So far as is known there is no record of where Great-grandfather, Daniel Aldridge, came from -- when he came -- or how he happened to settle in a little community, a few miles north of Newburgh, N.Y., known at that time as "Mudhole" -- (so called, perhaps, because the off-channel silt which had settled along its shoreline -- as it settled in other places along the river -- to the annoyance of boatmen along the river). "Mudhole" is evidently now known as "Roseton," although there is some evidence that it may have been about a mile south of "Roseton."

While little is known of Great-grandfather's background, the fact that his son Thomas -- Grandfather Thomas Aldridge -- was born in 1818 makes it possible to do a litte speculating.

Since Daniel's wife, for instance, was a Newburgh girl it seems probably that he would came to Newburgh sometime between 1810 and 1817. (This in turn would indicate that he had probably been born shortly after the end of the Revolution, in the 1780's or 1790's.)

Why he came to Newburgh is anybody's guess. He was doubtless looking for a place to make a living and may have figured that the advent of the steam-boat was going to open up the river. The "Clermont" had made its historic run to Albany in 1808. Routine transportation had started between New York and Pougheepsie in 1814. The only public transportation up the river before these dates had been by sloop on the river or, on land, by stage coach. Rail service to Fishkill Landing did not start until 1849 -- 31 years after Grandfather Aldridge was born.

The country around Newburgh in those days was essentially farmland, althought tanning was an active industry for a while. Brickmaking did not start along the river until the late 1830's.

So much for the overall economy. Great-grandfather's incentive may have been along one of the lines suggested or it may have been much simpler. Stranger things have happened than he may have met Jane Edwards some place else and came up the river to Newburgh to press his luck.

While, as explained, it is not known where he came from, it is a good guess that -- directly or indirectly -- he came from England.

The attached schedule of telephone listings would indicate that he may have been the only Aldridge to come North from New York -- most of them evidently went West.