Mintier Lines - S09 - Alexander ========== ALEXANDER James Alexander (1), my great-great-great-great grandfather, was the head of the Alexanders of our branch who came to America. He was born in 1706 at Campbeltown, Scotland, near the southern tup of the Kintyre Peninsula. This is an old town, earthworks and burial sites in nearby hills evidence the long history reaching back to Neolithie times. The burgh has close associations with the introduction of Christianity into Scotland, for St. Kiaran (Kioran), who associated with St. Columba, landed on the shores of Kintyre in the sixth century. I visited Campbeltown overnight in 1962 and went to see the old cemetery near the harbor. Darkness came too soon for me to find the graves for which I was searching. The names on the gravestones were all familiar names in New Concord, Ohio. Family records show that the above James Alexander (1) came to America in 1774 to join his son, James (2), who had come three years before (1771). He lived near enough to the Presbyterian Church at Slate Ridge, Maryland (now Delta, Penna.) that he evidently attended it and at the time of his death he was buried there in the cemetery at the church location. (Today the church on the hilltop is gone, the new church having been built in the valley below. The gravestones in the old cemetery are of sandstone, hence, the lettering is so weatherworn that it is difficult or impossible to read them. I visited this cemetery in 1968. I found no gravestone for James Alexander, but limited time kept me from a exhaustive search. There are several Alexander graves, some Clarks and Galbraiths, names which were family names of Margaret Ross Alexander, my great-great-great grandmother and her daughter Isabella, my great-great grandmother. (See below.) James (2), my great-great-great grandfather, was born in Scotland in 1733 and came to American in 1771, settling in the vicinity of York, Penna. Until about 1790. (Delta, Penna. is on the southern border of York County; York is the county seat.) James (2) is thought to have gone west prior to 1792, probably at the same time as the Mitchells for both families settled on Scotch Ridge, Pease Twp., Belmont County, Ohio. James (2) and his son James (3), my great-great grandfather, bought approximately one thousand acres of land from the government in that location, and the name, Scotch Ridge, was given to the region because it was settled by four Scotch families, the Alexanders, Mitchells, Clarks and Pickens's. (The Alexander deed is dated .) James (2) was married twice, the first wife being Margaret Wilson who died in Scotland. By her he had four children: Andrew, James, Margaret and Jane. Andrew came to America with his brother James in 1771 and later became the Sheriff of Baltimore. (I have a willowware plate that belonged to him.) James (2) second wife was Margaret Clark (Clarke) Ross, the widow of James Ross, a silk manufacturer of Paisley, Scotland. Family records say he was a member of a titled family and belonged to the Campbell Clan. We know that this marriage took place in Scotland because Agnes, the first child of this marriage, was born there in 1770. Margaret Clark Ross had one child by her previous marriage, Isabella. 2. Margaret Clark (Ross) was the only daughter of James Clark and Agnes Galbraith (Galbreath) Clark. (One wonders if this James Clark could be the man whose statue stands in the public square in Paisley, Scotland. I saw only the name on the statue as we drove by in 1962 with no time to stop. Also, one wonders if he might have been the founder of Clarks' ONT sewing thread company which was a Paisley firm.) Margaret Clark Ross and James Alexander had eight children: Agnes (Nancy), Mary, John , Robert, Peter, Jenetta, Thomas and Elizabeth. James Alexander (2) served in the Revolutionary War with the Penna. Troops. He was a private and ensign (March 13, 1776). (My mother became a Daughter of the American Revolution on his record. Verify by national number 224,463.) He died at the age of 74 and he and his wife are buried in the Scotch Ridge Cemetery. Margaret Clark Ross Alexanders was the first interment in this cemetery. The land was set apart by her son Thomas on the top of a high conical-shaped hill overlooking a vast expanse of country. A religious meeting was being held there at the time, when, during an intermission, Margaret Alexander, looking at the magnificent view around her and being reminded of her native land, said, "When I die I want to be buried here." Her wish was followed and she was buried at the exact spot on which she was standing when the remark was made. (This account is taken from the History of the Scotch Ridge Presbyterian Church by Rev. Fred Cochran, but I remember hearing the story from my grandmother.) On the flat stones over the graves of James and Margaret Alexander are the following inscriptions: In Memory of In Memory of James Alexander Margaret Alexander who who departed this life departed this life July 18th 1809 Mary 9th 1817 in the Aged 66 years 84th year of his age. Reader: Remember all must die As you are now so once was I As I am now thou soon must be Prepare for death and follow me. James Clark Alexander (3), my great-great grandfather, the second son of James (2) and Margaret Wilson Alexander, was born in Scotland in 1757, and, according to family records, came to America in 1776. He married Isabella Ross, the daughter of his father's second wife, so father and son married mother and daughter. Hence, both Margaret Wilson Alexander and Margaret Clark Ross Alexander were my great-great-great grandmothers. Isabella, my great-great grandmother, was born in 1767 in Campbeltown, Scotland, after her father's death, according to family records. She was reared by her Clark grandparents on the Kintyre Peninsula. She came to America at eighteen years of age (1785) with her Uncle John Clark who settled first in York County, Penna. Isabella and James (3) Alexander had ten children, one of whom, Agnes, born in 1792, was said to have been the first white child born in the territory which, in 1801 became Belmont County, Ohio. 3. James Alexander (3) was known as Judge Alexander because he served as Associate Judge of the Common Pleas Court of Belmont County in St. Clairsville, Ohio from 1803-1822 and 1835-1836. He was a representative to Congress from 1837-1839. I remember my grandmother's telling me of his riding horseback from Scotch Ridge to St. Clairsville to hold sessions of court. These hard journeys seemed to do him no harm since he lived to be 95 years of age. He spent his last years with his son Peter, my great grandfather after his wife Isabella died in 1845. He died in 1852. My grandmother remembered her grandfather as an old man in their home. He was known as a man of strict integrity, a thrifty man who had accumulated what, at that time, was a considerable fortune. My great grandfather, Peter Alexander, the eighth child of Isabella and James Alexander (3), evidently named for his Uncle Peter, was born March 9, 1804. He married Catherine McCullough Mitchell (Spelling of both first and second names vary in family records.) She was the daughter of James Clark and Elizabeth McCullough Mitchell. Peter and Catherine were married at the bride's home on Scotch Ridge March 3, 1831. (*According to a record of sale of Peter Alexander's possessions at his death, Catherine brought with her at their marriage a "Chandelier" which I believe to be the candelabra which I possess now. According to family history it came from the great-great grandparents' home and this notation in the Court records seems to verify that belief.) Early in my great grandparents' married life they lived in St. Clairsville, Ohio for several years. (The glass panel chest in my possession belonged to them about 1832 and was said to have been bought in St. Clairsville when they went to housekeeping there.) They returned to Scotch Ridge to live on the farm, later known as the McCune farm, where Peter Alexander Died in 1862. Catherine Alexander continued to live with her daughter, my grandmother, Elvira McCune, until her death in 1885. Some of th items in a sale of goods belonging to Peter Alexander at the time of his death are these: 3 swarms of bees taken by his widow $12.00 (Several swarms were bought by others) Bacon 3 1/2 cts. 253 lbs. Wm McCune 8.85 Parlor table 6.00 Large mirror 5.00 To Peter and Catherine Alexander were born nine children: Elphenor (called Phene), Albert, Ross, Josephine, Elvira Isabella, Adelaide, James, Malissa and Mary (Mollie). Peter and Catherine Alexander are buried in Scotch Ridge Cemetery. (The gold bracelet I have was bought by Peter Alexander. One day in 1850 a peddlar came to the farm and had the following story to tell about the bracelet he wanted to sell. It seems that a young man had gone to the '49 gold rush in California. He had either brought or sent back this bracelet, which he had had made from the first gold he had panned, for Miss Loretta Dunn whose name is engraved on the inner side of the bracelet. Either she would not accept it and *he* sold it to the peddlar, or she had gotten rid of it that way; at least my great grandfather bought it for my grandmother who was eleven at the time. She gave it to my mother, and mother gave it to me.) Elvira Isabella, the fifth child of Peter and Catherine, was born Feb. 6, 1839 on her home farm on Scotch Ridge. (It is interesting to note that my grandmother, my mother, my brother Harold and I were all born in the same room in that home. Probably many more of the family were born there, too.) 4. Elvira married William McCune who lived in Jefferson County, not many miles away. They lived most of their life on grandmother's home farm, Grandfather buying it from the heirs after my great grandmother's death in 1885. They moved to Martin's Ferry for a period of three years during 1886-1890, following the deaths of grandmother's mother, daughter, and sone, all in the spring of 1885. (See below.) (According to family tradition the oval stand in my possession was bought by Peter Alexander for Elvira and William McCune when they went to housekeeping in 1858.) William and Elvira (called Vi) had three children: Mary Kate born in 1859, Elwood Clyde born in 1862 and Pearl Amsden born in 1870. They settled in St. Cloud, Minn. where Uncle Alex was a practicing physician. Aunt Kate was a musician, composing a number of piano numbers which were printed in 1882. She was also somewhat of an artist. (I have two of her oil paintings on canvas, as well as a couple of paintings on velvet.) The McNannis's had one son, Roy Embree, who was six years old when he can his mother came back to Ohio for a visit at her home in the spring of 1855. Her grandmother was ill and died on March 22. While still in Ohio Aunt Kate took dip theria and died at the age of 26 on April 5. She was buried at Scotch Ridge Cemetery. Roy stayed on with his grandparents when his father returned to St. Cloud. Just a year later Uncle Alex was overworked in a serious typhoid fever epidemic, contracted the disease, and died at the age of 31. He is buried beside Aunt Kate a Scotch Ridge. (The cameo ring I have belonged to Aunt Kate. It had been given to her son Roy's wife Grace. She gave it to me, feeling that someone in our family should have it.) In April, 1885 Uncle Clyde, a student at Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, after having graduated at Franklin College at New Athens, Ohio, attended his grandmother's funeral and returned thirteen days later for his sister's funeral. At the age of 23 he was got graduate with the highest honors in his class within two weeks. On his return to Pittsburgh after the second trip home he had stopped to preach on Sunday at Holliday's Cove Presbyterian Church (now Wierton, W. Va.), having been called to be a pastor there following graduation. When he reached Pittsburgh on Sunday night, though it was a chill evening, he walked from the Union Station across the Allegheny River bridge to the Seminary. When he reached his room he built a fire in his stove and went to the room of his close friend, Marshall Boggs, to warm himself. He took ill while there and never left that room until he died of pneumonia on April 15. He was engaged to marry Miss Lulu Plummer who later married Rev. J. K Giffin, my father's college roommate. Having lost three of her family in a few weeks, Grandmother was so grief-stricken that she never quite got over the shock. She was always reticent to go out among people from that time on, so I never knew her as she had been as a young woman. Roy McMannis grew up with my mother who was 15 at the time of Aunt Kate's death. As a young man he attended a business school in Wooster, Ohio where he met Grace France. They lived on the farm where Roy grew up, until about the time of Grandfather's McCune's death in 1913. An addition had been built to the house in 1920 for mother and father. (See Mintier history.) Roy and Grace lived in those rooms after their marriage. The McMannis's also lived in Martins Ferry for a number of years while Roy served as a truant Officer for the township schools. Roy was unusually gifted as an 5. entertainer. He played a number of instruments and gave lessons on them to the youth throughout the area. He often gave programs of readings, songs with banjo and guitar accompaniments, ventriloquist numbers, etc. in the rural schools and churches. Roy and Grace were great walkers and thought nothing of walking to Martins Ferry and return, five miles each way, or to Mt. Pleasant. They even walked to Wooster from the farm once or twice. They retired to Grace's home at Wooster and later lived in Congress, Ohio where Roy found great entertainment as a ham radio operator. He died at Congress in 193_ and Grace died in 195_ at Wooster. They had no children. Both are buried at ____________. The third child of William and Elvira McCune was my mother, Pearl Amsden. (When I asked why she was given the name "Amsden", she said grandmother had read it in a story.) Mother was born May 22, 1870. She attended Beaver Seminary for a short period and then went to New Athens, Ohio to study piano with Lulu Plummer who had been Uncle Clyde's fiancee. While there she met William Alexander Mintier who was a student in Franklin College at New Athens. (My father's middle name had no connection with mother's forbears unless back in Scotland.) Graduating in 1895 from Franklin College, my father entered Allegheny Theological Seminary, which later became Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. My parents were married at the home farm on October 29, 1895. They lived in light-housekeeping rooms in Allegheny (now Northside, Pittsburgh) near the Seminary. Upon his graduation in 1898 father went to Cochranton, Penna. where he had been called as pastor during the latter months of his senior year. I was born on May 4, 1898 at Grandfather McCune's. My father graduated May 18. On Nov. 21, 1913 my grandfather died. He had gone to Brilliant, Ohio the previous weekend to buy a calf and also to visit his nephews, Addison and Samuel McCune and nieces Laura and Jessie McCune. He came home tired and went to bed in the afternoon on Monday. He died that night. I do not remember the cause of his death. We lived at Salineville, Ohio at the time. Mother was telegraphed that Grandpa was ill on Monday and she left on the early train Tuesday morning. When she was met in Martins Ferry Tuesday afternoon it was with the word of her father's death the night before. Dad and we children went to Martins Ferry on Wednesday. Since Thursday was Thanksgiving the funeral was held on Friday at the Scotch Ridge Church where grandfather was an elder. The McCune nephews and nieces from Brilliant sang at the funeral, accompanied by their sister Mrs. James Potter (Maxine, or Maxie, as she was called) from Wheeling. Grandma McCune died May 23, 1920. She, too, was not ill long. She died of uremic poisoning. She went to bed early one evening and died that night. Again mother was called about her illness and left New Concord on the early train, only to find on arrival that her mother had died the night before. (See Mintier history and Mitchell history for further information.) ALEXANDER [Genealogy was slightly reformatted to ease reading] I. James Alexander 1706- Born in Campbeltown, Scotland Buried in Slate Ridge Cemetery, Delta, Pa. according to family tradition. II. James Alexander 1733-1817 m. 1. Margaret Wilson Came to America in 1771 from Scotland Died in Scotland Served in Revolution 2. Margaret Clark Ross Buried in Scotch Ridge Cemetery, Belmont County, Ohio Married in Scotland 1. Andrew 1755-1846 m. Jane Milliken 1764-1808 Served in Revolution Agnes Watson 1776-1858 Nearly all of his family moved to Indiana 2. James 1757-1852 m. Isabella Ross 3. Margaret m. _____________ Rusk 4. Jane m. William McGlish 5. Agnes (Nancy) 1770-1814 m. William Pickens 1753-1841 6. Mary m. _____________ McCallister 7. John 1773-1843 m. Jane Hanna 1775-1832 8. Robert 1776- m. Jane Dixon (Dickson) 9. Peter 1776-1862 m. Jane Mitchell m. 1804 in Belmont County, Ohio Lived in Richland County, Ohio (Mansfield) 10. Jennetta 1780-1844 m. Joseph Moore 1765-1859 11. Thomas 1780-1831 m. Rachel Dixon (Dickson) 12. Elizabeth 1782- m. David Kincaid (No heirs) III. James Alexander 1757-1852 m. Isabella Ross 1767-1845 Came to America in 1771 Came to America in 1785 Buried in Scotch Ridge Cemetery, Belmont County, Ohio 1. Margaret 1787-1866 m. Major John Alexander (No heirs) 2. James 1789-1846/5 m. Jemima Mitchell 1797-1879 3. Agnes 1792-1825 m. Robert Gray (Grey) 4. Jane Wilson 1794-1823 m. James Clark Mitchell 5. Isabella Ross 1797-1815 *** Died on the eve of her marriage, 6. John 1798-1849 m. Isabella Johnson 1786-1894 7. Jennetta (Janet) 1801- m. George Mitchell (son of Thos.) 8. Peter 1804-1862 m. Catherine Mitchell 1809-1885 9. Robert Jefferson 1806-1863 m. Ann Jennings Rachel Jennings 10. Lavina 1808-1886 m. Smiley Johnson IV. Peter Alexander 1804-1862 m. Catherine Mitchell 1809-1885 Buried at Scotch Ridge Cemetery, Belmont County, Ohio 1. Albert James 1832-1839 Buried in Scotch Ridge Cemetery 2. Elphenor Americus 1834-1852 m. Elvira C. Thompson Married in 1859 at Quasqueton, Buchanon Co., Iowa Buried in Miles City, Montana 3. Ross Wilson 1835-1839 Buried in Scotch Ridge Cemetery 4. Josephine Katherine 1837-1852 Buried in Scotch Ridge Cemetery 5. Elvira Isabella 1839-1920 m. William McCune 1836-1913 Buried in Scotch Ridge Cemetery 6. Lorinda Adelaide 1841- m. Dallas McKim Lived in Kansas City, Kansas 7. James Wilson 1844-1914 m. Single Civil War veteran - wounded in action at Winchester Buried in Scotch Ridge Cemetery 8. Martha Malissa 1847-1921 m. Joseph Munslow Died in California - ashes buried in Scotch Ridge Cemetery 9. Mary (Mollie) Sanders 1849- m. Samuel Irwin Lived in Berkeley, California V. Elvira Isabella Alexander 1839-1920 m. William McCune 1836-1913 1. Mary Kate *1859-1885 m. Alexander McMannis 1856-1886 Buried in Scotch Ridge Cemetery 2. Elwood Clyde 1862-1885 Single Buried in Scotch Ridge Cemetery 3. Pearl Amsden 1870-1960 m. William Alexander Mintier Buried in New Concord, Ohio VI. Pearl A. Mintier (sic - s/b McCune) 1870-1960 m. William A. Mintier 1869-1936 Buried in New Concord, Ohio 1. Wilma McCune 1898-[1983] Single 2. Wendell Reid 1900-[1985] m. Sara Byrnes [1902-1994] 3. Harold Nichol 1905-[1986] m. Virginia Esterquest [1909-2000] VII. Wilma McCune Mintier 1898-[1983] Single VII. Wendell Reid Mintier 1900-[1985] m. Sara Byrnes [1902-1994] 1. Donna Jean 1932-[1986] m. David McKay [xxxx]- VIII. Donna Jean Mintier [xxxx]- m. David McKay [xxxx]- 1. Barry Reid [xxxx]- 2. Steven Alan [xxxx]- VII. Harold Nichol Mintier 1905-[1986] m. Virginia Esterquest [1909-2000] 1. Martha Jane [xxxx]- m. Wiley Sanders 2. Patricia Ann 1935-1948 Buried in New Concord, Ohio 3. Robert Nichol 1940-[2002] m. Eve Shawn [(div)] 4. Barbara Elaine [xxxx]- VIII. Martha Jane Mintier [xxxx]- m. Wiley Sanders 1. William Daryl [xxxx]- 2. Mark Earl [xxxx]- 3. Wilene Carol [xxxx]- VIII. Robert Nichol Mintier 1940-[2002] m. Eve Shawn 1. Charles Willard Ivan [xxxx]- 2. Patricia Ann [xxxx]- 3. Nicholas Shawn [xxxx]- VIII. Barbara Elaine Mintier [xxxx]- ========== Source: 1970, "A Brief History of Some of the Family Lines of Wilma McCune Mintier", written and self-published for family members by Wilma McCune Mintier, 1970; Full typewritten, copied text in possession of William Daryl Sanders, Wilma's GrandNephew. Transcribed by William Daryl Sanders in Sections, predominantly separated by main family group. ---------- Mintier Lines - Sections S01 - Intro - Thank you and poem S02 - Mintier S03 - Hammond S04 - Henderson S05 - Nichol S06 - McCune S07 - Rotheram S08 - Dunlap S09 - Alexander S10 - Mitchell S11 - Appendix - Poem and several photocopies of family pictures [HTML, Text and PDF versions online Copyright 2007 by William Daryl "Bill" Sanders. Any reproduction, printing, or selling of this content is prohibited without express written consent from William D. Sanders. More can be found at http://www.orangefrogproductions.com/ofp2o_family_999_wmm_s00.shtml.] ==========