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Silas Alexander, Sr.

Male 1759 - 1831  (72 years)


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  • Name Silas Alexander 
    Suffix Sr. 
    Born 1 Jan 1759  Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died 27 Oct 1831  McAlpine Creek, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried Sharon Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Charlotte, NC. Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I8851  MyTree
    Last Modified 18 Jun 2012 

    Father Hezekiah Alexander, Sr.,   b. 13 Jan 1722, Cecil Co., MD Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 16 Jul 1801, Mecklenburg Co, NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 79 years) 
    Mother 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 
    Family ID F2920  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Mary Ann MNU,   b. 1764,   d. 12 Oct 1833, Mecklenburg Co., N.C. Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 69 years) 
    Married 1790  Mecklenburg Co, NC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
    +1. Telemacus Alexander,   b. 1 Sep 1795, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 17 Oct 1842, Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 47 years)
    +2. William S. Alexander,   b. 1797, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Oct 1858, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 61 years)
    +3. Keziah Harriet Alexander,   b. Oct 1799, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 29 Jul 1836, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 36 years)
     4. Olivia Alexander,   b. Sep 1801, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
    +5. Silas Alexander, Jr.,   b. Oct 1803, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 22 Oct 1863, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 60 years)
    +6. James R. Alexander,   b. Jul 1807, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 15 Oct 1889, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 82 years)
     7. Ulysses Alexander,   b. 26 Apr 1808, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 9 Feb 1867, Cabarrus Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 58 years)
     8. Hezekiah Calvin Alexander,   b. Aug 1809, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Sep 1854, Mecklenburg Co., NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 45 years)
    Last Modified 17 Jul 2017 
    Family ID F4378  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • Family Data Collection - Individual Records
      Name: Silas Alexander
      Spouse: Polly Ann Mary Alexander
      Parents: Hezekiah South Alexander, Mary Sample
      Birth Place: N, Mecklenburg, CO
      Birth Date: 1759
      Death Place: Mecklenburg, N, CO, C
      Death Date: 27 Oct 1831

      In the cemetery of Sharon Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, is a worn gravestone darkened by nearly two centuries of weather. The engraving states that the man whose name is on the stone was "the first buried in this yard," and also that he was "a soldier of '76." He was Silas Alexander, the third son of Hezekiah and Mary Sample Alexander. The stone beside his is that of his wife, also named Mary.
      Silas Alexander was born January 1, 1759. He would have been about eight years old when his parents moved from the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania to North Carolina. They settled in Mecklenburg County, where they built a log house and started a farm, and Silas's father worked as a blacksmith.
      Hezekiah built a schoolhouse for his children on the property. Presbyterian ministers traditionally provided instruction for the children of their congregations, and it is thought that Reverend Joseph Alexander, Hezekiah's nephew, taught his children. Silas's father and others were also determined to organize a college, which resulted in the charter of Queen's College in 1771. Silas was of the proper age to be a student there. The family prospered, and in 1774, when Silas was about fifteen, they built a stone house.
      Silas came of age during a frightening time. Hezekiah was elderly but politically active during the American Revolution of 1776, a signer of the daring Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence in 1775. Declaring opposition to the English government was an act of treason, a seriously punishable crime.
      Silas also served in a campaign against the Cherokee Indians, whose territory the white settlers of North Carolina had invaded, and who were being armed by the British. In 'Hezekiah Alexander and the Revolution in the Backcountry', Norris Preyer decribes Silas as "a blond seventeen-year old who was experiencing warfare for the first time." Under the command of General Griffith Rutherford, the soldiers burned Cherokee villages in the mountains to the west, to drive the Indians back and prevent them from trying to reclaim their territory by attacking white homesteaders. A poem published at the time claimed that Silas was so frightened that he climbed a hickory tree during the battle. In 1777, the unfortunate Cherokee people were forced to sign a treaty giving up all their land east of the Blue Ridge.
      As an adult, Silas made his home on McAlpine Creek, near his brother, Hezekiah Alexander, Jr. His wife's name was Mary, but like many women named Mary, she was nicknamed Polly, and that was how she was named in her mother-in-law's will in 1805. Howard and Ruth White, in 'Mecklenburg: The Life and Times of a Proud People', speculate that she may have been a member of the Steele family. According to her tombstone, she was born about 1764. She bore at least eight children.
      The life of the family was probably typical of small planters of the early 19th century in North Carolina. Their house was built of logs and may have had a separate building for the kitchen. Most of the family's needs were grown or crafted on the farm, and all members of the family worked in the fields at busy times. A variety of livestock was raised, including cows, hogs, sheep, and poultry.
      The economy in 1810 favored white men who owned land. Five slaves belonged to the household in 1810, indicating that Silas probably raised cotton or tobacco. Because cloth was a scarce and important commodity of the time, the 1810 census listed looms, of which Silas had none, but stated that 75 yards of cloth were made in the family that year. Into the 1820's, Mecklenburg County Court records list Silas as serving on a regular basis for jury duty and other services expected of men who owned property.
      The family probably attended Sugaw Creek or Providence Presbyterian Church, until Sharon Church was built nearby in 1831. Church records indicate that slaves were required to attend church with their owners.

      Silas' & 1st wife, Mary "Polly's", Children:
      1. Silas and Mary's first child was named Ulysses, born in October of 1793.
      2. Telemacus Alexander was born September 1, 1795. He married Hannah Smith. He owned a farm near Sharon Presbyterian Church, where he was an elder. He died at age 47, in 1842, and Hannah died only four years afterward. Click on Telemacus and Hannah's names to read about them and their children.
      3. William S. Alexander, who was born in 1797, was a member of Sharon Presbyterian Church. In his will of October 1858, William named three children: Martha Sample, Mary Harriet, and Telemachus Henry Clay Alexander.
      4. Kisiah Harriet Alexander, who was born October 1, 1799, married Robert Kirkpatrick, who was born February 18, 1790. Kisiah died July 29, 1836, and her husband died May 10, 1858. Names of the Kirkpatrick children include Thomas Morgan, Mary S., John C., Martha, Margaret, Samuel, Silas Alexander, James F., Sarah, and Hugh N.. Kisiah, Robert, and several of their children were buried near Silas and Mary at Sharon Presbyterian Church.
      5. Olivia Alexander was born in September of 1801.
      6. Silas Alexander, Jr. was born in October of 1803. He was a planter and a member of Sharon Presbyterian Church. The church records mention the names of a number of slaves belonging to his household. Those names include Adam, Jane, and Margaret, from a list of communicants circa 1840.
      Around 1828 Silas married Sarah S., who was born in February of 1810. Their children were named Mary C., Hannah S., Sarah N., Celia Ann, Harriet, Theophilus, and Baxter. Sarah died July 31, 1844, only 34 years old. She was buried near his parents at Sharon Church.
      Silas then married Nancy Olivia Brown on May 8, 1846. They had children named Elizabeth Ann, John Kirk, Watson Brown, Jasper, Harrison, Monroe B., and Ida Louola. Silas, Jr. died October 22, 1863.
      7. James R. Alexander was born in July of 1807. He married Harriet Baker December 18, 1836, and had children named Eliza Frances, John D. D., and Harriet Olivia. He died February 18 of 1847 and was buried at Paw Creek Presbyterian Church. Harriet died October 15, 1889, and also was buried at Paw Creek.
      8. Hezekiah Calvin Alexander was born in August of 1809. He was elected deacon of Sharon Church January 16, 1850, but refused ordination. He died in September of 1854 and was buried at Sharon, next to his parents. The administrator of his will was his brother, Silas, Jr.
      Silas, Sr. died October 27, 1831, at age 72 and was buried in the cemetery of the newly established Sharon Presbyterian Church. Mary died October 12, 1833, aged 69, only two years after her husband.