ALEXANDER OVERVIEW
This overview encompasses eleven generations of descendants of Samuel Alexander who was born in Ireland about 1657. It includes information gathered over a three-week driving trip to Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas in September 2000, and two subsequent trips.
The surname Alexander came from the surname MacDonald which was from the Clan Donald. It was originally believed that seven brothers and two sisters ranging in ages from five to twenty-four immigrated from Derry, Ireland, on the ship "Welcome" - dropping anchor in the Delaware River on September 21, 1670. The parents of the "infamous nine", as they are known in genealogical circles, were highly disputed at the time I started my research in 1998. Some sources cited a Rev. James Alexander and his wife Mary Maxwell as the parents, while the majority of sources believed that a William, a son of Sir William Alexander, was the father. My research, facilitated by historians from the Cecil County Historical Society, led me to believe that the father of the nine was another William Alexander descended from Sir William's son, John Alexander. John immigrated to the Colony of Virginia (Stafford County) earlier in 1659. A William Alexander did own land with several of the nine children. As of this date there is no agreement on the parents of the nine children, how they got to Maryland, or if they were even brothers and sisters. Alexander researchers are actively exploring the possibility that the nine migrated from Virginia, and that some of the nine were perhaps cousins. It is well established that several Alexander families migrated from Virginia to Maryland in 1670 for greater religious freedom. The nine children initially settled in Somersett County, Maryland, but later migrated to Cecil County, Maryland. In Cecil County, some settled a large tract in the northern corner, and others settled to the south near the western terminus of the present Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. They and future generations were considered "extensive and successful traders of land". Many well-known plantations were established or purchased by our Alexander ancestors. You will find a map of Cecil County dated 1795 in the Documents Section. In the northeast corner of the map you will see the "Alexander" designation near the Pennsylvania and Delaware borders. Portions of this large tract of land owned by our ancestors actually became part of Pennsylvania and Delaware when the borders were changed due to the establishment of the Mason - Dixon Line. The Mason - Dixon Line was surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in the resolution of a border dispute involving Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware In Colonial America. It is still a demarcation line among four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia (originally part of Virginia before 1863). This adds to the confusion of where our ancestors were born and died. For example, Jeremiah, our Revolutionary War Veteran was born in a part of Maryland that later became a part of Pennsylvania. He still considered himself a Marylander and so indicated on his pension application.
Our ancestor from the "infamous nine" is Samuel (1st generation). He is believed to have been born in Ireland and was only thirteen when he arrived in the Colony of Maryland. Originally, I had us descended from Samuel's son, Martin (2nd generation) and Martin's son, Eli (3rd generation). Both were born and buried in Maryland. This line to our Jeremiah (4th generation and Revolutionary War Veteran) was well established by Rogers' Alexander Kin. Rogers may have been misled by the fact that Eli named a son, Jeremiah, in his will. However, DNA testing has shown that our connection to Samuel (1st generation) and being "Scots/Irish" is Samuel's son, James (2nd generation) and James's son, Joseph (3rd generation). These three generations had a total of twelve known children. Samuel's children stayed in Maryland with the exception of Andrew, who migrated to Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Many of our relations, including six of Martin's children and at least one of Eli's children migrated to Mecklenburg as well. Residents of Mecklenburg County were the first colonists to formally sever ties with England. A Drafting Committee of twenty-seven residents signed the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence in Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 20, 1775. Of the twenty -seven signers of the Declaration, seven were Alexanders including the Chairman and the Secretary of the Committee. The national Declaration of Independence was adopted more than a year after the Mecklenburg Declaration. You will find a copy of the Mecklenburg Declaration in DOCUMENTS, and will no doubt notice the similarities between the two documents.
Two of James's children (2nd generation), including our Joseph (3rd generation), migrated to Augusta County, Virginia in 1769 prior to the Revolutionary War. Joseph's son Jeremiah (4th generation), migrated from Maryland to Virginia with his parents, but was later responsible for our family's migration to North Carolina, Tennessee, and two locations in Alabama. Very little is known about John Barnes Alexander (5th generation), other than that he was born in 1782 and died after 1855. Jason Carson (6th generation) was born in Tennessee and was responsible for the migration of his family, including our Rev. Jeremiah Roberson (7th generation), from Alabama to Louisiana, and finally to Panola County, Texas. William Jefferson (8th generation), my grandfather, was our first Alexander to be born in Panola County, Texas.
I have sifted through a great deal of information from numerous sources to include only the most reliable data. It is a certainty that there are errors and omissions in this document; however, they should be minor in nature at this point. It is my intention to update and make corrections to this document on an ongoing basis.
The single best source of recent information (last 150 years) came from the booklet Some East Texas Alexanders, written by Leila Belle LaGrone. Leila Belle was the Panola County Historian and a delightful lady with a remarkable memory. She had recently celebrated her ninetieth birthday when I visited with her in Carthage, Texas, on January 4th, and again on April 25, 2000. Her publication with complete "Bibliography" and copies of numerous documents can be purchased from the Panola County Historical Society for twenty dollars. There are numerous typographical errors and contradictory entries in her publication that have hopefully been corrected in this document.
Special thanks and credits must also be given to Marsha Ivy, a third cousin once removed from DeBerry (Carthage area). Marsha has picked up where Leila Belle left off and has made significant contributions to the information included in this document. She accompanied Phyllis and me to three of the four cemeteries in Panola County where we located and photographed over thirty tombstones. We will continue to work together to gather more data and refine what is included in this document.
While compiling the information for this document, I received corrections, missing links and other help from numerous individuals that I hope to be able to thank personally at some point in the future. From Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, North and South Carolina, California, Buenos Aires, Scotland and England, distant relatives and in-laws representing over twenty other surnames responded to my inquiries and shared their genealogical research. This family history will never be completed because of the ongoing nature of genealogical research made available by the Internet. Anyone reviewing this document is encouraged to contact me for more information, updates, directions to a specific cemetery, or to contribute information.
In closing, I want to dedicate this document and the hundreds of hours that went into it to my mother, Amma Leigh Alexander Culp. She is symbolic of the countless items of evidence of Alexander love, care, and concern that I discovered in my research. The original document was presented to her belatedly for her eighty-eighth birthday. Her "HOMECOMING" to be with the Lord was on June 5, 2001, and not a day goes by that I do not think of her and miss her.