This interesting name is derived either from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal compound name "Aedelric", or the later town of Aldridge in Staffordshire, or Aldridge Grove in Buckingham, or from some 'lost' medieval village known to have existed near Worcester. The original personal name was composed of the elements 'adel' meaning noble and 'ric'- a ruler (noble ruler), and it is hardly surprising that in ancient times it was one of the most popular given names. This affection was transferred into the later 12th century surnames, although how many originate from the name and how many from former residence at one of the places so-called is not very unclear. The place names do derive from the Old English 'ale-wic', translating as 'the farm (wic) amongst the alder trees', and the Staffordshire town, then a single farm, is also recorded inthe Domesday Book. It is not clear as to precisely how many surnames have been created from the various sources, but they certainly include Aldrich, Aldrick, Aldridge, Alldridge, Allderidge, Elderidge, Eldridge, Elrick, Oldridge, and the dialectally transposed 'Arlidge'. The name, as a given name is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 in the spellings of Ailred, Aldret and Eldred, whilst early examples of the surname include Richardus Alurici, in the charters of Warwickshire in the year 1209, Robert Alrych in the former county of Huntingdonshire in 1279, and William Eldrich in Surrey in 1336. Drogo de Alrewic in the 1202 Pipe Rolls of Stafford, most certainly originated from the town. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hugo Aelrici, which was dated 1095, in the rolls of the abbey of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, during the reign of King William 11, known as 'Rufus', reigned 1087 - 1100. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

The earliest know ancestor in my Aldrich line is George Aldrich.  My Aldrich line is as follows:

George Aldrich m. Mary Joan Thurgood

• George Aldrich m. Katherine Seald
  • Jacob Aldrich m. Huldah H. Thayer
    • John Aldrich m. Penelope Pray
      • Stephen Aldrich m. Mary Browne
        • Jesse Aldrich m. Elizabeth Birdsall
          • Darius Aldrich m. Eliza Lusk
            • Richard Aldrich m. Sarah Robertson
              • Ella M. Aldrichm. Daniel Kindred Stillwell
                
                • Nellie Kathryn Stillwell m. David Wesley Kelley
                  
                  • Living Kelley m. Living Hershberger 
                    • Living Kelley m. Living Parker
                      • Living Kelley

I have been researching my family history for 23+ years.  I am currently focusing my research on the Kelley and Parker families who lived in Monongalia County, Virgina (now West Virginia). 

The main related families include Aldrich, Behon, Biswell, Boden, Booe, Caldwell, Campbell, Cate, Fissey, Fleming, Francis, Griffith, Hatfield, Heaton, Hershberger, Jackson, Lee, Lindsay, Parker, Payne, Rector, Ritchie, Robertson, Short, Stilwell, Thomas, Watson, Wentz, and Wilkerson. The basis of the web site is to focus on Family Groups, that being a family that had a grandparent of Laurie Kelley at its head. The family group shows children and grandchildren birth details, personal history, documents (i.e. wills, certificates, photos, & archive information), plus information (including concerns) on authenticity of the genealogy information. Currently information is provided on over 250 Family Groups, including many photos and documents and is thus more detailed than most other personal genealogy family tree sites. The main stem of the family tree is the Kelley family. However, the webmaster is also trying to cover the pedigree ancestry of the families of the women that married into the Kelley group and their related families as this identifies a number of indirect line of ancestors of Laurie Kelley. The pedigree ancestry charts and the genealogy family history information of these families and others are available here on this site.

In addition, other not related Kelley's in the area have also been mapped into family groups to provide a complete overall picture. However, there are currently still about 800 baptisms of Kelley's and related families unallocated to family groups and also a similar number of marriages are unallocated.

The overall family tree ancestry of Laurie Kelley is provided under Ancestry Chart. These charts show all the names of the heads of family groups and the generations to which they relate. The detailed genealogy information of each family can then be accessed for each name. The name search function can be used to search alphabetically on this section of the website for names that have family pedigree ancestry charts and to also find genealogy and family tree information via a more detailed search facility. I have collected genealogy on the family name Kelley from all 50 states and this has been made available via this search function. In addition one can search alphabetically on all other individuals that have been referenced in the family groups. There are over 18,000 events recorded.

The documents section contains summaries of any known birth records, death records, marriage records, land records, and wills of people mentioned in the family groups and if a transcription of the will, or a copy, is available then this is linked to. Other historical information collected relevant to the areas of residence, plus maps, towns, locations, buildings, etc., is provided under the Places section.

The main sources for the genealogy family history information are church records, court house records, bible records, census records, and land deed records. From these I have built the ancestry pedigree charts and family trees. I have also accessed other genealogy sites both to add to my history and to verify the ancestry pedigree information held. Various other genealgoy sources and history books have also been used. Details of all sources are shown in the family group information.

I hope that you find the this web site interesting, comprehensive and easy to use. Pleas feel free to contact me by either e-mailing me or leaving me a message in the guestbook (a link to both is to the left). I would welcome identification of any errors, ommissions, plus any general comments on the Laurie Kelley Family History web site. I would also welcome any further information the genealogy family tree information provided, the pedgree & ancestry charts, or particular individuals including personal history.