In the early 1740’s, the English colony known as North Carolina was pristine wilderness, inhabited by Indians and wild life. North Carolina’s few thousand "white" settlers lived in the coastal region. To attract more white settlers and to populate the central section of North Carolina, in 1746, the English Crown began offering free land grants to any settlers who agreed to pay the annual property tax. Four men, John, Thomas, and Solomon Allred and William Elrod / Allred took advantage of this offer and moved to North Carolina. The land they settled on is located in today’s Randolph County, North Carolina.

Circumstantial evidence shows that John, Thomas and Solomon were living in North Carolina by the mid 1740’s. The first documented evidence of these three brothers living in North Carolina is the land grant Solomon received dated March 10, 1752. This land grant, recorded in Anson County (sometimes called Bladen County) states Solomon received land located on the mouth of Sandy Creek, including his improvements. Improvements could mean buildings, a house, and/or cleared land, so Solomon had to be living on this land prior to 1752 in order to have made these "improvements". Solomon’s name was spelled "Aldricks" in this land grant, a clerical error. By following the land transactions from 1752 to 1778 when Solomon sold the last of his land in Orange County, we can prove that Solomon Aldricks and Solomon Allred were the same person.

I want to take a moment to explain the formation of today’s Randolph County. As you noticed in the above paragraph, Solomon’s first land grant was recorded in Anson (sometimes called Bladen) County, but he sold his land in old Orange County and you thought he lived in Randolph County. Confusing, right? Counties were being formed and county lines changed rapidly in the 1700’s. To the inexperienced researcher, the Allred family appears to have moved around quite a bit when they each actually found just one piece of land they liked and lived on throughout this time period. Bladen County was formed in 1734 and covered most of central North Carolina. As more and more people moved into the existing counties and local governments became over-whelmed with work, new counties were formed. Anson County was created from Bladen County in 1750. Orange County was created from Bladen, Johnson and Granville Counties in 1752. Rowan County was created from Anson County in 1753. Guilford County was created from Rowan and Orange Counties in 1770. Randolph County was created from Guilford County in 1779. To find all of the available land records on the Allred family in the mid 1700’s, you have to look at all of these counties even though the Allred men never moved and remained on the same pieces of land throughout this time period. (The information on county formations is taken from the "Handy Book For Genealogists (USA)" posted on the Randolph County page of usgenweb.com and on file in the NC State Archives in Raleigh, NC.)

John Allred received his first documented land grant March 15, 1755 which reads: "640 acres on the east side of Deep River on the mouth of Pleasant Run of Sandy Run; includes his and Thomas Alldrid’s improvements". Note John’s last name was spelled "Allrid" and Thomas’s last name was spelled "Alldrid". By following the land transactions from 1755 to 1792, we have proven that John and Thomas’ last names were actually "Allred". Again, the spelling of the names was most likely a clerical error. Illiteracy was very common in the 1700’s and most "literate" people spelled names according to how they sounded . Thus, when an illiterate man filed a court document such as a land record, he gave his name to the clerk who spelled it the best way he/she could since the illiterate man wouldn’t know how to spell it. This is one explanation for the mis-spelling of the Allred name that we confront as we research the family.

This land record is also more of the circumstantial evidence we have that the Allred men were living in North Carolina prior to receiving their land grants. As the record states, the land grant includes "his and Thomas Alldrid’s improvements". John and Thomas had to have been living on the land prior to March 1755 to have made these improvements.

Another land record filed the same day (March 15, 1755) was for Herman Husband who received land bordering John’s land. Husband’s land record reads "including a cabin built by Solomon Allred and claimed by Zach. Martin". This tells us that Solomon had built a cabin on land "next door" to John and Thomas, but later abandoned the cabin and land which Zach. Martin claimed. Later Herman Husband received the land grant for that same land. All of this happened prior to March 15, 1755, further evidence that the Allred men were living in North Carolina prior to the 1750’s. (Note Solomon’s last name was spelled "Allred" in Husband’s land grant.) (Land Grant information taken from the book titled "Orange County Records, Volume I, Granville Proprietary Land Office, Abstracts of Loose Papers" on file in the NC State Archives.)

Further study of the land grants of Solomon, John and Thomas allows us to pin-point their land’s exact locations as described in the land records. When looking at today’s map, you can find Solomon’s land which was located just north of where HWY 22 crosses HWY 64 in Ramseur, NC (Randolph County). John’s land was located just northeast of today’s Franklinville where Academy Road crosses Sandy Creek. If you stop on the Sandy Creek bridge on Academy Road and look north, you’ll see where Mt. Pleasant Creek branches off from Sandy Creek, about 50 yards from the bridge. Thomas lived with John for several years, then received a land grant for land on the southeast border of John’s. Today, John and Thomas’ land is considered part of the Patterson Grove Community of Randolph County. (See Map of Allred Sites in Randolph County, NC.)

William Elrod/Allred received his first known (documented) land grant November 29, 1753 filed in Rowan County, NC (refer back to that paragraph on county formations). It reads "640 acres on east side of Deep River about 1/2 mile below where PD path crosses the river". Further study of this land grant and future land transactions allows us to pin-point it’s location between today’s Franklinville and Cedar Falls where Bush Creek branches away from Deep River. (See map of Allred Sites in Randolph County, NC.) In this and several other land records filed during this time period, we learn that the land actually belonged to William Elrod, Jr. and that his father, William Elrod, Sr. was living with him at that time. (Per the Elrod Research Report written by Michael Marshall and land records on file in the NC State Archives.) William Elrod, Jr. is the man we refer to as the "original" William (aka William Elrod / Allred)

By now you’ve noticed that I’ve listed John, Thomas and Solomon as brothers named "Allred", but William and his father had the last name of Elrod. Per many years of research done by Michael Marshall and per the many documents he has found, I believe the "original" William’s last name was actually "Elrod", not "Allred". For some unknown reason, William’s last name was changed from Elrod to Allred within a few years of him arriving in North Carolina. There are many theories about why the name was changed, but to my knowledge, no one has ever been able to document why it was changed. By following the land records and land transactions It looks like William Elrod and William Allred were the same man.

I’ll share my theory on the name change with you. As I’ve stated before, illiteracy was very common in the 1700’s. William was the grandson of a German immigrant and most likely spoke with a German accent. North Carolina was an English colony and the court officials were English. William probably said "Elrod" with his German accent and the court officials thought they heard "Allred" which is an English name. They wrote it down, then repeated "Allred" with their English accents and William thought he heard "Elrod" and the deed was done. But, I stress, this is just a theory - I have no documented evidence to prove this. Another theory is that William simply wanted to "Americanize" his name.

William’s siblings were (per Michael Marshall research report):

Samuel Elrod born August 16, 1737

Elizabeth Elrod born January 16, 1739

Susanna Elrod born January 5, 1741

Catherine Elrod born 1748

Conrad Elrod born October 5 1749

William’s parents were William (Wilhelm) Elrod and Anne Beschell who were married in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania on June 14, 1736 (per Michael Marshall research report). The exact birth date of William Elrod / Allred has not been documented, but research suggests that he was born between 1737 - 1741, making him between 15 - 17 years old when he came to North Carolina. This information agrees with the memoirs written by Reverent Brazilla Allred in 1922 which read " My great-grandfather, William Allred, was born and reared to manhood in Pennsylvania. In early life he came to North Carolina and entered a large tract of land..... where he lived to a good old age and reared his family."

William (Wilhelm) Elrod’s parents were Johan Dider Elrod and wife Maria Magdalena Lerchenzeiler who came to America from Germany in 1709. Records show that they traveled with Maria’s parents, Johan Wilhelm Lerchenziler and wife Susanna Catharina from Holland to London, England on July 15, 1709. From London, they sailed to America entering through the port in New York City. Further research shows that the family was most likely from the area in or around Nuremberg, Germany (Federal State of Bavaria). (Per Michael Marshall research report.)

Newly released research done by Dawnell Griffin shows that John, Thomas and Solomon Allred may possibly have been  the sons of Solomon Allred (1680 - abt 1740) who was born and raised in Eccles Parish, Lancaster, England. Per her research, Dawnell believes Solomon moved to America in the early 1720’s. He is listed on the 1724, 1726 and 1730  tax lists for Chester County, Pennsylvania. 

Per Dawnell's research, Solomon’s parents were John Allred and Ellen Pemberton, again of Eccles Parish. Ellen was the daughter of John Pemberton and wife Margaret Smith. John’s parents were William Allred and wife Alice Tonge. William’s parents were John Allred and wife Ann. Dawnell will released a detailed research report on this new information in the near future. 

For many years it was thought that the Allred family may have lived in Chester County, PA prior to coming to North Carolina. Many of their close neighbors and business associates have been documented as living in Chester County, PA, and several of John, Thomas and Solomon’s children married into families that were from Chester County. Most likely, these families traveled together, following the Indian trading paths and wagon trails from Pennsylvania into Maryland and Virginia, possibly passing through Williamsburg before coming to North Carolina. One of the most popular Indian Trading Paths (per Randolph County history books on file in the Randolph Room and the historical marker posted in Julian, NC) passed through the northern section of today’s Randolph County. By following this path, the families would have come directly to the area that they wound up settling on.