ALDRIDGE, JOEL CLARK (1838~1922) Joel Clark Aldridge, Confederate veteran, was born in 1838, in Grainger County, Tennessee to Joel and Mary J. Aldridge. At the age of 16, after both of his parents' death, Aldridge and his ten brothers and sisters moved to Texas and settled in Plano in Collin County.
On March 6, 1862, Aldridge enlisted in the Confederate Army and was mustered into Company B of the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry. In all, the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry participated in more than one hundred engagements during its service, but Aldridge, on November 5, 1863, after the Battle of Chickamauga, was taken captive in Blunt County, Tennessee. From there, he was taken to Fort Delaware and was held as a prisoner of war until June 9, 1865.
Upon his return to Texas, Aldridge eventually settled in Comanche County, where some of his family lived, and worked as a farmer and owned a saw mill.
On May 6, 1879, Aldridge was granted 157 aces of land under the Act for the Benefit of Actual Occupants of the Public Lands, a homestead grant. He farmed the land until he sold it on December 1, 1888.
At age 78, Aldridge, who was complaining of bad health, applied for and received a Confederate Pension. Four years later, on March 2, 1920, Aldridge, who never married, moved to Austin to live in the Confederate Men‘s Home. He died at the Home on September 5, 1922, and was buried in the Texas State Cemetery the next day.
Information taken from genealogy provided by Aldridge and Jane Kelly, Soldier‘s Application for a Pension # 33344, Confederate Home Roster, and Death Certificate #27210. |
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