Men of Mark in Mecklenburg:

For twenty years previous to the formation of Mecklenburg county, people of all grades had their eyes fixed upon the rolling surface of that part of North Carolina that lies east of the Catawba river and northwest of Anson. At this time the whole of western Carolina was an unbroken wilderness, or rather an unlimited prairie extending to the Pacific Ocean; with only the Indian to disturb the great solitude of nature, as he pursued the wild deer, the bear and the buffalo.

Scarcely a century and a half has gone by, and what wonderful changes have been effected in our civilization. In the year 1750, and soon thereafter there was a great rush to occupy the best lands in what was soon to be Mecklenburg county, extending west from near Monroe and Concord, to the lands of the setting sun, that borders on the Pacific Ocean. What changes have been wrought in the lives of four generations. Our people are noted for their endurance, push, perseverance and indomitable energy.

About this time--in 1754, to be exact, the Alexanders moved here from Pennsylvania, or some came from Maryland, from Cecil county. Abraham Alexander, who was a kinsman of John McKnitt and his brother, Hezekiah Alexander, came about the same time. They had also one sister, Elizabeth, who came with them. She married James Sample, whether before leaving Maryland, or after arriving here, I never learned; but I am sure they left a worthy posterity, who are amongst the best citizens of our common country.

Hezekiah Alexander, more than probably brought his wife with him, but I have never learned her maiden name. [Hezekiah married Mary Sample in Pennsylvania.] They lived four miles east of where the city of Charlotte was founded; having built their home some eight years before the county or town was laid off. He was looked upon as one of the foremost men of the country; he was a justice of the peace of more than ordinary acumen. He was a leader in the Christian religion before any church was organized in this section of country. After Sugar Creek church was organized, he was elected a ruling elder, and was a shining light to lead the people away from the pitfalls of infidelity that were so common in that day, and continued so rampant to the end of the century.

It is a great pity that the people of that day were so careless about preserving individual history .We are wholly at a loss to know who was the wife of this truly great man. About five years ago I asked Mr. S. P. Alexander, a grandson of Hezekiah Alexander, who his grandmother was. He looked at me with a feeling of pity and contempt, and said, "I don't know, I never wanted to know; what do you want to know for?" I do not suppose he had ever given it a thought who his grandmother was, whether a native or foreign born, so that he got here in a Christian way. Their house four miles east of Charlotte, built of stones, is still standing, and in good repair. [Now part of the Charlotte Museum of History, the Hezekiah Alexander Homesite is open to the public.]

It was built in 1764. [1774] If the date had not been chiseled in the stone, it would not be known when erected. The house has a cellar under it, that was formerly used to store away the good things of the farm. We are told that when Lord Cornwallis was in Charlotte, September, 1780, some of his men visited the farm, pillaging, carried off what honey they wanted, and broke the balance of the jars on a large flat rock. War always makes savages of some men.

Hezekiah Alexander had several sons and two daughters. One of them married Devil Charley Polk. They were noted for their great beauty. Mrs. Cook, who had traveled much, and was appointed by the town authorities to entertain President Washington in 1791, while making his famous Southern tour, while he tarried one night in Charlotte, she gave it as her opinion that they were the prettiest women she had ever met with.

Mrs. Polk met a tragic death while still a young woman. Her husband was cleaning out his rifle in his wife's bed room, when the gun went off and killed her while she sat by the fire nursing her baby. A great deal of secret talk was indulged in, but no proof was brought to light to prove that it was not an accident.

In a few months he announced that he was going to marry the beautiful sister of his wife. Charley Polk had won a name for daring that made him famous over a large scope of country, but he was not equal to the storm of opposition to his offer to marry the remaining sister. Her brothers and his brothers told him plainly that they would not allow him to marry her. And he didn't marry her. At that time it was very fashionable to move to Tennessee, as it was sixty years later to go to Texas. The beautiful Miss Alexander never married any one, but soon followed her sister to the Spirit Land. The great pioneer lived to see many of his children's children, and passed away in 1801. [Hezekiah and Mary Alexander had three daughters: Mary Alexander Polk died in 1795/6; Keziah, who never married, died in 1819; Esther married Samuel Garrison and moved to Kentucky in the 1790's, and by some accounts, died there around 1827.]

I do not suppose of all the signers of the Declaration of Independence, there was one superior in ability, or was more determined in severing the relations with the mother country than Hezekiah Alexander. He considered well the course they were about to take; if the Colonies should not fall into the same line of thought with Mecklenburg county, their doom was sealed, and each one of them would pay for the crime of treason. But these men of Mecklenburg had the training, for eight years, of that grandest of men, Rev. Alexander Craighead. Hezekiah Alexander was one of Mr. Craighead's elders, and was a sympathizer in his teaching. And I believe that Mecklenburg owes much of her glory to the fact that the doctrine of resistance to the King was preached to the people from 1758 to 1766.