One branch of my ancestral tree that I have been unable to develop is the family of my paternal great-grandmother, Sarah Reddick.
Sarah Reddick was born about 1881 in Georgia, United States. She married Daniel Ridley (1870-1936), on 16 June 1898 in Early County, Georgia.1 The known surviving child from this marriage was my paternal grandmother Anna Ridley (1902-1947).
The only two records found for Sarah Reddick are a marriage record and her enumeration in the 1910 U.S. Census.

Very little information can be gleaned from the entry in the marriage book. The marriage record provides confirmation of names, race and date of marriage.
As respects the census records, it appears that Sarah was born after the 1880 U.S. Census. She would have been approximately nine years old at the time of the 1890 U.S. Census. When fire destroyed the majority of the Eleventh Census of the United States, any clues regarding Sarah Reddick’s family in the population schedule went up in smoke.
Sarah (Reddick) Ridley does not appear by name in the 1900 U.S. Census. Her husband, Dan Ridley is enumerated living in the 1435 Militia District (Arlington), Early County, Georgia. Also enumerated is his wife of one year, “Laura” age twenty, with a date of birth recorded as “Dec 1874”.2 Even without the benefit of my trusty little calculator I could tell that there was a discrepancy between the age and the birth date. Did the census taker make another error regarding the name of Dan Ridley’s wife? Could “Laura” Ridley and Sarah Ridley be one and the same person?
The last appearance of Sarah (Reddick) Ridley in an official record comes in the thirteenth census. In 1910 Sarah was living on Colquitt Road in Militia District 866 (Blakely), Early County, Georgia. The other members of the household were her husband Dan Ridley, age thirty-three, and their seven year old daughter Anna. Dan and Sarah had been married eleven years. Sarah was twenty-nine years old and the mother of two children, one living. Dan was a farmer and Sarah is listed as a farm laborer on the home farm.3
Sarah died between the 1910 US Census and 12 September 1918, when Dan Ridley listed his second wife, Precious Ridley, as his nearest relative on his World War I Draft Registration card.4 A search for Sarah’s death certificate had negative results. Georgia did not begin statewide death registration until 1919.
I have not been able to find any additional records for Sarah (Reddick) Ridley. Nor have I discovered any clues to connect her to one of the Reddick families in Early County, Georgia. Hopefully through information obtained from DNA and more records becoming available on-line the broken Reddick bough can be mended.
Sources
- Early County, Georgia, Marriage Records, 1828-1978, Colored: page 16, Dan Ridley-Sarah Reddick, 1898; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 September 2017) Early > Marriages, 1897-1908 > image 38 of 266.
- 1900 U.S. census, Early County, Georgia, population schedule, 1435 Militia District, Arlington, enumeration district (ED) 53, sheet 14B, dwelling 279, family 279, Dan Ridley household; digital images, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.com : accessed 9 September 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623; FHL microfilm 1240193.
- 1910 U.S. census, Early County, Georgia, population schedule, Militia District 866, Blakely, enumeration district (ED) 81, sheet 8B, dwelling 158, family 156, Dan Ridley household; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 September 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T624, roll 184.
- “World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” database and images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 September 2012), Dan Ridley, serial no. 1265, order no. 1607, Draft Board, Blakely, Early County, Georgia; citing “United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm.”