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| From Mecklenburg to Moore: Four North Carolina Families |
Hannah Smith Alexander, 1800-1846 |
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Who was Hannah Smith Alexander? She was probably born about 1800 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The only clues to her date of birth are in census records. Before the 1850 census, only the head of household was listed by name and all members of the household were listed under categories of age, unlike later censuses that gave the name and age or birthdate of each member. Hannah's husband, Telemacus Alexander, is listed as head of household in 1820,.1 shortly after they married and in 1840,2 shortly before he died. The oldest female in the household in each case would have been born around 1800. The notes of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, genealogist Dr. Alvah Stafford simply state that Telemacus married Hannah Smith and then lists the names and birthdates of their children. The notes appear to be taken from Bible records, but the source is not cited..3 On July 12, 1817, when Telemacus Alexander was twenty-one years old, he posted bond for the marriage of Prudence Smith and Alexander Wallace.4 At that time, a relative of the bride usually posted a declaration that the couple intended to marry, a few days before the ceremony. That Telemacus signed the bond would indicate that the father of the bride was deceased, and also seems to indicate a relationship of some kind with Prudence Smith's family, perhaps his engagement or marriage to Hannah Smith.5 An older Prudence Smith is listed as a head of household in the 1810 census, the same year she first appears with 250 acres of land in the same tax listing as Telemacus's father, Silas. In her household were two white females between ten and fifteen years of age, one between sixteen and twenty-five, and one over forty-five.6 Hannah would have been about ten years old. This Prudence Smith continues to appear in the tax lists through 1824.7 Mecklenburg County records mention several men with the name Alexander Wallace, including a cousin of Hezekiah Alexander, and the cousin's son. If the Prudence Smith of the tax list had a daughter also named Prudence, the daughter might be the wife of the junior Alexander Wallace. The cemetery at Sardis Presbyterian Church contains the graves of an Alexander Wallace, born 1797, died January 23, 1851 and Prudence Wallace, born 1792 and died July 2, 1836.8 If this is the same couple that Telemacus posted a marriage bond for, Alexander would have been nineteen and Prudence would have been twenty-four when they married. In 1810, Prudence would have been seventeen, and could have been a member of the older Prudence Smith's household. Another circumstantial clue to Prudence Smith's identity is that Telemacus and Hannah later named one of their daughters Prudence. The custom was to name children after their grandparents, including the family names of the grandmothers. Another daughter was named Mary Steele, which may be one reason that Telemacus's mother,9 Mary, is thought to have been a Steele. They also named their twin sons Silas, after Telemacus's father, and John Smith, possibly after Hannah's father. In April of 1784 John and Prudence Smith recorded deeds to John King for 48 acres and 100 acres, respectively, on "McCappins" Creek in Mecklenburg County. In January of 1788 John and Prudence deeded two tracts totaling 96 acres on McAlpins Creek to Samuel Black.10 In July of 1787, Prudence purchased 40 acres on "McCappins" Creek from William and Sarah Irwin.11 McAlpine Creek runs through the Sharon community, and Telemacus and his father Silas also owned land bordering on the creek. Perhaps future research will show that Hannah and Prudence Smith were the daughters of a widow named Prudence Smith, who owned and managed a farm in the Sharon community during the early 1800's. Female heads of households and female farmers did exist in that time, when a woman could own property only if she was not married and had no sons to inherit her husband's property. She could inherit property from her father or widowed mother, but lost all control of it to her husband upon marriage.12 |
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Footnotes: 1. Population Schedule of the Fourth Census of the United States: 1820, North Carolina, (Washington: National Archives and Record Service) pp. 28, 190.
2. Population Schedule of the Sixth Census of the United States: 1840, North Carolina, (Washington: National Archives and Record Service) no p. number.
3. Stafford, Dr. Alvah, Alexander Notebooks, 2 volumes, (Charlotte NC: Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, 1985) Volume 1, pp. 80-81.
4. Population Schedule of the Fifth Census of the United States: 1830, North Carolina, (Washington: National Archives and Record Service) p. 378.
5. Marriage Bond of Alexander Wallace and Prudence Smith, Microfilm #C.065.60005, Mecklenburg County Marriage Bonds 1783-1868, Vol. T-Z, (Raleigh: North Carolina State Archives); Carmack, Sharon DeBartolo, Discovering Your Female Ancestors (Cincinnati, Ohio: Betterway Books, 1998) p. 30; Biggers, Michael, Mecklenburg County Miscellaneous Data, bound notes: Wallace marriage bonds.
6. Population Schedules of the Third Census of the US, 1810, Roll 42 NC Vol. 5, (Washington DC: The National Archives and Record Service, 1957) p. 94.
7. Mecklenburg County List of Taxables 1797-1799, 1806-1811, 1823-1824 (Broken), bound, (Raleigh: North Carolina Division of Archives and History).
8. Karchaske, S. Janelle, Mecklenburg County, NC Cemetery Records, version 2, (Charlotte: Family History Researchers and Publishers, 1995).
9. Stafford, Dr. Alvah, Alexander Notebooks, 2 volumes, (Charlotte NC: Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, 1985) Volume 1, pp. 80-81.
10. Grantor Index M-Z 1763-1840, Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds, Book 13, p. 424; Book 12, pp. 280, 297.
11. Grantee Index M-Z 1763-1840, Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds, Book 13, p. 128.
12. Johnson, Guion Griffis, Ante-Bellum North Carolina: A Social History, (Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina Press, 1937) pp. 239-245. Accessed at http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/johnson/johnson.html, 7-25-04.
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From Mecklenburg to Moore: Four North Carolina Families /Hannah Smith Alexander, 1800-1846 |