ORIGIN OF THE ALEXANDER FAMILIES OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY
The name Alexander is frequently mentioned among the nobility of Scotland. About 1735, John Alexander married Margaret Gleason, a "bonnie lassie" of Glasgow, and shortly afterward emigrated to the town of Armagh, in Ireland. About 1740, wishing to improve more rapidly his worldly condition, he emigrated with his rising family, two nephews, James and Hugh Alexander, and their sister, who was married to a Mr Polk, to America and settled in Nottingham, Chester County, Pa. These two nephews and their brother-in-law, Polk, emigrated to Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, then held forth flattering inducements for settlement. These families, of Scotch-Irish descent, prospered in their several callings and early imbibed those principles of civil and religious liberty which stamped their impress on themselves and their descendants and shone forth conspicuously preceding and during the American Revolution.
Source: Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical by C. L. Hunter
Major Thomas Alexander
Major Thomas Alexander, born in 1753, was one of the earliest and most unwavering patriots of Mecklenburg County. He first entered the service in 1775 as a private in Captain John Springs' company and marched to the head of the Catawba River to assist in protecting the frontier settlements, then greatly suffering from the murderous and depredating incursions of the Cherokee Indians. In 1775, he also volunteered in Captain Ezekiel Polk's company and marched against the Tories assembled at the post of Ninety in South Carolina.
In 1776, he volunteered in the Captain William Alexander Company, under Colonels Adam Alexander and Robert Irwin, General Rutherford commanding, and marched to the Quaker Meadows, at the head of the Catawba, and thence across the Blue Ridge to the Cherokee country. Having severely chastised the Indians and compelled them to sue for peace, the expedition returned.
In 1779, he volunteered under Captain William Polk and marched to South Carolina to subdue the Tories on the Wateree River. Soon after this service, he was appointed captain of a company to guard the magazine in Charlotte, which, on the approach of Cornwallis in September 1780, was removed to a place of safety on the evening before the arrival of his Lordship.
After Cornwallis left Charlotte, Captain Alexander raised a company of mounted men to guard the Tuckasege Ford. He occupied this position until it was known Cornwallis had crossed the Catawba River at Cowans Ford.
After General Davidson's death, he placed himself under Colonel Lee of the Continental line, Gen. Pickens commanding, and marched to Hillsboro, near which place they defeated Colonel Pyles, a Tory leader, on Haw River. After this service, he volunteered under Colonel Davie and was with him at the battle of Hanging Rock. After Gates' defeat, he was appointed Quartermaster, with orders to attend the hospital in Charlotte.
Major Alexander married Jane, daughter of Neil Morrison, one of the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, and died in 1844 at the age of ninety-two.
In theCharlotte Journal, of January 17th, 1845, an obituary notice of this veteran patriot was published, in which it is stated, "he was allied by blood to the two most distinguished families of the era, the Polks and Alexanders, and in his person blended many of the qualities peculiar to each. He was remarkable for the highest courage and the greatest modesty, marked dignity of personal deportment, a disposition the most cheerful, and a heart overflowing with kindness. He crowned all his virtues by a simple, unostentatious, and humble piety. He concluded a life protracted to a period far beyond that allotted to mankind, without a blot, without reproach, and with the respect, affection, and veneration of all who knew him."
Captain Charles Alexander
Captain Charles Alexander was born in Mecklenburg County, N.C., on January 4th, 1753. He first entered the service of the United States as a private in July 1775, in the company of Captain William Alexander and Colonel Adam Alexander's regiment, General Rutherford commanding, and marched across the Blue Ridge Mountains against the Cherokee Indians. The expedition was completely successful; the Indians were routed, and their towns were destroyed.
He next served as a private for two months, commencing in January, 1776, known as the "Snow Campaign," in Captain William Alexander's company, and Colonel Thomas Folk's regiment, and marched to Rayburn's creek, where the Tories were dispersed. In one of the skirmishes, William Polk was wounded in the shoulder.
In October, 1776, he again served under the same Captain, and in Colonel Caldwell's regiment, but the command of the regiment during this tour of duty, was under Major Thomas Harris, who marched to Camden, S.C., and remained there about three months.
In 1776, he served in the Cavalry Company of Captain Charles Polk, who marched to Fort Johnson, near the mouth of Cape Fear river, Colonel Thomas Polk commanding. He again served as a private in 1778, in the company of Captain William Gardner and Lieutenant Stephen Alexander, General Rutherford commanding, who marched to Purysburg, S.C., and there joined the regulars under General Lincoln, at a camp called the "Black Swamp." In 1780, shortly after Gates' defeat, he joined Captain William Alexander's company, and Colonel Thomas Polk's regiment, under General Davie, marched to the Waxhaws, and was in the engagement fought there against the Tories.
He again served under Captain William Alexander, as one of the guard over wagons sent to Fayetteville to procure salt for the army.br>
In September 1781, he was elected Captain of a cavalry company under Major Thomas Harris and marched against the Tories at Raft Swamp. Besides the tours herein specified, Captain Alexander performed other important services of shorter duration, in scouring the surrounding country and protecting it against the troublesome Tories.
In 1814, Captain Alexander moved to Giles, now Lincoln County, Tenn., and in 1833, to Maury County, where he died at an extremely old age.
John McKnitt Alexander
John McKnitt Alexander, of Scotch-Irish ancestors, was born in Pennsylvania, near the Maryland line, in 1733. He served as an apprentice in the trade of a tailor. When his apprenticeship expired, at the age of twenty-one, he emigrated to North Carolina, joining his kinsmen and countrymen in seeking an abode in the beautiful champaign between the Yadkin and Catawba Rivers, the land of the deer and the buffalo of "wild pea-vines" and cane-brakes, and of peaceful prosperity. In 1759, he married Jane Bain, of the same race, from Pennsylvania and settled in the Hopewell congregation. Prospered in his business, he soon became wealthy and an extensive landholder and, rising in the estimation of his fellow citizens, was promoted to the magistracy and the Eldership of the Presbyterian Church. He was a member of the Provincial Assembly in 1772 and one of the Delegates to the Convention, which met at Hillsboro, on the 21st of August, 1775.
He was also a member of the Provincial Congress, which met at Halifax on the 4th of April, 1776, with John Phifer and Robert Irwin as colleagues. In 1777, he was elected the first Senator from Mecklenburg county, under the new Constitution. He was an active participator in the Convention of the 19th and 20th of May, 1775, and preserved for a long time, the records, as being its principal secretary, and the proper custodian of its papers. He gave copies of its important and memorable proceedings to Gen. William R. Davie and Dr. Hugh Williamson, then professed to write a history of North Carolina and others.
Unfortunately, the original was destroyed in 1800, when the house of Mr. Alexander was burned, but the copy of General Davie has been preserved. He was one of the Trustees of the College of Queens Museum, and afterward changed to Liberty Hall. He was a ruling Elder of the Presbyterian Church for many years, and by his walk and conversation, he was a firm supporter.
By the east wall of the graveyard at Hopewell Church is a row of marble slabs, all bearing the name of Alexander. On one of them is this short inscription:
"John McKnitt Alexander, Who departed this life July 10th, 1817, Aged 84. "
Source: Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical by C. L. Hunter