General Notes

John Baldrige, the firstborn child of William and Janette, had remain
ed in Ulster Province in the far north of Ireland when his parents emigrat
ed to America. In about 1733, in Coleraine, County Londonderry, John marri
ed Rebekah Clark who had been born in that area in about 1720. With the
ir then three young children, John and Rebekah (Clark) Baldrige also emigr
ated to Pennsylvania, purportedly aboard the "Village Belle", arrivi
ng in Philadelphia in about 1737. They colonized land in Martic Townsh
ip in southern Lancaster County just a few miles northwest of John's paren
ts.
At some point in time, Rebekah's parents, William and Margaret Clark, al
so emigrated from Ulster Province, Ireland, to Lancaster County. William C
lark's Last Will and Testament, executed on May 10, 1763 and filed for pro
bate just 11 days later, was recorded in Will Book "A", Page 219, Offici
al Records of Lancaster County. In it, William Clark recognizes his son-in
-law, John.
The children of John and Rebekah probably totaled at least 16 and perha
ps 18, including the 13 on the family page (all born in Lancaster Count
y, except for the first three who were born in Ulster Province, Ireland) a
nd possibly 3-5 others.
In about 1765, John and some of his older sons, along with other Scotch-Ir
ish neighbors, traveled south to North Carolina and bought acreage in o
ld Mecklenburg County (northwest of the present-day city of Charlotte
). An abstract, dated May 13, 1765, attesting to the purchase by John Bald
rige of land along Indian Camp Creek and the Catawba River can be fou
nd in Tryon-Lincoln County Deeds, Volume 1, Pages 670-671. Three other dee
ds involving similar purchases or rentals of land in that area by John Bal
drige appear on pages 155-159 of Volume 4, Mecklenburg County, North Carol
ina, Deed Abstracts.
John returned to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, only to die there in la
te July 1766 before he could relocate his family to North Carolina. John B
aldrige's Last Will and Testament, dated 15 July 1766 and filed for proba
te on 31 July 1766, was recorded in Will Book "B", Volume 1, Page 448, Off
icial Records of Lancaster County. It is generally considered that John Ba
ldrige was buried in the cemetery of Chestnut Level Presbyterian Church, a
lthough there is no known tombstone there bearing his name.
The widow, Rebekah (Clark) Baldrige, now in her late 40's and the moth
er of 16 or more Baldrige children, married Aaron Boggs on 19 May 17
69 in St. James Episcopal Church, Lancaster (church record extant). Rebek
ah (now spelled Rebecca) and Aaron Boggs moved with most of the younger Ba
ldrige children to old Mecklenburg County (to what is now Lincoln Coun
ty - northwest of the city of Charlotte), North Carolina. Rebecca we
nt on to give birth to three Boggs children, giving her a grand tot
al of at least 19 (perhaps 21), the last being born in about 1778 with Reb
ecca in her late 50's.
Rebecca (Clark) Baldrige Boggs died on 1 July 1823 at the probable a
ge of about 103 years. Her very weathered tombstone still stands in the ce
metery of Knob Creek Methodist Church, Belwood, in eastern Cleveland Count
y, North Carolina.
At some time around 1770, perhaps occasioned by the death of their fath
er in 1766 and remarriage of their mother in 1789, the older sons of Jo
hn and Rebecca moved their families from Lancaster County southward to Nor
th Carolina, primarily to Orange County and to the lands of old Mecklenbu
rg County. Others of their many children married and lived out their liv
es in Pennsylvania, some migrating westward to Westmoreland County.