fluential member
of society; was, for many years, a Ruling Elder of the Presbyterian
Church, and lies buried in the graveyard of Sugar Creek Church. On his
gravestone is this brief record:
"Abraham Alexander,
Died on the 22nd of April, 1786,
Aged 68 years."
"'Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end
be like his.'"
_Adam Alexander_ was chiefly known by his military services. He was
appointed Lieutenant Colonel of a battalion of minute men, with Thomas
Polk as Colonel, and Charles M'Lean as Major, by the Provincial
Council held at Johnston Court-house, on the 18th of December, 1775;
and Colonel of Mecklenburg county, with John Phifer as Lieutenant
Colonel, and John Davidson and George A. Alexander as Majors, by the
Provincial Congress, held at Halifax on the 4th of April, 1776.
He was a brave and energetic officer; and his name will be found in
nearly every expedition which marched from Mecklenburg county to
oppose the enemies of his country. He was for many years, before and
after the war, an acting Justice of the Peace, and tradition speaks of
him as bearing an excellent character. He died in 1798, aged seventy
years, and is buried in the old graveyard of Rock Spring, seven miles
east of Charlotte. Many of his descendants lie buried in the graveyard
at Philadelphia Church, two miles from Rock Spring, at which latter
place the congregation worshipped before the Revolution, mingling with
their pious devotion many touching and prayerful appeals for the final
deliverance of their country from the storms of the approaching
conflict of arms in a righteous cause.
_Hezekiah Alexander_ was more of a statesman than a soldier. He was
born in Pennsylvania in 1728. He was appointed a member of the
Committee of Safety for the Salisbury district by the Provincial
Congress which met at Hillsboro on the 21st of August, 1775, with
General Griffith Rutherford, John Brevard, Benjamin Patton and
others--a position of much responsibility and power. He was appointed
by the Provincial Congress, in April, 1776, with William Sharpe, of
Rowan county, on the Council of Safety. He was elected a member of the
Provincial Congress from Mecklenburg county, which met at Halifax on
November 12th, 1776, and framed the first Constitution of the State,
with Waightstill Avery, Robert Irwin, John Phifer, and Zaccheus
Wilson, as colleagues. At the Provincial Congress, which met at
Halifax on the 4th of Ap
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