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TheAnnals o{ Lincoln CoimVyBy William L. SherrillInstallment No. LII1866Mr. James Taylor Alexander (Feb. 20, 1794-March 14, 1866) waa for many year a prominent citizen of Lineolnton and for a long; period h Magistrate in Lincoln county, one of the charter members of the Lineolnton Masonic Lodge (No. 137) and a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian church. His wife was Harriet Clark, of Greenville, S. C. She died April 13, 1869, aged 75 years.Mr. Alexander was a harness maker by trade and followed that business to the end of his life. For a while his brother-in-law, Vardry McBee, was his partner in the business.Among his children were:(1) Wallace Henderson Alexander (Feb. 4, 1824-June 1, 1872) who married Mary Royal Robinson of Caswell county, who lived 24 years after the death of her husband. Their daughter, Ella, married to Chaa. H. Motz.(2) Elias James Alexander (May 2, 1829-October 1865) married Barbara L., daughter of Mr. Peter Summey. She died in 1895, aged 62 years. Summey Alexander, is a son of this couple. He is now an elderly man and a fine citizen of Lineolnton (1935).This Alexander family has an interesting background. Elias Alexander, I lived in Maryland and died there in 1747. His wife was Anna Taylor, who died in Mecklenburg in 1800. Elias Alexander, II, a son of this couple, was born in Maryland in 1746. He came to Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, with other Alexanders and settled in the Sugar Gfeek settlement a few miles north of Charlotte. Later moved to Rutherford county, was a valiant soldier of the Revolution and fought at Kings Mountain and Guilford Court House. His wife, Agnes Alexander, died in 1826 and Col. Elias Alexander died in Rutherford county. May 13, 1818. His eleven children were:(1) Francis Alexander (1778-1852) was county surveyor for Rutherford county 1797 to 1845. His daughter, Jane McBee, married to Francis S. Coxe, of Philadelphia, April 24, 1823. They were the parents of the late Col. Frank Coxe, of Asheville.Margaret Rebecca, another daughter of Francis Alexander, married to Rev. Campbell Smith, of the South Carolina Methodist Conference, and among their children were the late Dr. Thos. C. Smith, of Asheville, the late Joseph C. Smith, of Shelby and Stephen O. Smith and Mrs. W. C. Abemethy, who now live (1935) in Gastonia. Ross Alexander, Jr., son of Francis Alexander married Charlotte Hill and the late J. F. Alexander, prominent lumberman and textile manufacturer of Forest City, and A. C. Alexander, now of Georgia, were sona of this couple.(2) Major Ross Alexander, Sr., son of Elias Alexander, II was thrown from a mule and killed July 4, 1849. The inscription on a granite marker, near Hazelhurst Farm, three miles south of Forest City bears the inscription: ‘‘In memory of Ross Alexander, Bora Feb. 29, 178.(chipped off.) He was thrown from a mule against an oak tree on this spot and killed July 6, 1849. He was district surveyor for many years. He left a wife and six children. Erected by E. Ross Dog-gett, a grandson.”(3) Anna, daughter of Elias Alexander, II, married to Stephen Camp.(4) Jane, daughter of Elias Alexander, II, married to Vardry McBee, and they were the ancestors of all the McBee family of Lineolnton.(5) Margaret, daughter of Elias Alexander, II, married to Col. David Reinhardt.(6) Patsy Blanton, daughter of Elias Alexander, II, married to Jacob Fisher.(7) William, son of Elias Alexander, II, died in 1821, as evidenced by his will which, was executed September 4, 1821, and probated in October 1821, witnessed by his brothers, Elias, III, and James Taylor Alexander. f(8) Elias, III, son of Elias Alexander, II, was prominent in Rutherford and was Senator from that county in 1823. He was living inGreenville, S. C., in 1875.(9) James Taylor Alexander, another son of Elias, II, has already been referred to.(10) and (11) Two other sons, Thomas and Alston Alexander, died young.Col. Alexander had deep convictions ar.d was an uncompromising Revolutionary Whig, with a fine sense of humor. His great grandson, the late Col. Frank Coxe, of Asheville, records the story that Col. Alexander was once invited to Bush Doggett’s for breakfast and when he arrived he found the lady of the house in very fine humor, which he knew was a very uncommon thing, but as he was to breakfast with them, she could not be otherwise, so at the table he was asked to say Grace and he responded as follows:‘‘God be praised when woman’s pleased For ’tis but now and then.We will eat our diet in peace and quiet,In the name of God.—Amen.”• • • •The Alexanders were not friendly to William Green because of his record as a Tory, but Clarence Griffin, the Rutherford County historian, says: ‘‘Green had been forced by circumstances beyond his control to accept a commission of Major in Ferguson’s Army and commanded a company of Loyalists at Kings Mountain.”Despite this fact he later was so popular that he was chosen State Senator for Rutherford for fifteen terms, but finally Elias Alexander laid plans for his defeat as evidenced by the following story:In Schenck’s History of ‘‘North Carolina 1780-81,” Page 151, is the following:‘‘I find in the ‘‘North State” (a Greensboro newspaper) the following anecdote of Elias Alexander which is worth preserving for its humor and to illustrate the feeling that continued after the war was over:”‘‘Elias Alexander, of Rutherford County, was an old Revolutionary Whig, who fought at Kings Mountain, and years afterward, with twenty-seven British and Tory buck-shot in his body. Old Major Green of the same county, was a Tory, and was in the battle of Kings Mountain on the Tory side. After the war Green was several times elected to the State Senate from Rutherford county, and seemed invincible. In 1823 Alexander, determined to have Green beaten and brought out his son as a candidate against him.‘‘Green became apprehensive of defeat and concluded that something must be done. He fell upon the idea of joining the Baptist Church, and in carrying out the project was immersed in the French Broad River. Alexander, somewhat discouraged at this turn, but nothing daunted went to witness the ceremony. Leaning against an old tree on the bank of the river within speaking distance of the scene, he silently and doubtingly watched the process of regeneration.“Everybody expected some kind of a declaration from him before the crowd dispersed. Just as Green was raised out of the water, wet as a rat, and gasping for breath, Alexander, who was very tall, and towered above the bystanders, slowly raised his hand, and pointed at him, at the same time saying in a loud and measured tone:“There stands old Major Green, now neat and clean,Though formerly a Tory, -The damdest rascal that ever was seen,Now on his way to glory.”“This furnished a campaign song and worked an overwhelming defeat of Green at the polls.”(CONTINUED IN NEXT I88UB)
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Lincoln Times
Lincolnton, North Carolina, US
Mon, Dec 23, 1935
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FL, USA 11 Mar 2023
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