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.

And now for something a little different.

My big sister introduced me to Middle Sister wines...because I AM the middle sister.  I just found out that the web site (http://www.middlesisterwines.com) lets you take a quiz to see what kind of middle sister you are!  Here's my result:

You're a Smarty Pants. Yeah, you know who you are. You were the first one to raise your hand, finish the test, and make a million. If only you weren't so tall, beautiful and well-dressed, we'd really hate you. Seriously, anybody would be lucky to have you as a friend. You complete us. Because you always have lots of Smarty Pants Chardonnay to share and if we ever travel abroad you speak five languages.




Well I can't say it's all true, but I am often the first to raise my hand and finish the test.

Continuing the family from yesterday....

Jennings Motley Jeffress married Susan D. Finch.  He actually had three wives and Susan was the middle one.  I didn't know about her until fairly recently.  I found Jennings Jeffress's will in which he gave his daughter Susan Emma Jeffress (my great-great grandmother) "her Mama's gold watch and all the silver spoons marked F".  That was the first hint that her mother's name began with "F".  The will was part of a chancery record that I reviewed at the Library of Virginia.

Then I found indexed marriage records for Jennings Jeffress.  He first married Margaret "Peggy" Moseley in 1812 in Charlotte County, second Susan D. Finch in 1812 in Charlotte County, and third Jane Pettus in 1841 in Mecklenburg County. His will mentions his wife Jane, which further supports  that she was his last wife.

During the past month, I was looking through a book that the Virginia Genealogical Society had published that indexed marriages from the Richmond, Virginia, papers. I was actually looking for a Jenkins and noticed the name Jennings.  That led me to the microfilms at the Library of Virginia where I found the following notice of the 21 November 1827 marriage of J.M. Jeffress and Miss Susan D. Finch, the only daughter of Thomas Finch, all of Charlotte Co.  This was published in the Richmond Enquirer on 22 December 1827.

Sadly, I also found in the Richmond Enquirer dated 25 February 1840, the obituary for Susan D. Jeffriess, wife of Capt. Jennings M. Jeffriess on 13 February 1840.

And, also the obituary for Capt. Jennings M. Jeffress appeared in the Richmond Enquirer on .
7 May 1852. He died suddenly on 22 march 1852 in Clarksville, Virginia.

 

Not a 5th-great grandparent, Thomas Jeffress was merely a 4th-great grandparent and this is his will.  The will was proven in Lunenburg County, Virginia, on 12 August 1822. Again, I obtained this copy from the Library of Virginia's microfilm, Lunenburg County Will Book 8 pages 241-242.  He mentions his "beloved wife" but does name indicate her name.

The will mentions children Lucretia, Jennings, Polly, James, Eliza, Nancy, Lucinda, and Jane, in that order.  Because he further mentions that Jennings and Lucretia will inherit land from their grandfather, I assume that they had a different mother than the other children.  At least one SAR application paper lists Jennings's mother as a Ms. Motley, which makes sense because his middle name was Motley.

Thomas Jeffress's son Jennings Motley Jeffress married Susan D. Finch, whose daughter Susan Emma Jeffress married James W. Love, whose daughter Mamie Elizabeth Love married John Graham Barnett Sr, whose son John Graham Barnett Jr married Gracie Allen Van Pelt, whose daughter Jean is my Mom.

Thomas Jeffress's other son James Jeffress married Nancy Moseley, their son Edwatd A. Jeffress married Sally E., and their son William Arthur Jeffress married fanny Dorsey Price, and their daughter Sarah Burton Jeffress married my Uncle Jim Alexander. I believe this is the case, but I haven't proven it beyond a doubt!

So Mom & Sarah were descended from half-brothers, but they were both 3rd-great-granddaughters of Thomas Jeffress.

James Robertson & Rachel Phair are another set of 5th-great grandparents.  This is James Robertson's will, which was proven on 13 December 1819 in Campbell County, Virginia.  James Robertson is a proven DAR patriot.  He provided "two beeves" in payment of taxes to the new government in 1782 in Bedford County (Campbell's predecessor).  I retrieved this copy of the will at the Library of Virginia from the microfilm copy of Campbell County's Will Book 4, pp. 219-220.

James and Rachel's daughter Isabell Robertson married John Gibson, their son John Gibson married Grace Taylor, their daughter Ann Eliza Gibson married John M. Alexander, their son James W. Alexander married Sally Belle Gibson (now I know it was really Sarah Isabella), their son, John Addison Alexander married Janet Fultz, and their son Jack was my Dad.  From John & Isabell Gibson on down to my Dad, the family lived in Rockbridge County, Virginia.

This is the beginning of the will of Samuel Downey.  The will was written 2 January 1773 and proven 17 August of the same year in Augusta County, Virginia.  The closeness of dates and the wording at the beginning of the will indicate that Samuel knew he was ailing and, thus, prepared his will.  Samuel bequeaths to his "loving wife" his "house biblle her sadle mare and sadle and a feather bed & furniture & spinning wheel & all her cloaths."  He also gives her two parts of his personal estate.  He gives the 500 acres on which he was living equally to his sons William and Samuel, but states that his wife will have the land during her lifetime.  And he named his loving wife as one of his executors of his estate.  In recording the will, the wife's name is given as Martha Downey.

Samuel Downey & his wife Martha are another set of my 5th-great grandparents. 

In addition to their sons William and Samuel, the will mentions daughters Margaret, Mary Ann, Janet, Rebeca, and Rachel (although not in that order). 

Their daughter Rachel was married in 1779 to John Willson, whose son Samuel Willson married Phoebe Tate in 1809, whose son Robert Tate Willson married Eliza Jane Ingles in 1843, whose daughter Ida Willson married Joseph Fultz in 1887, whose daughter Janet Fultz married John Alexander in 1913.  Janet & John's son Jack was my Dad.

Here are the other two pages of the will found in Augusta County Will Book #5 located on microfilm at  the Library of Virginia.