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Biography
of John Alexander(b. 1779)
Introduction
The following Biography of John Alexander (born about 1779) was contributed by Laura Conner who received it "from another researcher." John Alexander and his wife Ruth had a daughter named Caroline who married Hiram Hamilton Copley (born 31 July 1810) 1839 or 1840, in Cass County, Michigan. Hiram and Caroline had a daughter they named Edith Gertrude. Edith Gertrude Copley was born July 26, 1855 in Buckley, Michigan. She is said to have been the first white girl born in Wexford County. Edith was married to Antoine Pierre Levi on Sept. 12, 1874. Biography of John Alexander (born about 1779) JOHN ALEXANDER was born in North Carolina about the year 1779, and died in Cass County, Michigan, in 1850, at the age of seventy years. In 1811 he emigrated to Wayne County, Indiana, where he remained until coming to Michigan in 1831, settling on the farm now owned by Robert Dool. His first house, a shanty, was a three-sided affair, covered with basswood bark, in which he lived several months and its exact location is where the Chicago & Lake Huron Railroad now crosses the highway running north and south. In an early day he was a member of the New Light or Christian denomination, but after coming to Michigan joined the Christian Church, of which he was a consistent and devoted member. He was a very quiet, peaceable man, never sued but one man in his life and never was sued. He was very punctual in all his dealings and required the same of other, but more by the force of will than fear of law, his general character may, perhaps be better illustrated by the following incident than anything that could be said at the present time: One year grain of all kinds was very scarce and high, corn and oats bringing from seventy-five cents to one dollar per bushel readily. Mr. A. having a good supply of these products, put the price to settlers at fifty cents per bushel, and would sell to no others. His son, Ephraim, resides in Redwing, Minnesota. John and Peter on Young's Prairie, the oldest daughter in Silver Creek; another in Douglas County, Oregon, another in Wexford County, this state, and still another in Penn Township. Indiana was the stopping-place, for a short time, of many from the South and East, who ultimately came to this county and became permanent settlers. Among this number was John Alexander, who was born in Burke County, N. C., in 1780, who, with his wife, who was born in 1785, made their way to the above-named State on horseback, carrying two children and all their worldly effects. In the spring of 1831, this county was reached and a farm purchased. The house in which they lived for several months was nothing but a shanty covered by basswood bark. He passed away June 15, 1850, and his wife February 16, 1845. As illustrative of his character, it is stated that one year, when grain of all kinds was very scarce and high, oats and corn bringing from 75 cents to $1 per bushel, he having an abundance, placed the price at 25 cents per bushel, and would take no more, limiting his sales to settlers only. His family consisted of nine children - Sophronia, Mrs. J. Irving; Sophia, Mrs. Alpheas Ireland, in Oregon; Caroline, Mrs. H. Copley, in Northern Michigan; Samuel and Margaret, deceased; Leah, now with her son-in-law, J. A. Hone, Sheriff in Cassopolis; Ephraim, in Dakota; John, in Vandalia; and Peter, the youngest, who lives in Section 8, is the possessor of 240 acres of land. His (Peter's) first wife, by whom he had one son, B. Frank, died some years since, and two children bless his second marriage with Hannah Haines.
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