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Ancestors of Martha Jo (Martha) Cross

Generation No. 11


      1664. Philip Selby, born Abt. 1650 in Cardiganshire, Wales; died 1731 in Tregaron, Cardiganshire, Wales. He married 1665. Margaretta LNU (Shelby) Abt. 1673 in Tregaron, Cardiganshire, Wales.

      1665. Margaretta LNU (Shelby), born in Tregaron Cardinganshire, Wales; died Unknown in Tregaron Cardinganshire, Wales.

Notes for Philip Selby:
Tregaron was in Cardiganshire before 1974, after which the county became known as Dyfed until 1996. In 1996 it became known as the county of Ceredigion.

Back in early 1999, B. Franklin Reinauer III sent a letter stating: "While on a trip to London, I located Derlwyn (the property owned by Phillip S(h)elby in Tregaron Parish, Dyfed, Wales on an Ordinance Map. There is a footpath leading from Tregaron across the Valley of the Afon Teifi over a footbridge to Derlwyn..." on the map it shows Derlwyn just NW of Tregaron...Then a bit later in the year, I heard from a person, who either didn't know what they were tallking about, or was pulling leg! Said they had been to the library in Aberystwyth and had looked at the records ..... This person said the Shelby homestead was located precisely at the valley where the two rivers, the Croes and the Berwyn meet, within walking distance of Tregaron. (Source: Judith Trolinger-2003)

On June 17th, 2004 I went to Tregaron, Wales and found the location of the point where the Croes and the Berwyn meet. There is in fact a footpath leading there and, although there is no evidence of a building there, I believe that was the location of the old homestead of the Shelby's. (MCM-2004)

28 Aug 2001--Ron Shelby sent a copy of the original Baptismal record for Evan Shelby Sr-found in the records in the National Library of Wales. Father's name, Selby Phillip

From Ron Shelby-Sept 2001
"Selby was buried in the local church yard on 26 June, 1731, and his name is recorded as "Shelby Phillip" at this time. This is a very clear record..Unfortunately, the graveyard filled up early in the 19th century, and all the pre 1800 gravestones were removed.
There appears to be no chance to find the exact burial site of Phillip or his headstone. So, while Philip is definitely Evan's father, his own origin is still a mystery. The fact that he was buried as a "Shelby" by the village priest was a surprise to me." (Courtesy of: Judy Trolinger)




More About Philip Selby:
Burial: June 26, 1731, St. Caron's Church Churchyard, Wales

More About Margaretta LNU (Shelby):
Burial: Unknown, pos St. Caron's Church Cemetery, Wales
     
Children of Philip Selby and Margaretta LNU (Shelby) are:
  i.   Maria Selby, born 1682 in Tregaron, Cardiganshire, Wales; died Unknown.
  More About Maria Selby:
Baptism: February 1682, St. Caron's Church, Tregaron, Cardiganshire, Wales

  ii.   Ellinora Selby, born 1683 in Tregaron, Cardiganshire, Wales; died Unknown.
  More About Ellinora Selby:
Baptism: February 1683, St. Caron's Church, Tregaron, Cardiganshire, Wales

  832 iii.   Evan Shelby, born 1690 in Tregaron, Cardiganshire, Wales; died July 18, 1751 in Frederick Co., MD; married Catherine Morgan February 09, 1715 in Tregaron, Cardiganshire, Wales.
  iv.   Rees (Riceus) Selby, born 1693 in Tregaron, Cardiganshire, Wales; died Unknown.
  More About Rees (Riceus) Selby:
Baptism: February 1693, St. Caron's Church, Tregaron, Cardiganshire, Wales

  v.   Elizabetha Selby, born 1696 in Tregaron, Cardiganshire, Wales; died Unknown.
  More About Elizabetha Selby:
Baptism: December 1696, St. Caron's Church, Tregaron, Cardiganshire, Wales



      1672. William Alexander, born Abt. 1628 in Bughall, Scotland; died November 17, 1704 in Raphoe, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland. He was the son of 3344. Robert Alexander and 3345. Mary Hamilton. He married 1673. Mary Maxwell Abt. 1650 in Raphoe, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland.

      1673. Mary Maxwell, born Abt. 1630 in Raphoe, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland; died Unknown.

Notes for William Alexander:
The Abridged Virkus Vol V p 42 under Arnold: " William Alexander came from Scotland before 1675 and settled in Somerset Co., MD where he was an extensive trader in lands. Wife unproven. Issue as known, William, Jr. m. to Catherine. (William known to have been in Co. Donegal, Ireland. He named his farm Raphoe.

Ray Worth, of Mecklenburg Signers, says the Alexanders first came to North Hampton Co., Va and then moved to Somerset Co.

James Taylor, "The Great Historic Families of Scotland", London: J.S Virtue & Co., 1889.
"William Alexander, Earl of Stirling to John Alexander, b.c 1590, Tarbert, Kintyre, Scotland whose children were William and seven other sons (I have also Phillip, Robert, and John born about 1624-53). William, son of John, had the 7 boys and 2 girls who came to Somerset. and Cecil Co.
John Alexander b. 1603 Stirling, Scotland, son of William Alexander, Earl o f Stirling, and Janet Erskine of Mar, married Elizabeth Graham in 1623; son, William b. 1624 d. 1715 CecilCo., MD, emigrated to America in 1659 to VA d. 1677 Stafford Co., VA

Norris Preyer in his book "Hezekiah and the Revolution in the Backcountry" says that the great grandparents of the 7 brothers came to Ireland about 1610 and one son, William, came to America about 1688. The two, James and William, are brothers and are both said to be the ancestors of our Alexanders.

Noris W.Preyer, pg 5: " The Alexander forebears came to Raphoe, Ireland, as tenants of Sir James Conningham, as Scottish nobelman from Ayrshire, and settled on lands granted him in Donegal County in Laggan district. In 1640's. William Alexander, their son, left Scotland to seek a better life for himself in America. He first settled in on new lands opened up in Eastersn Shore of VA, Northamptons County. In 1670 William and his children left VA and moved to Somerset Co., MD.
Norris Preyer, pg 11: " William Alexander who came to America was a first cousin or brother to a John Jr., William, Archibald, Robert, and Rev. Francis Alexander who remained in Donegal County.
Susie Ames states in her document that Rev. James had no heirs. The reference is: " The Reunion of Two Virginia Counties", Journal of Southern History, 8 Nov 1942: 536-48.
Alexander Memories: "Rev. James is said to be a probable son of William Alexander 'of Raphoe' who is on a Hearth Roll Tax of 1662, named in parish of Clonleigh, County Donegal.

Maryland's Heraldic Families, from: Series II of "Register of Maryland's Heraldic Families", by Alice Norris Parran, 1938. Page 66: "Elias Alexander, son of Andrew, (and grandson of William Sr. of Somerset); wife, dau--of Joseph Alexander, of New Munster, and O'Dwiretract. Issue--six sons and daughters--William 1715, m. Agnes, his cousin. Abraham,1717-1786, m. Dorcas. Zebulon, 1720-1784, m.(first two unnamed) 3rd. Jane McClung. Ezra, 172?-1800, m. (wife not listed.)
Arthur, d. 1763, m. Margaret McKamy. Daughter of Elias unnamed."
Maryland's Heraldic Families, pg 64 " Andrew Alexander, b.1650 was brother of William Jr. and son of William Sr., of Somerset Co., who bought land in Somerset Co. and had first deed of that county made to him".

"William is a son of John Alexander of Eredy. The name Eredy closely resembles Eradall, one of the merk lands in South Kintyre, granted by James III in 1484 to Tarlach MacAlexander, of Tarbert. (Reg. Sig., lib. X., 9 ,reference). It says "Sir William Alexander of Menstry, afterwards Earl of Stirling, maintained a correspondence with his relatives in Kintyre....... in 1629, the original settlers included John Alexander of Eredy; he received new titles to the land which was chiefly appropriated to Scottish settlers. (Hill's Montgomery MSS, p183).

Norris Preyer: "According to family tradition a group of Scotch-Irish including a number of Alexanders came to America in the 1688 and brought with them their minister who had come to the dock to administer services. This company landed in Manhattan Island, New York. Their descendants went into Pennsylvania and North Carolina (Foote’s, Sketches of NorthCarolina. ) This was about the time that our Alexanders did come to America. Originally from Scotland, this family migrated to Ulster, Northern Ireland. In 1609, after the accession of James VI of Scotland, there was a move to populate the north of Ireland with Scot and English Protestants. The Alexanders came to Raphoe, Ireland as tenants of Sir James Cunningham, a Scottish nobleman from Aryshire and settled on lands in Donegal Co in the Laggan District. In about 1620, King James I decreed that all tenant rights were henceforth "utterly extinguished and abolished". The large landowners proceeded to raise their rents exorbitantly. If unable to pay they were evicted. In 1625 James I’s son, Charles, was hostile to Protestantism and instituted a campaign of harassment against nonconformists. Irish ministers, who refused to conform to the Church of England, were deposed leaving most Presbyterian congregations without ministers in1636-1641. The terrible winter of 1639-40 destroyed Ireland’s potato crop and brought famine and death to tens of thousands. The following year an Irish uprising started a civil war. Thousands of Scottish Protestants died during the 1640’s and thousands more were forced to flee Ireland."

There are two schools of thought as to who the father of the seven brothers and two sisters, who migrated to America in the late 1600’s, were. Most believe that Reverend James Alexander, of the Laggan Presbytery, and who was imprisoned in Raphoe in 1681 for calling a fast to protest the policies of the Church of England, was the father. His wife was Mary Maxwell. Norris Preyer who has written a scholarly work on Hezekiah and The Revolution in the Backcountry, quotes Susie Ames in that Rev. James had no heirs. Preyer states that William Alexander,a cousin or brother of Rev. James was their father and that he came toAmerica and was found in Northampton County, Virginia, married here and was the father of seven sons and two daughters. Northampton is at the southern tip of the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. However here the nonconformists, including William Alexander who was a Calvinist, were prohibited from preaching either 'publicly or privately' and Northhampton County was denied representation in the House of Burgess. Also very heavy taxes were imposed on the Northamptoners. They responded with a protest against these 'arbitrary and illegal' taxes. Then in 1652 an English fleet sailed into Chesapeake Bay, deposed Governor Berkeley and placed the colony under the control of the Commonwealth. However, in 1660 Charles II was restored to the English throne and Parliament began prohibiting the direct shipment of tobacco to the continent. Sir William Berkeley returned as governor of Virginia and nonconformist ministers were once again prohibited from preaching and they faced banishment from the colony. But in the neighboring colony of Maryland, Lord Baltimore had granted religious toleration. So during the 1670’s the Alexander family moved from Virginia and established homes in Somerset County on Maryland’s eastern shore. Also moving from Northampton to Somerset County were the Brevard, Davidson, Harris, McKnitt, Polk, Steele and Wallace families. They had been in Northampton when the pledge was made to support the Commonwealth (1652).
Upon the sites of the abandoned Indian villages, which had been ravaged by smallpox, the Scotch-Irish settled. They and the English Congregationalists established themselves along Manokin, Pocomoke and Wiccomico Rivers, and English Congregationalists at the mouth of the Annemessex. In 1680 four pastors from the Laggan Presbytery of Donegal, Ireland were sent to themFrancis McKamie, William Traile, Samuel Davis and Thomas Wilson. In 1689, when James II had fled to the continent and Parliament had offered the crown to William of Orange and his wife, Mary Stuart, who were Protestants, James and his troups of French and Irish Catholics landed in Ireland and soon overran Ulster. At this point, William Alexander Sr., and Jr., signed the pledge to stand by William and Mary. (Sharf’s History of Maryland) William Sr. was thought to have died by about 1690.(Preyer)

One Stephen Horsey lead a group of settlers from the Eastern Shore of Virginia then called Accomac (now Accomac and Northampton Counties) and settled between the Little and the Big Annemessex Rivers in what is now Somerset County, Maryland between 1665 and 1670. Maryland had made overtures to dissenters and Quakers, so they moved across the line into Maryland. As early as 1665, some settlers named Alexander, began to purchase land in the most southern county of the eastern shore of Maryland, on the Annemessex and Pocomoke Rivers of SomersetCo. Maryland. Stephen Horsey died there in 1722.

About 1675, William Alexander Sr., and Jr., were engaged in buying and selling land there. The Reverend Francis McKemie was sent from Barbados and established the first Presbyterian Church on American soil. McKemie lived over the line in Accomac, Va., but his labors included these people. Dr. Stafford states that this Alexander family was the first group of Alexanders to settle in the United States. The brothers, Andrew, William, Samuel, James, Francis and John Alexander were early found in Somerset County. There is documentary proof that all had settled in Maryland between the years 1677 and 1714. Probably some of them were there before. (Stafford). Joseph Alexander,as well as Brevard, Knox,, McKnitt, Polk, Wallace and Wilson families settled at the headwaters of the Manokin River (now Princess Anne). Also on the Manokin were the two sisters, Elizabeth, the wife of Matthew Wallace asurveyor who had helped lay out the boundaries of Somerset, and Jane, married to John McKnitt, a farmer whose land was named Glasgow after his ancestral Scottish home. Joseph Alexander married Abigail McKnitt.. William Alexander Jr. married Catherine Wallace. James married Mary Steele.

Tobacco, the chief cash crop quickly exhausted the sandy soil ofthe Eastern Shore and Somerset was isolated from major market routes. In 1683, Joseph Alexander took out a warrant in his and son, James’, name for a tract in Cecil County known as New Munster. His brother-in-law, Matthew Wallace and brother, James Alexander, also purchased land warrants in New Munster at about this same time.(Preyer)

In 1680, George Talbot, cousin of the third Lord Baltimore, was granted a large tract of land which lay between the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers, and known as Susquehanna Manor. He later christened this land 'New Connaught', which is now Cecil County. In 1683, George Talbot issued the following certificate 'Surveyed for Edwin O’Dwire and 15 other Irishmen'. We are not sure exactly when the Alexanders departed but probably around 1700. John McKnitt whose wife, Jane, had died, John Brevard, Andrew and Samuel left Somerset around1701. Somerset records state that in March of 1707, Matthew Wallace departed to 'the woods at the head of the Bay'. This land lay in the northeastern corner of Maryland next to the Pennsylvania border and a mile west of the Delaware line. Corn, barley, oats and flax were grown for the family’s own needs and tobacco and wheat were the money crops.The sons also learned 'trades'. Joseph and son, James, were tanners. James and son, David, were weavers. John McKnitt was a shoe-maker. Others were known as farmers, carpenters, etc. Joseph’s son, James, married Margaret McKnitt, daughter of John and second wife, JaneWallace.

In the year 1714, James Stephenson, gentleman of Buck’s Co., Pennsylvania appointed John McKnitt of Back Creek, Cecil Co. MD, his attorney to sell a tract of land in the northeast corner of Cecil Co., called 'New Munster'. This tract of some 6000 acres began where the Shure Creek enters the Big Elk and with a breadth of two miles and North six miles up the Elk river until it entered some distance withint he present Pennsylvania line in Chester Co., PA. Edward Odine had first patented these lands from King Charles and Odine sold them to Daniel Taos. Daniel Taos willed them to his son, John, and he, having run into debt to Robert Roberts, the colonial Legislature granted 4500 acres to Roberts to satisfy his claim against Taos who had absconded. Robert Roberts then sold 407 acres to Daniel Pearce of Kent Co for 6000 pounds of tobacco, deed for which is dated the 4th of Sept. 1713. This 407 acres was located in the southwest corner of New Munster and contained the site of the mill near the mouth of the Shure now owned by Howard Scott. Roberts also sold to Thomas Stephenson, of Bucks County, PA, nearly three thousand acres of the same tract, a large part of which was east of the Big Elk for the sum of 300 current money of Maryland. The deed from Roberts to Stephenson is dated 1 April 1714.

On the 8th day of May, following, Stephenson sold the tract on the east side of the Big Elk containing upwards of 1100 acres, through John McKnitt, to a company consisting of James Alexander, farmer, Arthur Alexander, farmer, David and James Alexander, weavers, Joseph Alexander, tanner and son, James, and Mathias (Matthew) Wallace. It was noted that they had already worked the land for some years so their settlement was prior to 1714. Johnston states that there is no doubt that these were part of the '15 other Irishmen' mentioned in the certificate of survey and that they located upon New Munster many years prior to the time at which they obtained the deed to their farms.
In accordance with a covenant that the grantor Stephenson would make them another and and better deed if they demanded it any time during the next seven years after the date of the first deed.
By eight deeds, each of which is dated August 15th 1718 (recorded in Cecil co. Deedbook 3), Stephenson re-conveyed his interest in nine hundred and three acres of the New Munster tract to Joseph, James, David, Arthur, Elijah( Elias?) and Mary Alexander, widow of James the farmer/carpenter, who had died in 1717 and was son of Samuel. Also, John Gillespie and Mathias Wallace Jr. received deeds. This land conveyed to the Alexanders embraced the northeast part of the New Munster tract and extended from a short distance north of Cowantown to the extreme northern boundary of New Munster, which was about a mile north of the State line and was located by Mason and Dixon fifty years afterward. It was bounded on the west by the Big Elk and the west branch of Christiana flowed through it for about a mile near the NE corner of that part of it that is now in Maryland.

James, the farmer, was located south toward the Elk; Arthur was east of James toward the Christiana; David was north of both James and Arthur; James, the weaver, and son, Moses, were north of David; Elias east ofJames and Moses. Near these, John Alexander bought land in 1718. Afterwards others of the same name came and settled along the borders of Pennsylvania and Maryland from Munster to Nottingham. (Arthur may be another son of James the weaver). In 1718 Stephenson gave them individually deeds to each one for that part on which they had settled and improved. These lands lay on the east side of the Elk and between that river and Christiana Creek and were close to the borders of Pennsylvania and Delaware. James with son, Moses, and James’s son, David, lived in an area, which became known as Milford Hundred.
Samuel Alexander with sons, Andrew and Francis, bought lands in 1723 in the southern part of Cecil County called 'Sligo' and 'Alexandria' tracts. In the same year Samuel and others bought a lot of land for a Presbyterian Church in Bohemia in the same county. In the same year, Robert Alexander, from the city of Glasgow, Scotland, then a merchant of Annapolis, had lands in the same part of Cecil Co., which in 1723 he left to his cousin, William Alexander of North Britain, (Scotland). This William became a large landholder in the vicinity of Elkton, MD. In 1741 he and Araminta, his wife, deeded a lot in Elkton for the erection of the first Presbyterian Church in that town. His lands descended to a second Robert who went off to England at the Revolutionary war and never returned. His lands were confiscated, but after the war one-third and one-half his Negroes were restored to his wife, Isabel, and his six children, William, Lawson, Araminta, Henry, Andrew and Robert."

From "The History of Cecil County", by George Johnston, we learn that in 1723 many of the inhabitants of Milford Hundred which then embraced the northeastern part of the county, petitioned the court for a road from the New Munster road at David Alexander’s, across the main fresh of Elk River at Stephen Hollingsworth’s mill (which was the mill on Big Elk west of Cowantown.) to the church at North East. A few months afterwards, they presented another petition stating that the road was difficult, dangerous and troublesome to maintain by reason of crossing the east branch of North East twice and that it was only intended for a bridle path and that a cart road was much needed and might be made by a much nearer route, etc.

An interesting find in Chapter XIII of Francis Cooch’s, "Little Known History of Newark, Delaware and it’s Environs" (pub. 1936) is mention of 'The Seven Stars' Tavern and Inn, found in the community of Appleton, called 'Dysart’s' as far back as 1792 and later 'Fox Chase'. The section of the county in which it is located was not then known as the Fourth or Fair Hill District, but as North Milford Hundred by 1770. This area, which was part of New Munster, is located in the northeast corner of Cecil Co, about three miles west of Newark and two miles south of the Mason and Dixon line and at the intersection of the Old Nottingham road, later the Telegraph road and the road leading from Elk Landing to New London and points north. This old building, which when Cooch wrote the book, was still standing and thought to be over 200 years old. This inn was at the intersection of two important routes of travel where farmers could haul their excess grain and other crops south to tidewater Elkton for shipment to Baltimore. Cooch traced the title of the property from Edwin O’Dwire down to Catherine Dysart. He states that one of the New Munster claimants was David Alexander, weaver, who obtained a deed for about 152 acres, 95perches. David Alexander, dying left the property to his children ,Aaron and Ann Alexander, who, on March 18 1750/51, conveyed the same to William Langwill whose daughter, Margaret Dysart, inherited. In 1820 she conveyed the property to her children, Catherine and Levi Dysart..The farm today includes the original acreage.

At the present time (1936) it is said the farm with the Inn contains about 150 acres or just about the same acreage conveyed by Thomas Stephenson to David Alexander in 1714, but I am told that at one time, through various other purchases, the tract included 300 acres and stretched west on both sides of the Nottingham road all the way to the Big Elk Creek.

Of the original Alexanders of the New Munster purchase, David sold to John Alexander of Chester Co., PA. David himself removed to Chester Co. and died there about 1740, after which his widow (thought to by an Anne or Susannah) married a Mr. Dobins and removed with her husband to the Cape Fear River., NC, where her daughter, Anne Alexander, married Gilbert Clark, the first elder of the Frst Presbyterian Church which was gathered in that region under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Campbell in 1765. Several other Alexander families removed from Chester County to North Carolina with Dobins and his wife and settled in Mecklenburg County. This was in 1749. David Alexander’s son, Aaron, removed from the Munster settlement and settled in Sherman’s Valley, PA in 1748. (Stafford and History of John Alexander and Margaret Glassen) This Aaron later died in Mecklenburg, NC in 1771.

The families of James Alexander, son of Joseph, James and his sons including David Alexander
attended the services at the Head of Christiana Presbyterian Church, located just over the Delaware line. Their pastor, The Reverend George Gillespie, had come to Christiana in 1712 and would serve there and the White Clay Creek Church until 1760.

The opening statement in the record of the Christina Church Presbytery of New Castle in 1717, among those present are named (Mr.)George Gillespie, minister of, and John Steel elder from ChristianaCreek. David and his father, James, must have both attended Head of Christiana, although the James Alexander named as elder there in 1715 is thought to be son of Joseph. From a booklet on Head of Christiana Church, we learn that early elders in the church were:John Garner1707, John Steel1711, Andrew Wallace1726 and David Alexander1726. Other names of interest, connected with the Alexanders, are Whites, Samples, Kerrs, and Montgomerys. The meeting house was built on land that belonged to John Steel, an Irishman (Scotch-Irish?) who was in Philadelphia in 1711. George Gillespie was ordained in May 28 1713. In March of 1713 James Steel, son of John Steel (who apparently died atthis time), leased to the elders of this church two acres and four perches of land. The elders then were Samuel Johnson and John Cross of New Castle Co., Del, Alexander White and William Semple (Sample) of Chester Co., PA, and David Alexander and Andrew Wallace of Cecil Co.MD. The consideration was an annual payment of six pence if demanded. David Alexander signed the petitition, which 88 inhabitants of Cecil Co. signed, and which was sent to the Assembly and by them referred to the 'Committee of Aggrievances' on 11 Oct 1725 (Meck. Hist. Soc. ,Baltimore). This elder John Steel, who died by 1713, may have been a brother to Mary Steel, wife of James the weaver. Mary may have died in Somerset as there is no mention of her in the 1714 or 1718 deeds.

An interesting note concerning this family. John Garner, the first elder of this church made a will on March 7th 1723/4, Probated 22 Oct 1725 leaving 40 to George Gillespie (the minister?) his entire estate to Joseph Steel during his life-time, failing issue to pass as follows: Margaret Steel, 40, children of George Gillespie, 40, children of James Steel 40, children of James Alexander by Mary Steel 40. Exec: Joseph and James Steel Test: James Alexander, John Steel, Moses Alexander. Perhaps Joseph Steel married a sister of John Garner.. Apparently Joseph, Margaret, Mary, wife of James, and James Steel were siblings. This James Alexander mentioned in the Will is believed to be our James, the weaver, who had a son named Moses as well as David and James Jr. Note that the witnesses were John Steel, probably grandfather of the Steel heirs. Perhaps Mary, wife of James Alexander, weaver, was a sister to the elder John Steel. Mary Steele was said to have been born in Raphoe about 1650 and married about 1670. She is thought to have died by 1714 when James bought land with son, Moses.

David Alexander’s estimated birth was about 1680, most likely in Somerset Co., MD. He is said to have married an Anne or Susannah (One source says she was born about 1685 and same source says in Lancaster Co., PA however, David was in Cecil Co. by 1720) David’s children were: Anne born about 1721 in Cecil Co., MD , James who married an Elizabeth, David, Ezekiel, William who married Rebecca Brown, andJohn. (children David and John are speculative).
(From: Dr. Stafford’s Alexander Notebooks)

David is said to have died soon after 1740, as his son and heir, Aaron, began disposing of his father’s property in 1749. About 1746, the widow of David Alexander married John Dobbin in Pennsylvania. For a time they resided near Winchester, VA, and then went to Carolina. They settled on the Cape Fear River. Ann Alexander, daughter of deceased, David, and stepdaughter of John Dobbin, married Gilbert, son of Alexander Clark. (NC Colonial Records Vol. 5 pg. 1197).

In 1724 David Alexander patented a tract of land in Cecil Co. called 'David’s Purchase', the certificate of survey being numbered 75. (Land office, Annapolis)

Besides children named Aaron, William and Anne, Ezekiel andJames it is thought that there were sons named David, John and maybe Arthur. A David Alexander was found in Pequea, Lancaster Co., PA, Will dated 1741, and a John Alexander in Martick Twp, Lancaster Co., PA, in1763.
Aaron the oldest son was probably born in Cecil Co., MD, his Will, of 15 Nov 1771 in Mecklenburg, mentions his brother William. He received a warrant for 1100 acres of land in Lancaster Co., PA, on 26 April 1742 (Pa. Arc. Vol. 24 S 3).

On 15 Nov 1749, Aaron Alexander, farmer, of Lancaster Co., PA, deeded John Alexander of Twp. of New Brittain, Chester Co., PA, part of a tract called New Munster which did formerly belong to David Alexander of Cecil Co., MD; Zebulon Alexander was witness. On the same date Aaron gave his well beloved and trusted friend, James Alexander, of Province of MD, farmer, a power of attorney to complete the above sale 11 Dec 1751. (This is probably James, son of Joseph).
Aaron Alexander, of the township of Petersburgh, Cumberland Co., deeded William Longwill, merchant, of Cecil Co., a tract in New Munster which came from his father David Alexander who bought it from ThomasStevenson.(this is the tract that the Seven Stars was eventually built on). Signed by Aaron and Ann.
On the same date, Aaron constituted Moses Alexander of Milford Hundred, Cecil Co., MD. his attorney for the completion of this sale. (This must be his uncle or cousin, Moses).
(Cecil Co. a7-270), Aaron is doubtless selling his land preparatory to removing to North Carolina. Aaron is found there in early 1750’s. Aaron bought land in Coddle Creek and English BuffaloCreek from Gov. and Justina Dobbs 22 Dec 1763. His will was proved April 1772. It names his wife, Mary son David, son Aaron b. 1735 mother was Ann, d. Nov 2 1803 wf was Eleanor Price. He was elder at Rocky River Church and Poplar Tent; and son, John Brown Alexander, b1765, mother was Jean B. Ross, a widow. He married Barbara King of Scotland. Aaron Sr.’s second wife was named Jean.


     
Children of William Alexander and Mary Maxwell are:
  836 i.   Andrew Alexander, born Abt. 1648 in Raphoe, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland; died Bef. 1700 in Somerset Co., MD; married (1) Ann Anderson Taylor Abt. 1670 in Somerset Co., MD; married (2) Jane (Jean) McKnitt Abt. 1676 in Somerset Co., MD.
  ii.   Elizabeth Alexander, born Abt. 1650 in Araphoe, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland; died Unknown.
  iii.   James B. Alexander, born Abt. 1652 in Raphoe, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland; died Unknown.
  Notes for James B. Alexander:
Vocation: Weaver

  iv.   Frances Alexander, born Abt. 1654 in Raphoe, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland; died Unknown.
  v.   Sr. Samuel Alexander, born Abt. 1657 in Raphoe, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland; died Unknown; married Mary Taylor in Raphoe, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland; died Unknown.
  Notes for Sr. Samuel Alexander:

1. John Alexander b. 1590 in Scotland, married ? b. abt 1590
2. Robert Alexander b. 1610 in Stirling, Scotland d. in Drumquin, Tyrone, Ireland m. Mar
y Hamilton b. abot 1600 in Scotland or Ireland?m. abt 1630 in Scotland
3. James Alexander b. 1634 in Scotland d. 17 Nov 1704 in Donegal, Ireland m. Mary Maxwel
l b. abt 1635 in Raphoe,Donegal, Ireland m. inIreland? This James would be the Rev. James Alexander

  vi.   Joseph Alexander, born Abt. 1660 in Raphoe, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland; died Unknown.
  Notes for Joseph Alexander:
Vocation: Tanner

  vii.   John Alexander, born Abt. 1662 in Raphoe, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland; died Unknown.
  viii.   Jane Alexander, born Abt. 1665 in Raphoe, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland; died Unknown.
  ix.   Sr. William Alexander, born Bet. 1669 - 1674 in Raphoe, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland; died Unknown.


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