Biographies M
Alexander McCown
Dr. Alexander McCown was born in Muhlenberg County, Ky., August 24, 1819, and is the third of seven boys and four girls born to Joseph and Polly (Bell) McCown, natives of Bardstown and Muhlenberg County, respectively. Joseph McCown located in Muhlenberg County, about 1811, and died in 1868, aged eighty-eight; he was in Gen. Wayne's campaign in the Northwest about 1795; was a son of Alexander McCown, who marriage a Miss Uncle. They were natives of Scotland and Germany. Alex McCown was a teamster in Washington's army, and later in the war carried a musket; was by occupation a hotel-keeper and trader, and built the first house in Bardstown, Ky. Polly Bell was a daughter of Josiah Bell, who married a Miss Forbus; they were of English and Swiss descent respectively; they came from Virginia to Muhlenberg in an early day.
Dr. McCown was reared on a farm until he was sixteen; he received a fair education at the common schools and later attended Morganfield Academy two or three years. In 1840, he commenced preaching in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and traveled for seventeen years preaching; commenced the study of medicine and graduated from the Kentucky School of Medicine in Louisville in 1860; then located five miles northeast of Greenville. In 1870, he located where he now resides, and continues his practive with good success. He now owns seventy acres of good land.
Dr. McCown was married in May, 1856, to Mary Webster of Taylor County, Ky., a daughter of Archibald and Ann W. (Hazewood) Webster, natives of Virginia and of English origin. The Doctor and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church; he is a member of the Masonic fraternity and also of the Grange. They have one child - Archibald W. McCown.
Source: Battle, J.H., W.H. Perrin, and G.C. Kniffen. Kentucky: A History of the State. Louisville, KY: F.A. Battey, 1885. Page 912-913.
Updated July 9, 2018