Genealogy by Martha

Cross - Love - Culpepper - Herron - Mordecai - Shelby - Cobb

Hezekiah Alexander, Sr.

Male 1722 - 1801  (79 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Hezekiah Alexander 
    Suffix Sr. 
    Born 13 Jan 1722  Cecil Co., MD Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died 16 Jul 1801  Mecklenburg Co, NC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried Sugaw Creek Presbyterian Church, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I5204  MyTree
    Last Modified 20 Jan 2015 

    Father Capt. James Robert Alexander, (the Carpenter),   b. Abt 1690, Somerset Co., MD Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 15 Jul 1779, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 89 years) 
    Mother Margaret McKnitt,   b. 26 Dec 1693, Manokin Hundred, Somerset Co., MD Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1736, Manokin Hundred, Cecil Co., MD. Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 42 years) 
    Married 1713  New Munster, Cecil Co., MD Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F2917  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Mary Sample,   b. 1735, Cecil Co., Maryland Colony, MD Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 17 May 1806, Mecklenburg Co, NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 71 years) 
    Married 12 Jun 1752  Cecil Co., MD Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
    +1. Capt. William Sample Alexander,   b. Abt 1752, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 20 Oct 1826, Cabarrus Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 74 years)
    +2. Dr. James Rankin Alexander,   b. 23 Nov 1756, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 11 Mar 1836, Allen Co., KY Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 79 years)
    +3. Silas Alexander, Sr.,   b. 1 Jan 1759, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 27 Oct 1831, McAlpine Creek, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 72 years)
    +4. Esther Alexander,   b. 28 Sep 1762, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 12 Sep 1829, Coles, Il Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 66 years)
    +5. Keziah Alexander,   b. Abt 1764, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Abt 1819, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 55 years)
     6. Mary Alexander,   b. Abt 1765, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1791, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 26 years)
    +7. Hezekiah Alexander, Jr - II,   b. 17 Jan 1767, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1839, Mecklenburg Co, NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 71 years)
    +8. Amos Alexander,   b. 13 May 1769, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 12 Sep 1829, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 60 years)
    +9. Joel Alexander,   b. 26 Apr 1773, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 17 May 1825, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 52 years)
    +10. Oswald Alexander,   b. 16 Sep 1775, Mecklenburg Co., N.C. Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 11 Dec 1826, Mecklenburg Co., N.C. Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 51 years)
    +11. Joseph Alexander,   b. 26 Aug 1776, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 15 Dec 1851, Polk Co., TN Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 75 years)
    Last Modified 17 Jul 2017 
    Family ID F2920  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • Hezekiah Alexander 1728-1801:
      Hezekiah Alexander was one of the original signers of the Meckenburg Declaration of Independence.
      In 1774, Maryland native Hezekiah Alexander built a two-story stone house that remains the oldest dwelling in Mecklenburg County. The 600-acre plantation was home to Alexander, his wife Mary Sample, and their 10 children. Alexander, like many of the other wealthy Mecklenburg leaders, owned slaves.
      He was one of five men — John McKnitt Alexander, Ephraim Brevard, Abraham Alexander and Thomas Polk — who were at the center of Mecklenburg's political and economic struggles during the Revolutionary War years. These men, the "Committee of Safety," maintained order and kept citizens informed of the turbulent events taking place.
      In 1775, news of a British attack on Massachusetts colonists reached the Carolinas. Mecklenburgers angrily announced their freedom in documents called the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and the Mecklenburg Resolves. Alexander was one of the 27 signers of the proclamation.
      The existence of the actual "Meck Dec" would be a source of controversy for generations to come. Today, the Hezekiah Alexander Homesite, part of the Charlotte Museum of History, has been designated an historic site and can be visited by the public.
      (Source: Lives and Times of the 27 Signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence of May 20, 1775, by Victor C. King, Charlotte, NC, 1956)

      Family Data Collection - Individual Records
      Name: Hezekiah Alexander
      Spouse: Mary Sample
      Parents: James Alexander, Margaret Mcknight
      Birth Place: Cecil, MD
      Birth Date: 13 Jan 1722
      Marriage Place: PA
      Marriage Date: 12 Jun 1752
      Death Place: Mecklenburg, NC
      Death Date: 17 Jul 1801

      1790 United States Federal Census
      Name: Hezekiah Alexander
      [Hezikiah Alexander]
      County: Mecklenburg
      State: North Carolina
      Number of Free White Males 16 and Over: 1
      Number of Free White Females: 2
      Number of Slaves : 1
      Number of Household Members: 4

      Hezekiah Alexander and his wife, Mary Sample Alexander, both lie buried in the graveyard at Sugaw Creek Presbyterian Church, where he was a ruling elder. They had eight sons and three daughters:

      1. William Sample, d. 10/20/1826, aged 70 years; m. (1) Elizabeth Alexander; m. (2) Sarah Rodgers; m. (3) Martha Nichols.
      2. Silas, b. 1759, d. 10/27/1831.
      3. James R., ---.
      4. Hezekiah, ---.
      5. Esther, m. --- Garrison.
      6. Mary, m. Charles Polk.
      7. Amos, b. 1769; d. 1/25/1847; m. Mildred Orr, b. 1772, d. 1828.
      8. Joel, b. 1773; d. 5/17/1825.
      9. Kezia, d. 1819.
      10. Oswald.
      11. Joseph, b. 1776; d. 1851; m. Elizabeth McReynolds.

      Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots
      Name: Hezekiah Alexander
      Cemetery: Second Sugaw Creek Cem
      Location: Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co NC 18
      Reference: Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots, Vol.1, p. Serial: 7601; Volume: 6

      Will of Hezekiah Alexander Will of Hezkekiah Alexander dated Aug 8 1796, proven Jan 28 1797: names these heirs "wife Mary, son William, son Amos, son Joel, son Oswald. dau Esther Garrison, and granddaughter Caroline Garrison and dau Kezia."

      Will NC A:20 Mary wife of Hezekiah Alexander: Will names her sons Silas, Hezekiah, Joel, and Oswald and dau. Kesia and Esther, Polly (Mary) wife of Silas and Patsey, wife of Hezekiah. Her executors were Joab Alexanddr and James Wilson.

      Simpson pg 182:
      Family Tree " Hezikiah Alexander's children, William, Margaret, Joseph, James, Silas, Esther m Garrison, Mary m Polk, Hezekiah b Apr 1767, Amos b Apr 1769 d 1847, Kisiah, Joel b Apr 1776, & Ozwald". Merton Alexander " Esther Alexander b. 28 Sep 1762 m. Samuel Garrison d. 27 Mar 1833"

      Olive: "Hezekiah Alexander (father James Alexander, mother Margaret McKnitt)
      b. Jan. 13, 1722 in Penn, Md. d. July 16, 1801, Mecklenburg Co, buried Charlotte, Sugaw Cr. Presby. Cem. NC. m. Jan. 13, 1760, Mary Sample b. 1734 d. May 17, 1806 (father William Sample and Esther). Children: Esther b. Sept. 23, 1762, d. Sept. 12, 1829, m. Samuel Garrison b. Aug. 24, 1762, d. Mar. 27, 1833. Children: Caroline Alexander Garrison b. Jan. 9, 1789, m. William Ray; John Milton Garrison b. Oct. 4, 1788; Hezekiah Alexander Garrison b. Feb. 8, 1791, m. Rebecca Lyles.

      A misinterpretation of the Last Will & Testament, James Alexander 'yeoman', has resulted in the attribution of the middle name "South" for his son, Hezekiah Alexander (1722-1801). In the final section of the 1772/1779 Will of James Alexander 'yeoman'James 'yeoman' names his 'executors'.
      "...and I do hereby constitute and apoint my two sons, Amos Alexander and Josiah Alexander, and Hezekiah South my only and sole executors of this my last will and testament, hereby revoking all former wills and testaments, gifts, legices, ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my last will & testament. James Alexander (SEAL)
      In the presence of
      John Alexander
      Andrew Work
      John McGregor"

      Elkton, Cecil County. Maryland Wills: Liber C.C., Folio 10. Page 67
      Date: 17 June 1772; Proved (Probate): 31 May 1779; Recorded 16 July 1779]
      If you read this carefully, James 'yeoman' appoints "my two sons, Amos Alexander and Josiah Alexander" and a third executor is a man named Hezekiah South.
      Hezekiah South was a 'real' man who was one of the executor's of the 1772 Cecil Co, MD Will of James Alexander 'yeoman'. At some point in time, someone misidentified the known son, Hezekiah Alexander, as having the middle name 'South'." (Source: carol vass http://genforum.genealogy.com/my/)

      Burial record for Alexander, Hezekiah
      Sugaw Creek Presbyterian Church
      Last Name First Name Middle Name Date Death Age Burial site
      Alexander, Hezekiah ? / ? / ? 7/16/1801 78; graveyard no. 2 [x]

      Family Data Collection - Deaths
      Name: Hezekiah Alexander
      Death Date: 17 Jul 1801
      City: Mecklenburg
      State: NC
      Country: USA

      Hezekiah moved to the Cumberland Valley in western Pennsylvania around
      1750 only to be ran out by Indians in the French and Indian war. He wound up in Mecklenburg Co., North Carolina where he and several other Alexanders were signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independance. His house built in 1774 is on the grounds of the Charlotte Historical Museum.
      History records the name of Hezekiah Alexander as an administrator and councilor. He held the post as Magistrate from the first appointed one in the county and historians have said 'He was one of the most clear headed Magistrates in the County before the Revolutionary War and following the Declaration of Independence was named one of the members of the State Councul [sic] of Safety. His most important contribution to Mecklenburg County was his participation in the Declaration Convention and his signing of that immortal document, The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.
      During the Revolutionary War, he was paymaster of Col. Thomas Polk's regiment. Hezekiah Alexander's first purchased [sic] of land was recorded in May of 1765. He later purchased land in April of 1767 from Lord Selwyn on Alexander's Creek. He purchased 400 acres on the Broad River, now Gaston County from William Minter.
      His home was two stories high and built of stone with a full basement where Mary Alexander stored food for her family of eleven children. The story is told how English soldiers raided her basement one day and what food they could not carry they destroyed. It was necessary at times for her to hide her sons in the weeds to prevent them from being kidnapped and held as hostages by the British Soldiers.
      [Page] IV
      One of the unusual proofs of Hezekiah's love of religious freedom was a carving of a fish on his house, the secret symbol, which Presbyterians used in Scotland and Ireland to signify allegiance to the Presbyterian faith.
      From the day when marauding [sic] Indians, killed the settlers; to the day when Tory neighbors informed the enemy where supplies could be obtained by foraging; to the days when the British Soldiers burned homes and confiscated personal belongings, Hezekiah Alexander remained calm and led the people of his community toward a just peace.

      ALEXANDER
      My line came from James Alexander born 1624 in Bughall, Scotland. He moved his family to Northern Ireland and died there in 1704. The Alexanders were Presbyterians and didn't get along to well amoung the Catholics in Ireland. Some time in the late 1600's, James sent his 7 sons and 2 daughters to the New World. They settled in Cecil county Maryland. A GGreat grandson, Hezekiah, who is in my line, moved to the Cumberland valley in western Pennsylvania around 1750 only to be ran out by Indians in the French and Indian war. He wound up in Mecklenburg county North Carolina where he and several other Alexander's were signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. His house built in 1774 is on the grounds of the Charlotte Historical Museum'."

      Came across this passage in a book--should be of interest to descendants of the Alexanders of North Carolina:
      "The Scotch-Irish came to America with no love for the British government whose injustices had caused them to migrate en masse from Northern Ireland. As the conflict with the motherland developed, they espoused the Revolutionary cause almost to a man. . . .
      More far-reaching, more truly revolutionary, than either of the above resolutions [i.e., Abingdon VA Jan. 20, 1775 and Staunton VA Feb. 22, 1775] were those adopted by the Scotch-Irish of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Leading men of the county [i.e., the Alexanders] held meetings in March and April 1775, to ascertain the sense of the people and to confirm them in their opposition to the claim of Parliament to impose taxes and regulate the internal policy of the colonies. At one of these meetings plans were made for a representative meeting in Charlotte.
      According to a statement written from memory in 1800 by John McKnitt
      Alexander (a Presbyterian elder whose minutes of the meeting had been burned), a convention was held in Charlotte on May 20, 1775, which declared 'That we the citizens of Mecklenburg County do hereby dissolve the political bands which have connected us to the mother country and hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British Crown' and 'That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people'.
      Professional historians are inclined to reject this Mecklenburg Declaration as thus reconstructed. We have, however, a June 1775 newspaper account of a convention held in Charlotte on May 31 which adopted a series of resolutions that constituted a virtual declaration of independence. All British authority and forms of government were declared to be suspended, and steps were taken for the appointment of officers who should exercise their authority 'independent of the Crown of Great Britain and former constitution of this Province'. Any person
      accepting office from the Crown was declared to be 'an enemy to his country' . . . .
      A copy of these resolves was carried to the North Carolina delegation to the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia. It was not presented to the Congress, however, probably because its leaders were at that time discouraging all moves for independence and preparing instead the famous but abortive 'Olive Branch' message to King George.
      The action of the Mecklenburgers, therefore, had no [direct] influence on the Congress’s subsequent action, but there is some justification for the claim that 'the first voice publicly raised in America to dissolve all connection with Great Britain came, not from the Puritans of New England, nor the Dutch of New York, nor the planters of Virginia, but from the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians'.
      When the war came the Scotch-Irish, with few exceptions, were on the side of the colonies. Many of the Scotch Highlanders in North Carolina, on the other hand, and a large proportion of all Scots on the Atlantic seaboard from Maryland south to Georgia . . . along with some of the Scotch-Irish in South Carolina, remained loyal to the mother country."

      Article by Frank Coxe of Polk County, NC in 1913:
      "The Alexanders are originally Scotch and were a branch of the Clan Campbell
      of Argyleshire, and were the only part of that famous Clan adhering to, and
      fighting for both the old and the young Pretender.
      In 1715 they were in the army of the old Pretender at Sherriff Muir,and
      afterwards in 1746 at the battle of Culloden with the young pretender, being
      in both cases the only Campbell's for them. After the disaster at Culloden the English Government ordered the Alexander's and others to leave the country and go to either Ireland or America, and they chose the former, where they remained until about 1750, and thus became mixed with the Irish by marriage, and are, therefore, Scotch-Irish, and not regular Irish as erroneously supposed.
      They finally discovered that Ireland had too much 'papacy' for them-(as they were Presbyterians) and they determined to go to America, and chartered a ship and sailed from Londonderry, and landed in Philadelphia. They were undoubtedly turbulent as the British styled them, and showed it by having a riot with the papists on the dock just before the ship sailed- in which several persons were killed. They brought with them their own minister. After landing at Philadelphia they started South and scattered all along down as far as Southwestern Georgia. The first settlement being at Alligator Creek in Maryland."

      (And an interesting sidelight): "The battle of King’s Mountain, however, 'was essentially a battle between a revived Highland army in North Carolina and a force of Scotch-Irish patriots'."
      (Source: E. T. Thompson’s *Presbyterians in the South*, Vol. I, pp. 88-91)