James Ladd (1782 – 1847-04×05) and Elizabeth Hardwick (1787 – 1855-11-14) were my 4th-great-grandparents, being the parents of James F. Ladd. Born in Virginia, they lived most of their lives and died in Kentucky.
James’s ancestry is unclear, but he is surely connected to the larger Ladd family which lived in the area. His will is dated 1847-04-17, and was probated the next month, so he died in late April or May.
Ladd origins
Many Ladd researchers assign James as a son of Jacob and Sylvia Ladd. This is plausible, but I have never found proof. Based apparently on land deed records, Sylvia’s middle name has been inferred to be Tanner, and her father may be a Lazarus Tanner.
Jacob’s parents were William Ladd and Ursula Ellyson. They are the progenitors of many of the Ladds of Virginia and so are likely to be James’s grandparents in any case. William’s parents were William Ladd and Huldah Binford, and it is almost certain that they are somehow James’s great-grandparents.
William (Sr.)’s father was supposedly an English immigrant named John Ladd.⟮1⟯ John’s second(?) wife Mary (maiden name unknown) was pregnant with William when he wrote his will on 1679-08-10.
I have not done much investigation on this line because I’m stuck at the generation here. Also, the Ladd families have a habit of reusing names, making them difficult to trace.
DNA
I have DNA matches to descendants of William and Huldah Ladd, through different children of theirs, all on a segment of chromosome 4. This buttresses the above inference, and indeed corroborates the line from me up to this couple.
I have inferred that the Ladd family is in Y haplogroup R1b-L21, based on an autosomal match to a single Ladd, in this haplogroup, although I have not found our Ladd relationship, weakening this evidence.
The Ladd DNA project had five members under the aforementioned immigrant John Ladd (now only four), plus a sixth matching but unclassified one, which all match.⟮2⟯ One has been SNP tested as R1b-L151, a supergroup of R1b-L21 and thus consistent with the above match. Two trace to an Ellison Ladd of Bourbon County, believed to be a grandson of William and Huldah.
Taken together, this provides good evidence for my descent from the immigrant John Ladd, or at least his wife.
Family
James and Elizabeth married 1805-05-20 in Bourbon County, Kentucky. There are 11 known children, on who I have done limited research:
- John Hardwick (1806-05-15 – 1887-07-04)⟮4⟯, married first Mary Lucinda Moody, second widow Elizabeth (née Bohon) Bashaw.
- Jacob Benford (* c.1806), married Martha Ann Watts.
- William (1811-08-23 – 1889-09-24), married Henrietta Ladd, perhaps his first cousin.
- Juliann.
- James Frank, my great-great-great-grandfather.
- Thomas Jefferson.
- Joanna.
- Elizabeth.
- Leonard Hall.
- Nancy Ann.
- Lodusky Right (1826 – 1832-12), died age 6.
These children are all named in James’s 1827 will, and some are mentioned in his son William’s family Bible, which survives.⟮5⟯
Ancestry of Elizabeth
Elizabeth’s ancestry is decently documented. Her parents married 1784-01-01 in Bedford County, Virginia. Further research may be able to extend the Hardwick line.
Footnotes
- ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KL4H-RWP
- ↑ https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Ladd?iframe=ydna-results-overview
- ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/78046323
- ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/32765359
- ↑ https://mlarchives.rootsweb.com/listindexes/emails?listname=&thread=23214490