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James (?-1779); Zebulon; Moses; and Daniel. sis-
TERS: Priscilla, who married (first name unknown)
White; Ruth, who married (first name unknown)
Dysart (Dizard); and Mary (?-1790), who married
James Cox (?-1777), a tailor, of Baltimore Town.
MARRIED never. CHILDREN. Died without progeny.
PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: literate. RELIGIOUS
AFFILIATION: Presbyterian. SOCIAL STATUS AND
ACTIVITIES: Mr., 1765; Esq., 1779; Gent., 1785.
OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: merchant, of Baltimore
Town, owned a warehouse and later a store near
the public wharf; also owned a schooner and was
involved in the wheat trade in the 1770s. PUBLIC
CAREER. LEGISLATIVE SERVICE: Lower House,
Baltimore Town, 1779-1780 (Manufactories 1, 2),
1780-1781 (Manufactories 1, 2). LOCAL OFFICE:
Committee of Correspondence, Baltimore Town,
in office 1774. MILITARY SERVICE: Baltimore
Town Militia, 1778. WEALTH DURING LIFETIME.
PERSONAL PROPERTY. £300 in Continental certifi-
cates, ca. 1783. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: He was
heavily in debt by 1783 when he filed a petition as
an insolvent debtor. Alexander owed £3,000 to
Daniel Dulany, Jr. (1722-1797) and Charles Car-
roll of Carrollton (1737-1832) as executors of Ro-
bert Montgomery, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
and Rev. William Thompson, of Cecil County.
Alexander was jailed for at least two months in
1787 as an insolvent debtor. In 1790 his sister
Mary Cox made provision in her will granting Al-
exander an annual income of £35. LAND AT FIRST
ELECTION: at least 450 acres in Baltimore and
Cecil counties, 90 acres in Chester County, Penn-
sylvania, plus 1 lot and parts of 2 other lots in
Baltimore Town. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN
LAND BETWEEN FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH:
sold 1 lot in Baltimore Town to his sister Mary
Cox in return for money to pay his major credi-
tors, 1784; the remainder of his land was turned
over to the sheriff to pay his other debts. Al-
though Alexander held two mortgages and several
unpatented certificates for land after that, they
and all of his other real property were in the con-
trol of his trustee by 1787 under the terms of his
insolvency petition. WEALTH AT DEATH. DIED:
prior to April 1797; size of estate unknown.
ALEXANDER, ROBERT (1740-1805). BORN: in
1740 in Cecil County; only child. NATIVE, second
generation. RESIDED: in Baltimore Town, 1762
until the fall of 1776; on his plantation near the
Village of Elk in Cecil County from late 1776 until
September 1777 when he followed the British
forces to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; moved to
New York City, 1778; in London, England, 1784-
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1805. FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER William
Alexander (?-1745), a merchant, who immigrated
from Scotland to Antigua, West Indies, before
1732; in Cecil County, Maryland by 1735. STEPFA-
THERS: John Mackey, Esq. (?-ca. 1749); George
Catto, Gent. (?-1780), of Cecil County. MOTHER:
Araminta (?-1765), widow of both Col. Ephraim
Augustus Herman (1683-1734/35) and Col. Jo-
seph Young (?-1737), of Cecil County. HALF
BROTHER: Ephraim Augustine Herman (1734-
1751). HALF SISTER: Elizabeth Young. STEPSIS-
TERS: Catherine Herman; Mary Herman; Mary
Young; and Milcah Young. MARRIED Isabella (?-
1822), daughter of Alexander Lawson (?-1761), a
merchant of Baltimore County, and wife Dorothy
Smith (1719-?). Her brother was Alexander Law-
son (?-1798), who married Elizabeth Brown. Her
sisters were Susanna (1743-1798), who married
Andrew Buchanan (ca. 1733-1786); Rebecca (?-
1759), who married Lloyd Buchanan (1729-ca.
1762); Mary (Polly), who marred Robert Christie,
Jr.; Dorothy (?-1752); Elizabeth (?-1752); and
Margaret (?-1752); the last three drowned while
ice-skating on a pond at their father's ironworks.
CHILDREN. SONS William, a lawyer, who married
in 1795 Margaret Partridge, of Cecil County; Law-
son (ca. 1768-1828), a lawyer; Robert (?-by 1798);
Henry, who married Esther Johnson; and Andrew
(?-1797). DAUGHTER: Araminta (1773-1854), who
married in 1796 Solomon Betts. PRIVATE CAREER.
EDUCATION: studied law in Annapolis, probably
with Stephen Bordley (ca. 1710-1764). RELIGIOUS
AFFILIATION: Anglican, St. Paul's Parish,
Baltimore County. SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVI-
TIES: Gent., 1761. OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE law-
yer, admitted to the following courts: Annapolis
Mayor's Court in January 1761; Cecil County in
March 1761; Baltimore County in June 1761; Pro-
vincial Court in April 1762; Frederick County in
March 1763; Anne Arundel County in August
1765; Court of Chancery by February 1768; Har-
ford County in March 1774. Farmer, 1765-1777.
PUBLIC CAREER. LEGISLATIVE SERVICE Conven-
tions, Baltimore County, 1st, 1774, 4th, 1775, 5th,
1775, 6th-8th, 1775-1776 (did not attend the 7th
and 8th conventions). OTHER STATE OFFICE: 1st
Council of Safety, Western Shore, 1775. LOCAL
OFFICES: St. Paul's Parish Vestry, Baltimore
County, in office 1768-1771; commissioner,
Baltimore Town, in office 1768; Committee of Ob-
servation, Baltimore Town, elected 1774. OUT OF
STATE SERVICE: delegate, Continental Congress,
1775-1776 (elected on December 9, 1775, to fill
vacancy, but did not attend until January 1776;
reelected in May 1776 and July 1776; no record of
103
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