William Thomas ALDRIDGE

Notes:

                                 LIFE STORY OF HULDA ANN PAGE ALDRIDE AS TOLD TO HER GRANDSON
               RICHARD PAGE ALDRIDGE ABOUT THREE YEARS BEFORE HER DEATH

       Well first I would like to start by saying that I was born 18 September
1873 in Anderson township, Caswell County, North Carolina.  (note birth
recorded in Jehu Birds old Bible in possession of Mrs Roy Minor on Lawndale
Drive Greensboro, NC.).    I was born in granddaddys Jehu Birds house and this
is about a half mile north of the old mill pond.. My daddy is William Lewis
Page, and this time he lived across the creek over from Jehu Birds house.  I
remember why granddaddy and grandma raised me from a small child.   I must too
have done alot of crying, because I cried so much that granddaddy and grandma
would hear me and they told daddy to bring that crying child over, an from then
on I stayed with granddaddy and grandma and they raised me...
       We had two springs near the house to get our water at.  The old spring was
north ofthe house a little ways and the other spring we used that as a cooler
for things such as cooling our milk and etc... We washed our things in the
summer time at the wash house which was near the creek down there.  We had two
big pots, one was bigger than the other so we washed an boiled our clothes in
one pot and rinsed in the other pot.  In the winter time we cought our water in
barrels to be used for our washing.  I would like to tell about my granddaddy
Jehu," One day he was sitting there an it was about to rain and he said, Ann
get the dogs out of the house I beleive its going to rain..
       The house we stayed in had a big bed room an the house was two story ,an
also it had a room to the side we ate at, we cooked in a kitchen seperated from
from the house on the back.. I stayed with granddaddy for about twenty years
until I was married.. The kitchen had a iron stove in it for to cook on.  Also
the kitchen  had a big fireplace an a place with pot racks too.  We had iron
knives and our forks were made of wood an had handles.. Aunt Peggy(Margaret
Mace Bird) would weave and make grandma Ann Birds dresses.  The loom was in the
Kitchen part of the house.  Grandma, Nancy Ann Brannock Bird,  slept in the big
bed and grandaddy , he slept in the little bed..  here was no slates for the
bed , we just had cords in the cross section.. We had to scald the cords to
keep them clean.. There was also a hole in the middle of the kitchen to keep
things cool.  We had two cows, one was named Blackie and the other one was name
Jennie.. I couldn't milk Blackie so Aunt Peggy would milk her.. I helped in the
garden, which was on the south side of the house.  We had a flower tree and
some red flowers,yellow rose bushes an I also had alot more pretty ones.. We
had two horses to do our farming with then.. We raised tobacco, corn and wheat.
We ground the wheat and corn at Hughes mill,which was south of us about 4
Miles and also at Womack mill. We used the horses to thrash our wheat by going
around an around to turn thrashing machine an this thrashed the wheat out.. We
had iron plows and drag harrows to fix our land with so we could have our
crops.
       Being Mama (Susan Angeline Bird Page) and daddy moved from down there at
grandaddy's an had there home near what is now called Pagetown today , Mama
came to see me on horse back.. I was still living with grandaddy and grandma at
that time.. We made our everyday clothes an bought our Sunday clothes.. We had
new clothes for the winter whick we would wear until it got so thin and then we
would wear it for our summer clothes then..  We had to spin wool an cotton to
make our socks.  Our pillows for the bed were filled with feathers that we had
to pick out of ducks to go in them.  We also bought our cloth at Levi Walkers
store too.   In those days we didn't have good schools like they do today.  I
went to school,I had to cross three creeks.  The Burke school is the one I went
at, It only had one class room in it.. We didn't have but one teacher for it
either.. Our teacher's name was Henry Oakley.  First we wrote on glass for our
slates, we had glass sticking all around on the side of the wall in our class
room.  Later on we wrote on slates an a slate pencil.  The color of the slate
pencil was black, but it would make a white mark.  While we were doing our
lesson we would show the answer to the teacher to see if they were right.  We
just didn't have paper then like they do today.  I went to the seventh grade in
school,but I didn't get to finish that one.  We also got sick in those days an
we had for our doctor, Doctor Pinnix....
              Grandma I would like to ask you a question?   How did you and your
        husband met each other...
Well the way Will Tom an I met was by Cousin Buck Bird (William Empson Bird)
inviting Will TOM to dinners, Parties and dances.  We would have dances at
Bedford Boswell house an this is the way I really met him.  We courted for
about seven years and I think he was about 32 year old and I was 20 at that
time.  Alot of times then we were corting we had to have our parents to go
along with us.. I was married 19 0ct 1893 in the cell room of Jehu Birds house,
an the preacher was Preacher Stroud of Bethel Christain Church.. The first
night after we married Will Tom an I spent that at Aunt Eliza Aldridge house..
I spent my honeymoon patching Will Tom's clothes.. The second day after we were
married I remember we had to help shuck corn... Grandma I have another Quention
an that is:   Beings you stayed down at Aunt Eliza Aldridge's awhile could tell
me some of the children of Joseph Aldridge as you remember they told you or the
ones you saw.. Rufus, he married a Wyatt, Jim, he married 1st time to Sarah
Dameron and 2nd time to a Davis.. Eliza Aldridge was not married.. Susan
married Bill Vaughn.   Hannah,She married Brantly Allred..Jane married R.O
Browning( note she must to have make a mistake,because the record says she was
married to William A Burke).. Bill Aldridge married Elizabeth Donoho.. Martha
married George Herndon,but they didn't have any children.. Nancy married a
Chandler and Artelia married Billy Stadler.. We were talking about you and Will
Tom awhile ago,could you tell me the places you all lived at.  My first home
was down at Aunt Eliza Aldridge's  house. WE had a shed on  to the back of the
house an this was called the weave room an this what we stayed in.. There was
no windows in it,but we used a sliding window instead.  We stayed there there
for about for one year.. then we moved to the Brannock place big house.  The
reason it it was called the Brannock place is because Sandy (Alexander)
Brannock once owned it.   At first we lived in the little house,an I guess we
stayed there for about two years.. Then next we stayed on the Rascoe place and
then back to the Brannock place big house.. Then we lived there for several
years and then we maved to the old home place here.. My children were born at
these different places.. Our first child waas Mary Elizabeth Aldridge , she was
born 3 Aug 1894 an married Walter Siddle Stainback.. Second child was Ira
Stroud Aldridge,who was born at the little house at the Brannock place on 8 of
June 1896 and he married to Mattie Stanfield.. I see Ira's middle name is
Stroud, Did he get this from the preacher Stroud at Bethel.  Yes, we named him
after the preacher that married us.. Our third child is William Henry Aldridge,
an he was born 15 March 1898 at the litlle house down on the Brannock place.
He married Nannie Mae Page.. Earlie and Pearlie Susan our fourth and fifth ones
were twins and they were born at the the James Rascoe place 7 June 1900..
Earlie married Beluah Friddle and Pearl married Ralph Lineberry.. The Rascoe
place is 1000 yards west of the present Earl Aldridge home.. My sixth child
was Lucy Ester Aldridge and she was born 2 Oct 1902 at the Rascoe place.  She
married Leonard Maples.  Our seventh child is Daniel Thomas Aldridge and he was
born 28 July 1906,at the big house on the Brannock place.  He married Grace
Carter of South Carolina..   The eight is Curry Phillip Aldridge an  he was
born 16 July 1909.  He married Daisy Ann Terrell.  The nineth child was Charlie
Rufus Aldridge ,an he married Pauline Simmions. Our tenth child that lived was
Annie Bronna Aldridge an she married Boston Terrell, a brother to Daisy . Annie
is the only one that had Brown eyes and she got that from the Brannock side .
because they had Brown eyes.. Annie Was born 12 Aug 1915 at the home place.. We
had another set of twin but they died the day they were born..
       When Will Tom an I started out housekeeping we didn't have much.  The
table we had to eat on was made by us.. We also had benches to sit on at the
table.  We also make our cupboards with planks and we painted it with Elder
Berries that I got down on the Brannock place.  The houses back then were made
with pegs because we didn't have nails to do it with like they do today.  We
got white-wash to go in the house that we dob between the cracks in the cow
pasture near the old home place here.. We didn't have much but we worked very
hard and now I have a little more than I started off with.. We have bought some
tracts of land to get what we have now.. In 1919 we bought the Brannock place
from Julious Chandler for $1000,00 an it had about 190 acres in it.. Also in
1919 we bought 60 acres for $950.00 which was what we called the first Walker
Place.. In 1906 we bought the Billy Massey place which had 130 acres in it for
$1300.00...
       The Billy Massey place is the one we called the old home place here. After
Will Tom death in 1924 I bought the second Walker tract for $1600.00 , which
had 60 acres in it.. After we lived here at the old home place we still farmed.
Some of my children were small then and we needed help to do things around on
the farm.  We hired George Richard Aldridge, a brother to Will Tom to help us.
He stayed here one year with us.. Uncle Rich said he got $75.00 for helping
Will Tom that year.. I remember also we hired Gideon Franklin Poteat for some
time.  Giddon, he came from somewhere close to Mt Airy N.C, as a boy.. Well as
I said Gideon helped us for sometime an as time went on he met my sister ,Mary
Eliza Page, an this how Gideon and Mary got to know each other and they married
later.  My oldest sister Ida Wilson Page married Bill (Willim Basley ) Stadler
and Mary Eliza Page married Gideon Poteat.  Nancy (Nan) Page married Thomas
Brintle.  Charlie Page,he married Roberta Page; John Milton Page married Nannie
Robertson;  Thomas Jehu Page my brother which was next to the youngest married
Sallie(Sis) Page; Colton Page married Ola Cobb....
        Grandma there is something else I would like to ask you while you are
telling me some of the important things that happened in your life and that is
how and why did you become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
Day ... I may start off by saying that I was brought up in a Christain home but
not as what I belong to now.  I went to Bethel Christain Church an we had
preacher Stroud for our preacher then.  He preached to us what I thought was
right then.  A few years years went by an the Elders of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints came through the country here preaching the gospel.
The elders would come to Mr William Stainback home and Gideons home and preach
the gospel.. Mr Stainback would tell Will Tom of the Gospel and to him he knew
it was true.. Will Tom an I would invite the Elders in our home an give them a
place to stay an something to eat.  The elders would preach at different places
then.  They preached in homes, under bush arbors, and in pack barns.. We had
alot of people that would come out to the meetings.  After the meetings I would
go back home an look up these things in my Bible to see if they were true what
the Elders were saying.  I remember how the Elders were dressed back in those
days.  Most of the elderswore prince Albert suits and carried an umbrella along
with them.. We heard the gospel for several years. Will Tom he knew this gospel
was true that was taught by the elders an so he Joined the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints....    I joined the Church 2nd oct 1911,an I was
baptised by Elder Esasias L Lindley at the mill pond.  I was also confirmed by
him the same day.. I knew also for myself that this is the true Church on earth
an I am glad to be a member of his church.. Will Tom thought so much of the
gospel that he would preach to others an tell them of it.. I remember him
preaching to George Fitch about the gospel.. All of my children came to be a
member of the church except one(note this one was Ira Stroud Aldridge but  Ira
joined later..)
On 2nd day of Janurary 1924 ,Will Tom died of a stroke which grieved us at this
time of his passing away... We kept on going on the farm with the help of my
boys.  I saw that my children went to church that we built.. Will Tom an I went
to Sunday School on Sundays an preaching when we could.. We payed our tithing
after we joined the church.. My children went to church , we were like a string
of ducks walking up the road with the mother in the back of them. If they want-
to sing a song I would suggest the song."Put your Shoulder to the wheel".
       In 1939 I had a stroke which paralized my left side an I had to stay in
the bed for a month trying to get over it.. I fineally had to walk with a cane.
I also had another illness to go along with all this an this was Bronchitis
(alot of coughing and spiting) .. I got my children to go out an find Mullen
and I took this an smoked it in a pipe .. This was a herb to my coughing...

Hulda Ann Page Aldridge passed away 31 Jan 1961 at the home of her son Curry
Phillip Aldridge on the farm of her's.. She is buried at the Church cemetery.

                   CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

                    SOUTHERN STATES MISSION

                    P O BOX 852

                    ATLANT, GA

                                                SEPT, 12TH 1925

      Sister W T Aldridge.

          Union Ridge, NC.
     R#1
     Dear Sister :

          I was thinking of you this morning and wondering how you are getting
     along.  I know that your husband passed away and this put a great sorrow
     upon you.  But I know that your husband has gone to a good reward and the
     Lord has said to him,  "Well done, thou good and faithful servant".  I wish
     every member of the Church is an good a tithe-payer as your husband, for
     during the past year he paid $355.00 tithing.. I hope that his children , or
     whoever has charge of his means, will follow their father's good example.
          I trust that you are getting along nicely and I pray God to bless you.

                                                      Your brother in the Gospel

                                                       Chas. A  Callis
      CAS;TS
                            Holiness to the Lord

                       Certificate of Membership

    To whom it may concern:
      This is to Certify, that Hulda Ann Aldridge is a member of the N  Carolina
Conference, of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in full
fellowship.
Baptized; Oct 25  1911   by Elder    Essasias L  Lindley
Confirmed Oct 25   1911   by Elder   Essasias L  Lindley
Assisting Elder;  Daniel T  Wood

                               President of conference:   W L  Francom

                             Holiness To The Lord

                        Certificate of Membership

To whom it may Concern:
       This is to Certify, that William Thomas Aldridge is a member of the
N Carolina Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
in full fellowship,
Baptized 2 Oct 1911        by Elder     Daniel T  Wood
Confirmed 2 Oct 1911       by Elder     Daniel T  Wood
Assisting Elder Essasias L  Lindley

                               President of Conference:    W L Francom