On 3 Apr 1860, this article appeared in the "Staunton Spectator".

William Cowper Alexander (1806-1874) was a son of the Archibald Alexander who was a famous Presbyterian minister at Princeton.  According to online sources, William C. Alexander graduated from Princeton and was admitted to the New Jersey bar.  However, it seems that he pursued a career in politics before settling down in the insurance business.

Alexander was a delegate to the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Charleston, which convened on 23 Apr 1860 and ended in a deadlock without choosing a Presidential candidate.  At a second convention in Baltimore in May 1860, Alexander allegedly received one vote for the Vice Presidency.  He later became President of Equitable Life Assurance Society in New York City. I have not found any indication that he ever married.

William Cowper Alexander was my second cousin five times removed.  

This is the kind of thing I find on Ancestry.com that I love. It is a copy of my Aunt Nannie's passport application dated 1923.

 

According to this, she was sailing on the ship Pan American to go sightseeing in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.  I barely new Aunt Nannie; and when I did, she was bedridden.  So I am glad to see that she got to have a little adventure in her life.  I assume she traveled with someone, but I don't know who.  This is the photo that accompanied the application:

Aunt Nannie was officially Nancy Belle Alexander (1878-1958), my dad's father's sister.  She also was a daughter of the James W. Alexander who died at the age of 37 about whom I recently blogged. 

She graduated in nursing from State Normal School for Women, now known as Longwood University, in Farmville, Virginia.  To be more precise, I have letters that she wrote home from Farmville and she was a trained nurse; so I assume that's where she was trained. 

Dated 28 Oct 1885, this death notice in the "Staunton Spectator" is for Ann Eliza Gibson Alexander, wife of Dr. John Alexander, daughter of John Gibson, mother of James William Alexander, and one of my great-great-grandmothers (and yours, too, Alec).  She and her husband are buried at Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church.  They have one of the prettiest tombstones, I think.  I may have posted it before.  Here it is:

I also have a "copy" of her death certificate from Virginia vital records. It is a transcript of a record of death and looks like this:

Again, continuing from yesterday, I found the obituary for James William Alexander in the Staunton, Virginia newspaper.

I hope you can read this article.  It was located on the page under an obituary for James's grandfather, John Gibson, who died 2 days before he did. How sad for the family. This says that James William Alexander was a modest man. He studied at Washington & Lee University, was in business, served as County Steward and Superintendent of the Poor.  He was only 37 when he died. 

As was the custom of the time, his wife, Sallie Gibson Alexander, had to petition the court to become guardian of her children.  Outrageous by today's standards, but progressive for that time.  About 30 years earlier, Sallie's father died while she was underage--he was about 50 years old.  Another male family member, not her mother, was appointed guardian for Sallie & her two brothers.  About 30 years later, my grandfather, Sallie's & James' son John Addison Alexander, died at the age of 38.  My grandmother apparently did not have to be appointed guardian of her children.  

The first house I remember living in was, I believe, the house where James & Sallie lived with their children. I'll have to figure out where the grandfather lived one of these days.

This is the man in the closet.

It's a photograph of a painting of James William Alexander, my great-grandfather.  When I was a little girl and we lived "on the farm", this painting was in the back of a huge closet that was at the top of the stairs just outside my bedroom.  It's not small.  It's about 24 inches by 36 inches, including the chalk frame.  My sister says she remembers being spooked by the portrait.

James Alexander was born in 1853 and died in 1890, so this portrait is over 100 years old now.

I now own the portrait. And, yes, it's in my closet.