Silas & Mary (Polly) Alexander
Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

In the cemetery of Sharon Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, is a worn gravestone darkened by nearly two centuries of weather. The engraving states that the man whose name is on the stone was "the first buried in this yard," and also that he was "a soldier of '76." He was Silas Alexander, the third son of Hezekiah and Mary Sample Alexander. The stone beside his is that of his wife, also named Mary.

Silas Alexander was born January 1, 1759.¹ He would have been about eight years old when his parents moved from the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania to North Carolina. They settled in Mecklenburg County, where they built a log house and started a farm, and Silas's father worked as a blacksmith.²

Hezekiah built a schoolhouse for his children on the property. Presbyterian ministers traditionally provided instruction for the children of their congregations, and it is thought that Reverend Joseph Alexander, Hezekiah's nephew, taught his children. Silas's father and others were also determined to organize a college, which resulted in the charter of Queen's College in 1771. Silas was of the proper age to be a student there.³ The family prospered, and in 1774, when Silas was about fifteen, they built a stone house, pictured at right.⁴

Silas came of age during a frightening time. Hezekiah was elderly but politically active during the American Revolution of 1776, a signer of the daring Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence in 1775. Declaring opposition to the English government was an act of treason, a seriously punishable crime.

Silas also served in a campaign against the Cherokee Indians, whose territory the white settlers of North Carolina had invaded, and who were being armed by the British. In Hezekiah Alexander and the Revolution in the Backcountry, Norris Preyer decribes Silas as "a blond seventeen-year old who was experiencing warfare for the first time." Under the command of General Griffith Rutherford, the soldiers burned Cherokee villages in the mountains to the west, to drive the Indians back and prevent them from trying to reclaim their territory by attacking white homesteaders. A poem published at the time claimed that Silas was so frightened that he climbed a hickory tree during the battle. In 1777, the unfortunate Cherokee people were forced to sign a treaty giving up all their land east of the Blue Ridge.⁵

As an adult, Silas made his home on McAlpine Creek, near his brother, Hezekiah Alexander, Jr.⁶ His wife's name was Mary, but like many women named Mary, she was nicknamed Polly, and that was how she was named in her mother-in-law's will in 1805.⁷ Howard and Ruth White, in Mecklenburg: The Life and Times of a Proud People, speculate that she may have been a member of the Steele family.⁸ According to her tombstone, she was born about 1764.⁹ She bore at least eight children.¹⁰

The life of the family was probably typical of small planters of the early 19th century in North Carolina. Their house was built of logs and may have had a separate building for the kitchen. Most of the family's needs were grown or crafted on the farm, and all members of the family worked in the fields at busy times. A variety of livestock was raised, including cows, hogs, sheep, and poultry.

The economy in 1810 favored white men who owned land. Five slaves¹¹ belonged to the household in 1810, indicating that Silas probably raised cotton or tobacco. Because cloth was a scarce and important commodity of the time, the 1810 census listed looms, of which Silas had none, but stated that 75 yards of cloth were made in the family that year.¹² Into the 1820's, Mecklenburg County Court records list Silas as serving on a regular basis for jury duty and other services expected of men who owned property.¹³

The family probably attended Sugaw Creek or Providence Presbyterian Church, until Sharon Church was built nearby in 1831. Church records indicate that slaves were required to attend church with their owners.¹⁴

Children:

1. Silas and Mary's first child was named Ulysses, born in October of 1793.¹⁵

2. Telemacus Alexander was born September 1, 1795. He married Hannah Smith.¹⁶ He owned a farm near Sharon Presbyterian Church, where he was an elder.¹⁷ He died at age 47, in 1842,¹⁸ and Hannah died only four years afterward.¹⁹ Click on Telemacus and Hannah's names to read about them and their children.

3. William S. Alexander, who was born in 1797,²⁰ was a member of Sharon Presbyterian Church.²¹ In his will of October 1858, William named three children: Martha Sample, Mary Harriet, and Telemachus Henry Clay Alexander.²²

4. Kisiah Harriet Alexander, who was born October 1, 1799, married Robert Kirkpatrick,²³ who was born February 18, 1790. Kisiah died July 29, 1836, and her husband died May 10, 1858.²⁴ Names of the Kirkpatrick children include Thomas Morgan, Mary S., John C., Martha, Margaret, Samuel, Silas Alexander, James F., Sarah, and Hugh N..²⁵ Kisiah, Robert, and several of their children were buried near Silas and Mary at Sharon Presbyterian Church.

5. Olivia Alexander was born in September of 1801.²⁶

6. Silas Alexander, Jr. was born in October of 1803.²⁷ He was a planter and a member of Sharon Presbyterian Church. The church records mention the names of a number of slaves belonging to his household. Those names include Adam, Jane, and Margaret, from a list of communicants circa 1840.²⁸

Around 1828 Silas married Sarah S., who was born in February of 1810. Their children were named Mary C., Hannah S., Sarah N., Celia Ann, Harriet, Theophilus, and Baxter.²⁹ Sarah died July 31, 1844, only 34 years old. She was buried near his parents at Sharon Church.³⁰

Silas then married Nancy Olivia Brown on May 8, 1846.³¹ They had children named Elizabeth Ann, John Kirk, Watson Brown, Jasper, Harrison, Monroe B., and Ida Louola.³² Silas died October 22, 1863.³³

7. James R. Alexander was born in July of 1807.³⁴ He married Harriet Baker December 18, 1836,³⁵ and had children named Eliza Frances, John D. D., and Harriet Olivia. He died February 18 of 1847 and was buried at Paw Creek Presbyterian Church. Harriet died October 15, 1889, and also was buried at Paw Creek.³⁶

8. Hezekiah Calvin Alexander was born in August of 1809.³⁷ He was elected deacon of Sharon Church January 16, 1850, but refused ordination.³⁸ He died in September of 1854 and was buried at Sharon, next to his parents.³⁹ The administrator of his will was his brother, Silas, Jr.⁴⁰

Silas died October 27, 1831, at age 72 and was buried in the cemetery of the newly established Sharon Presbyterian Church. Mary died October 12, 1833, aged 69, only two years after her husband.³⁶

Footnotes:

1. Gravestone at Sharon Presbyterian Church cemetery, Charlotte, NC; Stafford, Dr. Alvah, Alexander Notebooks, 2 volumes, (Charlotte NC: Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, 1985) Volume 1, pp. 80-81.

2. Preyer, Norris W., Hezekiah Alexander and the Revolution in the Back Country, (Charlotte: Norris Preyer, 1987) pp. 42-45.

3. Preyer, cited above, pp. 69-75. Charles C. & Virginia W. Alexander, Alexander Kin, Vol. II, (Greenville, SC: Southern Historical Press, 1990) p. 177.

4. Preyer, cited above, pp. 81-84.

5. Preyer, cited above, pp. 5-43, 118-119. The poem cited by Preyer, "A Modern Poem," can be found in the vertical files of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library under "Alexander."

6. Will of Hezekiah Alexander, Mecklenburg County NC Will Book A, p. 20; Mecklenburg County List of Taxables, 1797-1799, 1806-1811, 1823-1824, bound, (Raleigh: North Carolina Dept. of Archives and History), pp. 275, 278, 284, 290.

In 1797, Silas and Hezekiah are in the tax list, in Captain Samuel Polk's Company, with no land listed. In 1798, they each have 150 acres. In 1799, "Cylas" and Hezekiah each have 350 acres listed. In 1806, they are in the company of Captain Reid, with 325 acres each. By 1815, they are listed in Augustus Alexander's Company. Silas has 275 acres and $819 in property.

7.Will of Mary Alexander widow of Hezekiah Alexander dated 30 Sep 1803 Mecklenburg County North Carolina Will book A, Page Publication: Information compliled by Kathryn Jordan of Stewartstown, Penn.

8.Howard White and Ruth White, Mecklenburg: The Life and Times of a Proud People, 1992, page 72. The authors give no reason for their guess, but one of Mary Alexander's sons, Telemacus, named his youngest daughter Mary Steele Alexander. The custom of the time was to name children after their grandparents, including the family surname of the grandmother.

9. Gravestone in Sharon Presbyterian Church cemetery, Charlotte, North Carolina.

10. Stafford, cited above, p. 80-82.

11. Will of Hezekiah Alexander, cited above.

12. Population Schedule of the Seventh Census of the United States: 1810, Series: M252 Roll: 42, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County, No Township Listed, (Washington: National Archives and Record Service), p. 93.

In the 1810 census, Silas, Sr., was listed under the militia company of Captain Smartt. Free white people in his household included 3 males under 10 years of age, 2 10-15, and one over 45, presumably himself. There was one white female between 10-15 and one over 45. By the 1820 census, the Silas Alexander household included three males 10-16, (Hezekiah was 11, James, 13, and Silas Jr., about 17) one male 16-26, (William was 23 and Ulysses, 27) and one male over 45. There was one female over 45 and one 10-16. (Olivia was 19 and Kisiah, 23) Telemacus, 25, appears in the census as head of his own household, and some of the other children were presumably living in their own households by that time.

13. Mecklenburg County Court Minutes, Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, Book 7, 1832-1841, (Raleigh: North Carolina State Dept. of Archives and History); Ferguson, Herman W., Mecklenburg County NC Minutes of the Court of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions, Vol. III, 1821-1830, (Rocky Mount, NC, 1998), this volume cites Book 7, but is actually Book 6 on the spine of the volume in the state archives; Herman W. Ferguson, Mecklenburg County NC Minutes of the Court of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions, Vol. IV: 1831-1840 (Rocky Mount, NC, no date) pp. This volume also erroneously cites Book 7; see previous citation.

14. Records of Sharon Presbyterian Church, 1830-1960, Reel HF 202, (Presbyterian Historical Society, Montreat, N.C.: 1969)

15. Stafford, cited above, p. 80.

16. Stafford, cited above, p. 80-81.

17. Records of Sharon Presbyterian Church, cited above, pp. 5-7.

18. The Charlotte Journal , Charlotte, N.C., November 3, 1842;

19. Records of Sharon Presbyterian Church, cited above, pp. 100, 102.

20. Stafford, cited above, p. 81.

21. Records of Sharon Presbyterian Church, cited above, pp. 101-102.

22. Will of William S. Alexander, Book J of Mec Cty Wills, #1080, p. 57.

23. Stafford, cited above, p. 81.

24. Gravestones in Sharon Presbyterian Church cemetery, Charlotte, North Carolina.

25. Stafford, cited above, p. 81.

26. Stafford, cited above, p. 81.

27. Stafford, cited above, p. 81-82.

28. Records of Sharon Presbyterian Church, cited above, pp. 104-105.

29. Population Schedule of the Fourth Census of the United States: 1820, North Carolina, (Washington: National Archives and Record Service) pp. 28, 190; Population Schedule of the Fifth Census of the United States: 1830, North Carolina, (Washington: National Archives and Record Service) pp. 319, 320, 378, 379.

30. Records of Sharon Presbyterian Church, cited above, p. 103; Gravestone in Sharon Presbyterian Church cemetery, Charlotte, North Carolina; William R. Navey, The Charlotte Journal, Death Notices July 3-December 7, 1851, (Charlotte: Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, 1964) p. 3.

31. Marriage Bond Abstracts Pre-1868, Mecklenburg, (Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1942)

32. 1850 census, p. 78.

33. Estate Records 1762-1957, n.d., NC State Archives (C.R. 065.508.9) Silas Alexander, 1863 (Jr.); Haywood, Carol, and Grantham, Rose L., Death Notices from the Western Democrat, Charlotte, NC, 1853-1870: An Index (Charlotte: Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, 1966).

34. Stafford, cited above, p. 82.

35. "Mecklenburg Marriages," 16 October, 1998, http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/nc/ncmarr/mecklmar.txt), (accessed 21 January, 2006).

36. Thomas Robert Cathey, "Alexander Family Tree", 29 September 2005, http://users.erols.com/tcathey/Alexander.htm, (accessed January 21, 2006)

37. Stafford, cited above, p. 82.

38. Records of Sharon Presbyterian Church, cited above, pp. 44-45.

39. Gravestone in Sharon Presbyterian Church cemetery, Charlotte, North Carolina.

40. Administrator bond for settlement of estate of H. Calvin Alexander, 1854, (Raleigh: NC State Dept. of Archives).

From Mecklenburg to Moore: Four North Carolina Families    /Silas and Mary (Polly) Alexander
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