|
Robert M. Alexander
KENTUCKY: A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, & Kniffin,
4th ed.,
1887 Cumberland Co.
ROBERT M. ALEXANDER, was born August 18, 1831. His father, Joseph
Alexander, was born in Henry County, Va., July 30, 1780; he was a man of
good business education and a good business man. He was married in
Henry County, Va., on March 7, 1807 to Miss Ann C. Bouldin, of Charlotte
County, Va., and to them were born four children: Fayette W., Ann Clark,
Sarah Martin (Baker), and Hugh Nelson, of whom only Ann Clark (Baker) is
now living. Mrs. Alexander departed this life aged about thirty, and is
buried in Henry County, Va. The second marriage of Joseph Alexander
occurred in Charlotte County, Va., December 10, 1818, to Miss Sarah
Bouldin, a daughter of Thomas and Lucy Bouldin, of whom Thomas Bouldin
emigrated from England and settled in Maryland, but afterward married
in Virginia and lived in Charlotte County. He received a land grant
from George II, and cultivated this tract of several thousand acres, by
slave labor, naming it "Golden Hill," a name which it still retains. He
was a man of considerable wealth. In 1824 Joseph Alexander immigrated
to Kentucky, and settled a tract of 400 acres in Cumberland County,
which land he acquired by purchase. He turned his attention partly to
agriculture, cultivating his farm by slave labor, and partly to the
manufacture of tobacco, which he carried on at his home four miles
northeast of Burkesville. He was elected sheriff of Cumberland County,
under the provisions of the old constitution, by which the senior
magistrate became sheriff, and for several years was master commissioner
of the county. He also held the position of commissioner of common
schools, and also that of assessor of the county, and in 1839 was
elected on the Whig ticket to represent Cumberland County in the lower
house of the Kentucky Legislature. He also held many other responsible
positions, not of a public character; was guardian and administrator,
and a man in whom the people of his county trusted. Seven children
were born to his last marriage: Richard B., Milton J., Thomas Tyler,
Martha B., wife of Rev. Martin Baker; Margaret, who died in infancy;
Joseph H.M. and Dr. Robert M., of whom only Thomas Tyler and Dr.
Alexander are living. Mrs. Alexander, who during life was a member of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, died May 4, 1857, in the sixty-third
year of her age. Joseph Alexander, who departed his life October 2,
1859, was a Whig in politics, a great admirer of Henry Clay, and an
emancipationist, although he was a slave owner. He had lived in good
easy circumstances during life, but on account of security, left only a
small estate to his children. John Alexander was born in 1741, about
four miles from Glasgow in Scotland, from which place he was brought by
his father, John Alexander, to America, and to Henry County, Va., where
he grew to manhood. His father became a prominent man in early Virginia
politics. He was a member of the House of Burgesses of Virginia prior
to the Revolution, and during the troubles and oppressions which brought
about that event. He commanded a company of provincial troops in the
struggle. His son John became a man of wealth in the county of Henry.
He was married to Miss Lucy Martin, of Virginia, by whom he became the
father of nine children: Thomas, John M., Ingram, Robert, Reuben,
Phillip, Susan (Porter), Odedience (Gerhart) and Elizabeth (Smith).
He immigrated to Kentucky, and settled on Marrowbone Creek, Cumberland
County, in 1811, where he lived in affluent circumstances, and died aged
eighty-eight, in 1830. Dr. Robert M. Alexander, a native of Cumberland
County, in boyhood received a common-school education in the
neighborhood schools of Cumberland County, attending a high school in
Alabama one five month's term. His education is the result of home
study, and close application after he had left school. In 1852 he began
the study of medicine, under the preceptorship of Dr. T.Q. Walker of
Haskinsville, Green County, and in the fall of 1853 began attending the
lectures at the University of Louisville, graduating there in the spring
of 1855. He then began the practice of his profession, in partnership
with Dr. J.H. Cheek, which he continued until 1861. At this time he
became assistant surgeon of the Fifth Cavalry (Federal service); but on
account of ill health of his family was compelled to resign and return
home. He then began the practice on his own account in Burkesville,
which, with the exception of four years residence in Louisville, he has
continued since. In 1874 he removed to Louisville and remained until
1879, when, on account of failing health, he returned to Burkesville,
and re-entered the practice there. Dr. Alexander, on May 1, 1860, was
united in marriage to Miss Ellen B. Alexander, a daughter of John M.
Alexander, Jr., and Martha R. (Thurman) Alexander, the former a native
of Virginia, the latter of Kentucky. John M. Alexander, a nephew of
Joseph Alexander, was a son of Thomas Alexander, and Martha R. Thurman,
who was a daughter of William Thurman, who was a distant relative of
Hon. Allen G. Thurman of Ohio, and came from the same county in
Virginia. To Dr. and Mrs. Alexander have been born ten children: John
J., who is secretary of the Golden Placer Mining Company of New Mexico;
Hortense C., Lavelle M., Robert A., and Mary C., who are living, and
four sons and a daughter who died in infancy. Dr. Alexander has a
lucrative practice in his profession, confined mostly to the practice
of Medicine, with not a great deal of surgical work. He is also one of
the board of medical examiners for pensions, and besides his medical
practice, owns a young orange grove of 600 trees in Orange County, Fla.
The plantation contains eighty acres of very valuable land in the
richest and most valuable part of the State and also several hundred
acres of valuable land in northern Texas. Dr. and Mrs. Alexander are
both members of the Presbyterian Church, of which Dr. Alexander has been
a ruling elder since he became a member in 1866. He was a Whig in
politics in ante bellum days but since has been a member of the national
Republican party. In 1859 he was elected on "opposition party" ticket
(opposed to Democracy), to represent the counties of Cumberland and
Clinton, in the lower house of the Kentucky Legislature, and he was
present and took part in the deliberations of that body during one
regular, and two extra sessions, in those times that "tried men's
souls." With this exception he has never sought or held political
position. In addition to the diploma which he received from the
University of Louisville, he attended a five month's course of lectures
at Jefferson College, Philadelphia, graduating there in the spring of
1863.
Alexander Bouldin Baker Clay Martin Porter Gerhart Smith Walker Cheek
Thurman
=
Green-KY Clinton-KY Orange-FL Henry-VA Charlotte-VA MD AL OH NM TX PA
Scotland England
|
|
| |
|