This is the tombstone for John McClure Alexander and his wife, Ann Eliza Gibson Alexander.  They are my great great grandparents.  John was the brother of William Archibald, Sally, and Agnes Jane Alexander, about whom I will post separately.

John McClure Alexander was born in Rockbridge County, Virgina, in 1822.  In 1829, he and his siblings and his parents, Nancy McCluer and  James Harvey Alexander, moved to Hannibal, St. Charles, Missouri, where his father farmed. John's parents died in Missouri and he was orphaned. Alexander B. Stuart, his uncle, was appointed his guardian and brought the children back to Virginia. 

Dr. Alexander graduated from Washington College (now Washington & Lee University) in 1844. In 1850, Dr. Alexander married Ann Eliza Gibson, oldest daughter of Grace McKay Taylor and John Beard Gibson of Timber Ridge in Rockbridge County, Virginia.  He was a physician and a farmer.  I'm sad to day he was also a slave owner--although I was not surprised to discover this because many white people did own slaves in Virginia at that time.

John & his family lived at the “Red House” 2 miles southwest of Fairfield, Virginia, near the old McDowell burying ground.  When I was a kid, my Cousin Louise Alexander lived there with her family and her descendants still live there.   

John & Ann Eliza Alexander are buried in the Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church cemetery.