74 years)
	7. Martha ALDRIDGE, b. 1770, d. Deceased

Last Modified 28 Dec 2009

Family ID F3935 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Notes

At an election of one Senator and Two Members of the House of Commons to Represent the county of Dobbs held at the Court House the 10th and 11th of March, 1779, the following persons voted for Members of the House of Commons to wit:
Aldridge, Drewry

COLONIAL RECORDS OF LENOIR COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA ALSO KNOWN AS THE LOVIT HINES COLLECTION - abstracted from Microfilm roll MF - 95 by Martha Mewborn Marble
INDENTURE - DREWRY ALDRIDGE SENR TO RICHARD BYRD
P 253 - 1 January 1800 - Indenture - DREWRY ALDRIDGE SENR of County of Greene to RICHARD BYRD of Lenoir - 20 pds - ES Falling Creek, NS Jumping Run, Sawpit Meadow in RICHARD BYRD'S corner of a patent granted to WILLIAM ALDRIDGE JUNR, adj THOMAS BYRD --- 17 ½ acres, houses, gardens, orchards
Signed by mark
WIT JAM BYRD, JOHN (X) ALDRIDGE
To Court January Term 1800 on oath of JOHN ALDRIDGE S. BRIGHT, CC
Enrolled Liber B pages 153, 154 11 February 1800 JAS BRIGHT, Regr

From Captain John Murphrey to Drewry Aldridge, Sr. This letter concerns the marriage of Drury and Mary's oldest daughter Mary, her nickname (Polly):
Bearegarden 30 September. 1768
Sir,
My son John informs me that he has been so fortunate as to have gain'd the affection of your Daughter Polly & that he expects to be married to her. It gives his Mother & myself much pleasure in his most prudent choice. We can not have the least objection to a young Lady of Miss Polly's amiable good Character, she having been brought up under the care of so genteel and Worthy Parents as Madam Aldridge and yourself. You may depend that Mrs. Murphrey & myself shall do every thing that is in our power towards their living in ease and to promoting their general happiness. To further this aim we doubt not but that you & your Lady will most cheerfully contribute. It is my intent to settle upon my son my Plantation known by the name Musquettoe containing upwards of 100 acres of River low lands, leaving the furniture in the house standing there - except for some few articles - the Stock and mills thereunto with 6 or 8 working slaves which is all that can be spared at present, I having lost a good many to the Ague. He shall also have my Clark's place which is worth in most years upwards to b300. Our respectful Compliments & Praises attend both your Lady and yourself & family.
I am Sir with very Great respect, yr Obdt Servt
Capt. John Murphrey

Letter from Drewry Aldridge, Sr. to Captain John Murphrey:
Capt. John Murphrey
Sir-
Your letter of yesterday is now before me. I have no Objections either to your son or to his connections - I have sincere regard Sir for both yourself & Family & of consequence thereof I welcome a union betwixt our two Houses. I propose to give an absolute Estate to my daughter of those things which I shall here after mention - Vizt. 250 acres of unseated Forrest lands in Craven, 4 or five negroes and some stock & furniture. Myself and Lady present our Compliments.
Your very Hum Servt
D. Aldridge Esq.

Myrtle Bluffs

Letter from Gale Murphrey, daughter of Captain John Murphrey, to her brother John Murphrey who married Mary (Polly) Aldridge:
The Beare Garden 14 Sept. 1769
Dear Brother
We received yours of the 9th inst. by cozin Dixon when he returned from down the countrie and we was right glad to here from you. We have had a frightful time of it here. Mama, Jethra, & me went down to Tower Hill to see sister Caswell who had been brought to bed of a fine new son. All are or were well there; we not hering from them since the gale, God only knows how they are. We was going to stay the night at Mrs. Shepards but made good time owning to the rds being firm & the chariott having no problems we got to Contentney & took the ferry on home. And good we did. The winds rose in the evening & becoming more violente begun to rattle the hole house. Mama was quite stricken with fright & would not be consold. Papa gatherd us together & set us all in the hall as it was the most inner place. In the early morning it stopped but came up again & lasted the better part of the day. Two of the biggest oak trees in the yard are down - one right on the barn. All the chimneys are knocked down and the negra houses gone. Most of the contents of the houses are now in the yard. Papa is much upset & swears he is ruind most of the tobacca being destroied & the store also. Cozin Holliday at Hawlanding faired bad also not a single house left standing on his planta. Dixon says Newbern is much destroied also and the country round abouts. Most of the roads are not passable owning to the high water and fallen trees and he said he had a rough go of it getting up the river. Please take cear of yourself there & hurry home.
Your loving Sister
Gale

Letter of agreement to build the Little Goshen Chapel. Little Goshen Chapel pp. 92 -93
At the Vestry held for St. Patrick Parish the 3 day of May 1770 - Present
The revd Willm Miller
Simon Bright, Drew Aldrige, William Bell, Robert
Williams, Martin Caswell, Major Croom, John Tilmon,
Thomas Edwards

To the Hon. Abraham Shepherd & Capt. John Murphrey Trustees
It is agreed that a Chapel should be built on some part of the old field belonging to the said Shepherd & Murphry called Little Goshen to be 60 foot long & 30 foot wide in the Clear, the Foundations to be begun 5 bricks thick & so continued to the surface of the earth & from thence 4 bricks thick to the water table which is to be 4 foot above the top of the earth. The walls are to be well framed of Pine or Cypress timbers well seesoned to 25 foot pitch from the surface of the earth. The Doors in the North & South sides to be 12 foot high & 6 foot wide to be glazed with best London crown and to contain 32 lights in the square part and 2 windows in the West End convenent to the Gallery. The flooring of the pews & Isles to be laid with well seasoned quarter pine plank cleared of sap on good White Oak sleepers, the wainscot for the pews to be well seasoned pine or sypress plank raised on one Diameter at the bottom of the Sharft to be fluted & the capitals of a good Order. A Gallery to be at the West End 10 foot wide to be divided into sets of pews with stairs to go up on each side. The roof to be well framed with Pine or Cypress, the girders to be 12 inches squared the summers 12 inches squared, the joists to be 12 by 3 the principal rafters to be 10 inches by 3, the purloines to be 10 by 8 & the smaller rafters to be 10 by 4, to be covered over with plank cyphered & lapped 1 1/2 inches & covered with shingles of good cypress 20 inches long 3/4 inch thick & not to show more than 6 inches. The Chapel to have a neat Madilioned cornick on the sides & each end, the pews to be the same height as them now in the present Parish Church to be primed with white lead & to be painted with a wainscot colour. All the outside of the doors & windows & cornish to be primed or painted four times over with a neat straw colour and the walls all about primed or painted with white lead. A neat altar piece of walnut with handrails & banisters of the same with a neat pulpit and desks. The Church is to be compleatly finished by the last of May 1772. One hundred pounds to be paid to the undertakers on the last of May next. Two hundred pounds to be paid on May last 1772. Jesse Jones and William Mackenny are herewith appointed to see that the said work is forward & faithfully done with good materials. It is also agreed by the Vestry that Abraham Sheppard & John Murphrey shall underwrite with Thomas Edwards for the building of the aforementioned chapel according to the plain & that they shall pay 200 pounds current money for same.

Letter from Gale Murphrey, daughter of Captain John Murphrey, to her brother John Murphrey at Beare Garden June 1, 1770
Dearest Brother,
I hope this finds you & yours in good health & spirits. All here are fine. Papa is quite busy. He has given sister Mary and Robin the Hurricanes plantation and he and Robin are building a new house there. They have enlarged the Hunting lodge at the quarters there by putting on a second floor and little short rooms to each side. It is a lovely home & Sister is excited beyond belief to get a new home of her own. Brother Hill has sent into Virginia for new furnishings for he says the makers there have it all over ours her and Mother has already sent her gardner Cato over with some cuttings to get the grounds in order.
The box garden there will be larger and more modern than ours but I think will never surpass the beauty of mamas garden. Papa is planning ajourney into Virginia to visit the cousins and finish some tobacco business next month. Mama will probably go along for some shopping & visiting & I hope to go also. It is been so long since I've seen any of the relations. Tell Mary her parents & family are all fine. They were here for several days last week to hunt & were in high spirits.
All my love
Gale

About the home of Drury Aldridge.
Myrtle Bluffs- The plantation manor of Drury Aldridge,Sr.The letter of Martha Sugg Dixon born 1829 died 1904,wife of Rev. Henry Aldridge Dixon, tells more about Myrtle Bluffs and Drewfield than any other. Drewry Aldridge,Jr. owned Drewfields.
Per letter: My grandmother Patsey Suggs was the daughter of Drew and Mary Aldridge. This pair lived near Jason and left a large number of descendants in that area of the county. Their home was the Bluffs on Drew Creek. It was a large dutch house painted yellow with four rooms and a hall on the first floor and three rooms and a hall on the second. A large porch stretched across the fron of the house with the left corner walled off to form the office. Granpa Drew was a county justice and he and some of the bench often held court in this room when the weather was such that they could not reach the old courthouse. Grandma Patsey told of playing in this room while court was in session with Justice Drew presiding in his turban, dressing gown and slippers while passing a long stemmed clay pipe amongst his peers. But at the main setting of the court and for formal occasions, he wore a great wig and full scarlet robe with a little collar like a priest's. Unlike most of the planters in the area who grew tobacco, Justice Aldridge grew mostly wheat and other grains. This crop he rendered into flour at two mills on his farms. One of these mills also had a structure called the Shot Tower over the mill pond which the judge used at one time for making bullets. Both mills were inherited by his grandson and ground corn for both the Union and Confederate armies. One of the mills was burned by the yankees late in the war who said that there was one mill for each army, and the Rebels could do without theirs.
Justice Aldridge was quite a botanist and collector of plants. His gardens, or as he called them, his park, was the largest and most beautiful in the county. My father often said that he didn't know what Heaven would be like for the rest of the world,but if the southern part of Heaven was not as beautiful as the Bluffs, then he would turn around and come back. The lane up to the house was lined with myrtles and dogwood, which in season made a lovely picture. In the spring, the dogwoods bloomed snowy white, in the summer the myrtles bloomed a delicate pink and in the autumn, the leaves of the dogwoods were red and the myrtle a bright yellow. Green lawns were planted beneath these trees and large flocks of sheep were kept grazing there, kept out of the orchards on either side by high rail fences. The lane dipped down to a small creek and then up again before reaching the house. This creek was dammed up to to form a large pond and was spanned by a lovely wooden bridge. The pond was called Meg's Hole after a young daughter of Justice Aldridge who drown there as a child. This pond was surrounded by a myriad of shrubs and bushes brought from near and far and laid out so that in every season there was a warmth of colors and hues. All these gardens were laid out not in rigid formal patterns so popular at that time, but more like an english park. In fact, it was used by the people in the neighborhood as almost a public park for gatherings and promenades. Many an arbor dance, camp meeting, and fish feasts were held in this lovely spot. The Justice also laid out a race course on banks of Hullets Creek to which the general populace of Tyson's Marsh and Bear Creeks communities repaired. There was also a number of small amusements and rides built into the park for the children and a small herd of tame deer. It was great treat for all the children to be allowed to feed these animals with salt and fruit. I can remember as a child seeing two large paintings hanging in the Bluffs showing all the Aldridge children, the five sons in one and three daughters in another, painted with these deer in the background. The portraits later hung in the home of Justice Aldridge's son, Drew Jr. and were later taken off to Ga or Texas by a member and were destroyed, so I am told, in the late war.
The park at the Bluffs was inherited by Drew Jr. and kept up with some improvements until the war.
The Judges wife is remembered as a very haughty woman with a flair for stylish dress and abundant jewelry. She was from a fairly well off family near New Bern but most of the Judge's family felt that he had married beneath him. It is said that when she walked about the plantation or town, she was accompanied by a small negro boy who held a parasol over her in imitation of the English nobility and with a negress who carried a basket with her keys, fan, shawl and other needed items. Her nickname "Jezebel" was given to her for more than one reason. Most of the family plantation was heired by Drew Aldridge, Jr. who lived in the old house before building his own. He raised not only his family, but that of his brother, to the number of thirteen children. So he needed a much larger house than the old one. His new house was on Tysons Marsh and was called the Drewfield and his nephew Howell Aldridge moved into the old place. His new house was a large two story with eight rooms and large double porches front and back. Late in life Drew Jr., married a second wife, one of the Suttons of Bucklesberry. The marriage turned sour and a mutual dislike grew between the two of them. They finally stopped talking to one another and Drew Jr. built a small 4 room wing to the side of his house where he installed his wife. Which he forever after called the Rookerie. The only door in the house had a table placed in it so he could sit at one end of the table and she at the other with the family in between. But she never again entered the main house or he the wing. If he wished to converse with her, he would write a note, place it on a tray and have it carried to the Rookerie by a servant. Mrs. Aldridge would read it, write her answer and have it returned in the same manner. Drew Jr. gave the old place to Polly Mewborn although Howell Aldridge continued to live there.
When the Yankee army invaded the county, the families on both farms fled leaving the houses empty. The Drewfields was burned, but the nurse at the Bluffs told the Yankees that Master had fled and the house was now hers, in hopes the house would not be destroyed. Her ruse saved it from the torch but not from vandals. The Yankees, thinking that valuables were hidden there, much despoiled the interior. All the first floor rooms were wainscoated and the entire fireplace walls were paneled. All this was torn out by the soldiers looking for valuables. Many of the floor boards were also taken up and much plastering knocked out. The park was used as a camp ground and almost totally destroyed. Old Mr. Howell died a refugee just before the close of the war but his family returned to the Bluffs. But because of the extent of the damage to the house, his family nor any other ever lived again at the Bluffs.