John Hamilton Alexander

DAR# A001204

Indian incursions caused his parents to move several times before they settled in Perry Co., PA. His childhood and youth were spent on his fathers farm in Sherman's Valley, near Landisburg, on the waters of Sherman Creek. Joined the Army in December 1776 and was in the army at the capture of the Hessians at Trenton, on the 25th of December. A letter to his father shows he was yet in camp on the 5th of February 1777. March 22, 1777 he received pay for express riding for the Assembly. His father dying suddenly in Philadelphia in March of the same year, on him and his widowed stepmother, as executors, devolved the settlement of the estate and the care of the younger children. In 1787 he removed with his wife and 3 children to a tract of about 1000 acres in Little Valley, PA where he purchased from Christopher Martin. Among his papers is an article of agreement allowing John Wood, a tenant of Martin, to take from the land certain growing crops of that year; also a certificate of the membership of himself and his wife in the Presbyterian church in Sherman's Valley, dated in 1787 and signed by the pastor, the Rev. James Linn. This tract lies 4 miles N.E. from Lewistown, the county seat of Mifflin County and one mile east of Freeman Iron Works. It extends from the top of a ridge on the south to Jacks Mountain, including lands now occupied anowned by Mrs. Jane B. Alexander, Mr. Hoofnoggle, James Alexander and Henry P. Alexander. He was one of the founders of the Little Valley Church, and for many years, and until his death an active ruling elder.

Buried in the graveyard of the Stone (now Brick) Presbyterian Church in East Kishacoquillas. The old mansion is the house now (1875) occupied by Mr. Hoofnoggle. At his death, the large tract, which he had divided into 3 farms, was occupied by his sons, Samuel, Thomas and John.

The Juniata region, in which the descendants of John and James Alexander (I), have mostly lived, is a succession of fertile valleys 3 or 4 miles wide, separated from each other by long mountain ranges running parallel to each other and parallel with the main Alleghany range.

• par Hugh & Martha Edmiston Alexander
• sp Margaret Clark Alexander
• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jan 19 2021, 0:30:53 UTC