William Alexander, The Corpulent, of Manor Cuninghame

excerpted from Memorials of the Earl of Sterling and the House of Alexander by Charles Rogers, LL.D., (Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1877), Vol. II, Ch. XXVI available online at < Archive.Org >

FAMILY OF ALEXANDER OF KENTUCKY, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, VIRGINIA, AND NEW YORK, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

WILLIAM ALEXANDER, one of the sons of Archibald Alexander of Ballybiglemore, in the parish of Tagh- boyne, county Donegal (descended from the House of MacAlexander of Tarbert, in Kintyre), occupied a holding on the estate of Manor Cuninghame, in Tagh- boyne parish. He had four sons, Archibald, William, Robert, and Peter.

Peter Alexander, the youngest son, settled at Londonderry ; he was twice married, with issue. Sometime after his death, his second wife, Jane Scott, emigrated to Kentucky with several children, who there settled.

William, second son of William Alexander at Manor Cuninghame, emigrated to Philadelphia, and there settled. He married a widow, and died without issue.

Robert, the third son, emigrated to Pennsyl- vania in 1736, where he became a teacher of mathe- matics ; he afterwards settled in Virginia.

Archibald Alexander, eldest son of William Alex- ander, was born at Manor Cuninghame on the 4th

80 MEMORIALS OF THE HOUSE OF ALEXANDER.

February 1708. In 1736 he accompanied his brother Robert to America, settling at New Providence, in Pennsylvania. About the year 1747 he removed from New Providence to Augusta, now styled Rockbridge, in Virginia, where his brother Robert had already settled. He married first, at Manor Cuninghame, on the 31st December 1734, his cousin, Margaret, daughter of Joseph Parks, who occupied lands in the county Donegal ; * she died in July 1755. He married, secondly, at Augusta, in 1757, Margaret M'Clure, of an Irish family.

By his first wife, Margaret Parks, Archibald Alex- ander was father of two sons, William and Joseph ; and five daughters, Elizabeth, Anne, Hannah, Phebe, and Margaret. Joseph, the second son, was born at New Providence, Pennsylvania, on the 9th February 1742 ; he married Sarah Reid. Elizabeth, the eldest daughter, was born at Manor Cuninghame on the 28th October 1735 ; she married John M'Cleery of Timber Ridge, Virginia. Anne, second daughter, born at New Providence, Pennsylvania, 17th September 1740, married the Rev. Mr Carruthers. Hannah, third daughter, born at New Providence on the 21st April 1745, married Joseph Lyle. Phebe, fourth daughter, born at Augusta 12th August 1749, married John Paxton; Margaret, fifth daughter, born at Augusta 9th July 1751, died in infancy.

By his second wife, Margaret M'Clure, William

• Members of the family of Parks are still resident in the county Donegal.

MEMORIALS OF THE HOUSE OF ALEXANDER. 81

Alexander was father of four sons and three daughters. John, the eldest son, born 28th July 1764, died in 1828 ; he married Sarah Gibson ; James, second son, born 4th October 1766, married Martha Telford; Samuel, born 6th February 1769, married M'Coskie ; Archibald, the fourth son, born 3d March 1771, married Isabel A. Patton. Mary, the eldest daughter, born 4th July 1760, married John Tremble; Margaret, second daughter, born 1st February 1762, died unmarried ; Jane, youngest daughter, born 1773, married the Rev. John Doak of Tennessee.

William Alexander, eldest son of Archibald Alex- ander and Margaret Parks, was born on the river Schuylkill in Pennsylvania, on the 22d March 1738. He settled in Virginia, where he engaged in agri- cultural and commercial pursuits. He married, in February 1767, Agnes Anne, daughter of Andrew Reid, an opulent landowner, and by her was father of three sons and six daughters. Andrew, the eldest son, married Miss Aylett; John, the third son, married Elizabeth Lyle. Margaret, the eldest daughter, mar- ried Edward Graham ; Sarah, second daughter, mar- ried Samuel H. Campbell; Phebe, third daughter, married William Carruthers ; Elizabeth, " fourth daughter, married Henry M'Cleery; Anne, fifth daughter, married Rev. William Turner ; and Martha, sixth daughter, married Benjamin H. Rice.

Archibald Alexander, second son of William Alex- ander and Agnes Anne Eeid, was born on the 17th

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April 1772. Licensed to preach in October 1791, he was not long afterwards appointed President of Hamp- den Sidney Presbyterian College. In 1807 he was chosen pastor of the third Presbyterian congregation of Philadelphia, where he ministered till July 1812, when he became First Professor in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey, an office which he held till his death, which took place on the 22d October 1851. He was D.D. and LL.D. His more considerable works are his " History of the Colonisa- tion of the Western Coast of Africa," 1846, 8vo ; "History of the Israelitish Nation," 1852, 8vo; " Out- lines of Moral Science," 1852, 8vo ; and " Practical Sermons." His memoirs have been published by his eldest son, the Rev. James Waddel Alexander, D.D. (New York, 1855).

Dr Archibald Alexander married, 5th April 1802, Janetta, daughter of the Rev. Dr James Waddel, of the county of Louisa, Virginia. By this union he became father of six sons, and a daughter, Janetta, who survives, unmarried.

James Waddel Alexander, eldest son of the Eev. Dr Archibald Alexander, was, on the 13th March 1804, born at Hopewell, an estate situated at the junction of the counties of Louisa, Orange, and Albe- marle, near the present site of Gordonsville. Having attended an academy at Princeton, he entered the College of New Jersey in 1817, where he graduated three years afterwards. Entering the ministry of

MEMORIALS OF THE HOUSE OF ALEXANDER. 83

the Presbyterian Church, he was, in 1828, elected pastor of the congregation at Trenton, New Jersey. He was, in 1830, appointed Professor of Rhetoric in the College of New Jersey, an office which he exchanged in 1844 for the pastorate of Duane Street Church, New York. In November he was admitted Professor of Divinity in the Theological Seminary at Princeton ; he returned to New York in 1851 to become pastor of the Fifth Avenue Church of that city. There he ministered with remarkable ac- ceptance till his death, which took place on the 31st July 1859. He was D.D., and was much esteemed for his theological learning, and his remarkable power of illustrating and enforcing Divine truth. In 1832-33 he edited the Presbyterian magazine. Besides his memoir of his father, he published, " Christian Faith and Practice," " Thoughts on Preaching," and two volumes of pulpit discourses. His "Forty Years' Familiar Letters " were published in 1870, in two octavo 'volumes. He married, 18th June 1830, Elizabeth, daughter of George Cabell, M.D., by whom he had three sons, Henry, James Waddel, and William.

William Cowper Alexander, second son of the Rev. Dr Archibald Alexander, was born in the county of Prince Edward, Virginia, on the 20th May 1806. He studied at the Colleges of New Jersey and Princeton, graduating at the latter in 1824. Choos- ing the legal profession, he was called to the bar in

84 MEMORIALS OF THE HOUSE OF ALEXANDER.

1827. In 1837 he was elected a member of the legis- lature of New Jersey. A Senator of State from 1853 to 1860, he was four years President of the Senate. Of the Peace Congress, for the purpose of averting the civil war, composed of delegates from all the states of the Union, he was an active member, and often presided at the deliberations. In 1857 he was, in the democratic interest, candidate for the governor- ship of New Jersey, but was defeated. In 1859 he became first president of the Equitable Life Assur- ance Society of the United States, and thereafter resided at New York. He died unmarried on the 24th August 1874. He held a commission in the army, and was known as Colonel Alexander.

Joseph Addison Alexander, third son of the Rev. Dr Archibald Alexander, was born in the city of Philadelphia on the 24th April 1809. He studied at the College of New Jersey, where he graduated B.A. in 1826. In the same year he was, by the common council, elected clerk of the borough of Virginia. After a period of public teaching, he was, in 1830, appointed adjunct Professor of Ancient Languages in the College of New Jersey. In 1834 he was nominated adjunct Professor of Oriental Literature in the Theological Seminary at Princeton; he was elected professor in 1835. In the same year, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New Bruns- wick, and at once obtained celebrity for the power and unction of his pulpit prelections. An accom-

MEMORIALS OF THE HOUSE OF ALEXANDER. 85

plished philologist and general scholar, he contri- buted to the current periodical literature, important articles from his pen appearing in the Princeton Review, the Biblical Repertory, and the Emporium, a monthly magazine. He published "Lectures on the Literature and History of the New Testament." His great work, a " Commentary on Isaiah," he com- menced in 1836, and completed in 1846. He died in January 1861.

Of the three remaining sons of the Rev. Dr Archi- bald Alexander, Archibald and Samuel Davies are unmarried. Henry M. Alexander, the youngest son, is a counsellor-at-law at New York, in extensive practice. By his wife, Susan M. Brown, Henry M. Alexander is father of five sons, Charles, Archibald, Samuel, Henry, and Maitland, and of a daughter, Janetta Waddel.

From Memorials of the earl of Stirling and of the house of ..., Issue 4, Volume 1. By Charles Rogers. Page 79. < GoogleBooks >

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