Copyright © Janice Tracy, Mississippi Memories

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Where Is the Baldridge Family Now?


According to documents reviewed and information found during my research into the Baldrige/Baldridge family history, very few family members remained in Mississippi after the late 1800's. Since the Baldridge family migrated through North Carolina and continued into Tennessee, Alabama, and the Mississippi Territory, it is very likely that some of the Baldridge men took Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, or Choctaw women as their wives as they traveled along the way. It is also quite possible that some of the Baldridge daughters married men who had Native American ancestry.

When one reviews the people who were enumerated on the Dawes, Chapman, or Siler rolls, many different ethnic backgrounds are represented. It is apparent that intermarriage of people who lived in close proximity to each other, regardless of the area where they were located, was something that occurred frequently during the early 1800's.

Surprisingly, during my early research, I found that Baldridge is currently a more common surname in Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky than in North Carolina, Tennessee, or Mississippi, where so many of my early ancestors lived during the 1800's. Some of these states have significant populations that include Native American ancestry that resulted from the relocation of the Five Civilized Tribes to what became the Oklahoma Territory.

Perhaps Baldridge family members who remained in Mississippi left over time to join relatives in Oklahoma and other states north and west. It appears to be so.

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