ALDRICH FAMILY
In 1822 a Quaker family, headed by Stephen Aldrich, left
Smithfield, R.I. to settle in the Town of Thurston, Steuben County, N.Y.
Stephen Aldrich, born 15 September 1772 in Rhode Island, was
the great-grandson of the Quaker preacher Moses Aldrich of Mendon,
Massachusetts. From 1722 until 1741 Moses Aldrich preached in most of the
Colonies as far south as the Carolinas, on the Island of Barbados and in the
British Isles. Stephen Aldrich was also the grandson of Caleb Aldrich
who was a judge and a member of the Rhode Island General Assembly from 1763
until 1779.
Accompanying Stephen and his wife Mercy Smith Aldrich to the
Town of Thurston were their sons Thomas, Stephen Jr., George and Warner Mifflin
Aldrich. Warner M. Aldrich had married earlier in Rhode Island and his
young wife Fidelia Eddy Aldrich accompanied him. (Fidelia's brothers
Eli and Fenner Eddy also settled in the Town of Thurston within a few
years after the Aldrich family.)
In 1825 Stephen Aldrich and his sons built a Greek Revival
style home along the Aldrich Road in Thurston Township near Risingville. Today
this road is known as the "Hanrahan Road" and it is located between
Risingville and the Cranberry Lake Road. The Aldrich Homestead, known variously
over the years as the "Mansion House" and the "Frawley
Mansion" stood until
the late 1980s when it was destroyed by a fire.
Nearby the Aldrich Homestead and located on Foster Road
is the Aldrich Cemetery in which the elder
Stephen Aldrich had the dubious honor of being the first occupant in 1840.
The Aldrich family also lent its name to "Aldrich
Settlement" which was situated along the shores of Cranberry Lake.
Many of the settlers were Quakers and the lake was known, for some time, as
"Friends' Pond".
Warner Mifflin Aldrich was a Justice of the Peace in Thurston
during the Civil War years. He and his wife
Fidelia were the parents of 10 children.
1. Julia: born 27 May 1822, married her cousin
John Eddy
2. Fenner: born 1 June 1824, married Martha
Mowry
3. Mary: born 20 November 1826, married William
McDonald
4. Leonard: born 29 May 1829, married Lavinia
Jackson
5. Warner E.: born 22 February 1831, married
Emeline Eaton
6. Fidelia: born 29 July 1834, married Anthony
Jones
7. Stephen: born 8 September 1837, married Mary
Clark
8. Susan: born 18 December 1840
9. Eli: born 4 May 1843
10. Thomas: born circa 1845
The ancestry of this early family of Steuben
County, N.Y. can be found in its entirety in the George Aldrich Genealogy,
1605-1971, by Alvin J. Aldrich.
This genealogy traces the posterity of the emigrant George
Aldrich who came from Derbyshire, County Derby,
England in 1631 to Dorchester, Colony of Massachusetts. Included is
reference to the fact that the Aldriches are descended from King Edward II
of England and his wife Isabella of France through the marriage of their daughter
Mary to William Aldrich of
Norfolk.
References:
The George Aldrich Genealogy by Alvin James Aldrich
The Eddy Family in America by Ruth S. D. Eddy
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