From Pam Wilson:

JOHN ALDRICH was reportedly born circa 1558. He married at Worstead Parish (Norfolk, England) on 9 February 1583-4, AGNES ROLFE or ROFFE. (Another reading of this surname in the register gives it as ROSSE,)

The Worstead Parish Registers contain these entries:

• 1583/1584 9 Feb. John Aldriche & Agnes Roffe (or Rosse or Rolfe).
• 1585 25 Dec.: Emma d. Johannis Aldrich.
• 1588 3 Oct.: Johannis s. Johannis Aldrich. [PW: seems to read "Domino tertio in Octobre"--third Sunday in October?]
• 1590 8 Nov.: Gracia d. Johannis Aldrich. [PW: This last name does not appear to be Aldrich. It starts with an M.]
• 1595/1596 2 Feb.. Edmund Boutman & Anna Aldrich
• 1596/1597 2 Jan.: Willmus s. Agnetis Aldriche. If Agnes had married Boutman a year before, then why would she be listed as Aldrich here? Also, in that case, Boutman would be William's father and he would be listed as the son of Edmund Boutman. It *is* irregular that he is listed as Agnes' son and not as Johannis', however.
• 1598/1599 25 Feb.: Radelph s. Johannis Aldrich
• 1610 11 Jan. Agnethis wife of John Aldrich.
• 1613 2 Feb.. Barthrum Seeke & Emma Aldrich
• 1626 2 July Clement Aldrich & Susan Boswell.

Alice Sekanick wrote that apparently John was absent from home for quite some time, and Agnes/Anna remarried and had at least one child by her new husband, Edmund/Edward Boutman, whom she married on 2 Feb 1596 (while still legally married to Aldridge). Her offspring William is probably the son of Boutman, according to Sekanick (59).

Sekanick, citing Boddie, writes: "John Aldrich and his wife were involved in a domestic dilemma which surely caused acute embarrassment to his clerical family. It seems that he was absent from home for some time, and, thinking him dead, his wife remarried one Edmund/Edward Boutman on February 2, 1596. John's reappearance and the resulting dilemma were addressed by Bishop Redman during his visit to the Diocese of Norwich in 1597; he noted, ‘Ann Aldrige. For having two husbands living.’ The problem was resolved, and she returned to her husband, John Aldrich." (59)

However, I am not clear how Sekanick came to the conclusion that Anna Aldrich and Agnes Aldrich were the same person. Nowhere else is Agnes called Anna, though she is sometimes called Agnetis or some variation of this longer form. Also, if John had merely gone away, why would the Church allow Agnes to remarry without evidence of his death? As we see by Clement's 1626 marriage to Susan, she is marked as a widow in the register--but in this case Boutman's bride is merely Anna Aldrich. The only indication in the Worstead Parish Register of any irregularity between John and Agnes is that son William on 2 Jan 1596/1597 was listed upon baptism as her son rather than, as was customary, as the son of John: "Willmus son of Agnetis Aldriche." This is actually on the page facing the page in which Edmund Boutman's and Anna Aldrich's marriage was registered. If Agnes had married Boutman a year before, then why would she be listed as Aldrich here rather than as Agnes Boutman? Also, in that case, Boutman should be William's legal father and he would be listed as the son of Edmund Boutman. If she had, in the meantime, following Sekanick's theory, reconciled with her husband John Aldrich (and was again using the name Aldrich), then why would he be listed as Agnes *Aldrich's*' son and not as John's?

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On 26 Sep 1999, Tony (Antoine D) Alldredge <tonyall@deseretonline.com> wrote:

The Aldridges and Rolfes appear to have been close friends in England. John Aldridge (b. 1558 in Norfolk, England) married Ann or Agnes Rolfe or Rosse in Worstead, Norfolk, England on 9 Feb 1584. Later about a dozen Aldridge families and at least one Rolfe family (John Rolfe who married Pocahontas and helped save the Jamestown Colony in Virginia) emigrated to the Chesapeake Bay area of Maryland in the 1600's.

"Will of Thomas Rofe, of Whitpishe, 12 Aug. 1629. Brothers John and Henry Rofe, son Thomas, wife Mary, Cousin, Nicholas Aldridge of Wellowd. Proven 10 Sept. 1629. Nicholas Aldridge of Wellow, county of Wilts. - mentions Michol (sic) Aldridge. Emigrants to America from Liverpool, Nov. 8, 1701 Michaell Aldridge of Yorkshire (N. E. Hist. & Gen. Rec. page 248 - research in England)" (Aldridge Records, Franklin R. Aldridge, Vol Two, p. 4)

PW writes: It is not clear if this is Agnes' family or not. These Aldridges (Nicholas, Michael of Wiltshire or Yorkshire) have *not* yet been connected to the Aldridge family from Worstead, Norfolk who would migrate to Northumberland County, Virginia and later become Arledges.

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