Name: Robert
ALEXANDER
—————————————————————————————————————————————
Birth: 1710 County Donegal, Ireland
Death: Nov 1783 Augusta Co., VA
Father: William ALEXANDER (1676-)
Family Line:
Thomas ALEXANDER
(1630 - )
William
ALEXANDER (1676 - )
Robert
ALEXANDER (1710 - Nov 1783) & Esther BEARD (1724 - 1769)
Peter
ALEXANDER (1758 - 1842) & Elizabeth Jannett STEELE (1762 - 1846)
Sarah ALEXANDER (1791 - 1862) & Robert McMAINS (1786 - 1868)
Jane S. McMAINS (1811 - 1872) &
Marmaduke N. BARNES (abt 1815 - abt 1850)
Linia Ann BARNES ( 1840 - 1880) & Jacob Sylvester ARNEY (1839 -
1927)
Mary Ellen
ARNEY (1861 - 1935) & Joshua Newton MACHLAN (1859 - 1936)
Linnie
Ellen MACHLAN* (1884 - 1974) & Everett Elmer WALKER (1882 - 1948)
Elsie
Maureen WALKER (1903 - 1983) & Leo Newton COFFEY (1901 - 1998)
CONNECTED
FAMILIES:
The stories herein are best understood as part of a
series of stories about a group of connected families that all settled (or
originated) in Augusta County, Virginia, in the 1700’s. The following sketch
shows how they are connected. There are separate story files for each of the
men marked in red (wives are discussed jointly with their spouses).
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Misc. Notes
SOURCE: “CHALKLEY”
There are
many references herein to The Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in
Virginia: 1745 to 1800 by Lyman Chalkley. This is a large work, with three
volumes of about 600 pages each, containing most of the abstracts of court
records in Augusta County. This work is now in the public domain, and readily
available online. It is a good starting place, but contains many errors of
omission and transcription. To be used with caution.
I found a
number of genealogies that traced to Robert Alexander, and his marriage to
Esther Beard. However one of the oldest, and one often cited by others, comes
from "Memorials of the Earl of Stirling and the House of Alexander",
by Charles Rogers, LLD, Publication: Vol
I, 1877.
Robert
Alexander was born at "Manor Cunningham", Londonderry, County
Donegal, Ireland, in 1710 or 1719 (sources vary on birth date).
He was of
Scots-Irish ancestry. (See notes with his grandfather, Thomas Alexander, who
moved from Scotland to Ireland in about 1652.)
He is
reported to have earned a Master of Arts at Trinity College, Dublin. (Some
sources say he was educated at the University of Edinburgh, some say both.)
One
frequently quoted story is that he was bringing his library to America, but
owing to a storm at sea he was obliged to throw it overboard. However he was
supposedly so well versed in classics that he wrote many of them out in long
hand from memory and taught from them until he could obtain others.
He arrived
at Philadelphia in 1736, along with his brother Archibald and Archibald's wife
Margaret and daughter Elizabeth. They settled along the bank of the Schulykill
River at Nottingham, Chester Co., near Philadelphia. (Some reports say his
brothers William and Peter also moved to Pennsylvania.)
While there,
Robert married Esther Beard. Both families then remained at Nottingham for
about ten years. He is reported to have taught mathematics during that time.
He moved to
Augusta County, Virginia, in about 1743 - 1746. He acquired land in that area
in 1747, and on that land in 1749 he established a private school, which
eventually relocated about 20 miles farther south to Lexington, VA, and eventually
became known as "Washington and Lee University".
ACTIVITIES IN AUGUSTA COUNTY:
(There is a
map showing his land holding in the file for his neighbor “Samuel Steele”.)
Chalkley Vol
2, from Augusta Parish Vestry Book:
Page 1. “On
__ _____, 1746, Commission from (Governor?) Gooch to the Sheriff to Elect
Twelve of the most able men of the Parish to be sworn a Vestry, the Sheriff
caused to come to the Court House all the Freeholders and Housekeepers, who
elected… Robert Alexander (and 11 others)”
Page 1.--6th April, 1747: First meeting.
Present, viz: James Patton, John Madison, and all the others. They accept Rev.
John Hindman conditionally… Robert Alexander and James
Lockhart chosen Church Wardens.”
Page
257.--17th March, 1760: Robert Alexander resigns from Vestry on account of a
lingering sickness which has long disabled him from going abroad.
Chalkley Vol
1: “James McNutt's estate… 15th August, 1753: Paid… to Robert Alexander for
schooling James and Robert McNutt, one year, 1748.“ (James McNutt was the
grandfather of his wife. See more details in the James McNutt file.)
HIS WILL:
(Chalkley Vol 3 Page 168:)
Will Book VI, Page 371.--20th February, 1781. Robt.
Alexander's will--To wife, Esther; to daughters, Sarah and Eleanor, unmarried;
to sons. Peter, Hugh, James. Peter's tract at Lessley's cabin; James's adjoins
John Fulton and James Henry (all sons unmarried); to daughters, Ann and Esther,
5 shillings each; to son. William; to son. Thomas; to son, Robert; to grandchild,
Martha. Executors and guardians, wife and son Robert. Teste: Hugh Fulton, Thos.
Stevenson, Thos. Baird. Proved, 18th November, 1783, by Baird and Stevenson. Executors qualify.
Page 386.--18th November, 1783. Robert Alexander's estate
appraised Due by Hansel Olphid.
Connections
to Washington and Lee University:
The history of Washington and Lee University, and a few
references to our ancestor, can be found at that university's web page, www.wlu.edu. The following is extracted from
that page:
"Washington and Lee is a small, private, liberal arts
university nestled between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains in Lexington,
Va. It is the ninth oldest institution of higher learning in the nation. In
1749, Scotch-Irish pioneers who had migrated deep into the Valley of Virginia
founded a small classical school called Augusta Academy, some 20 miles north of
what is now Lexington."
A wall exhibit at the Lee Chapel and Museum, on the
campus, includes the following exhibit: "Land deed: granted to Robert
Alexander in 1747 where he established a 'classical' or 'Latin' school near
Greenville (mid-way between Staunton and Lexington in Augusta County). The
school was developed to educate the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians who settled in
the Valley but was never officially aligned with any denomination."
"The education at Alexander’s school
was probably elementary in nature, one in which students were prepared in the
skills necessary to enter college; generally confined to the study of ancient
languages, with secondary emphasis placed on higher mathematics, sciences, and
Bible studies."
The
chronological listing of the Rectors and Presidents of the University show
"Robert Alexander, A.M., Augusta Academy 1749-1762" as their first
Rector (headmaster) and first President (or principal).
"In 1776, the trustees, fired by patriotism, changed
the name of the school to Liberty Hall. Four years later the school was moved
to the vicinity of Lexington, where in 1782 it was chartered as Liberty Hall
Academy by the Virginia legislature and empowered to grant degrees."
"In
1796, George Washington saved the struggling Liberty Hall Academy when he gave
the school its first major endowment--$20,000 worth of James River Canal stock.
The trustees promptly changed the name of the school to Washington Academy
"
Confederate
General Robert E. Lee reluctantly accepted the position of president of the
College in 1865. After Lee's death in 1870, the trustees voted to change the
name from Washington College to Washington and Lee University."