THE ALEXANDERS

(some notes by P John Partington)

 

OUR ALEXANDER FOREBEARS

Our earliest known Alexander forebears lived in Ayrshire, Scotland, where many of the family live to this day.  The first individual who can be identified with confidence is John, born in about 1750.  In about 1781 he married Janet Kerr, with whom he had seven children, all born in Beith:  Robert in 1782, John in 1783, an unnamed child in 1784, Hugh Kerr in about 1792, Jean in 1793, Margaret in 1795 and William in 1798.
   


THE CHILDREN OF JOHN  (c. 1750 - aft. 1796)

John’s first child, Robert, was born in Beith, Ayrshire, in February 1782.  Nothing further is yet known of him.

John’s second child, John, was born in Beith in December 1783.  He died at Artnock, Fenwick in Ayrshire in August 1850.

John’s third child, unnamed, was born in Beith in 1784, and died in September that same year.

John’s fourth child, Hugh Kerr, was born in Beith in 1790, and baptized there on 24 October.  On 25 February 1824 in Fenwick, Ayrshire, he married Isabella Picken;  the couple had nine children – John born in 1824, James, Hugh in 1829, Isabella in 1831, James in 1833, Robert in 1836, William in 1838, Stephen in 1844 and David in 1846 (details below).  By 1830 Hugh was living at Waterside, Fenwick, where he was recorded as running a curling club.  In 1841 & 1851 he and the family were still at Waterside:  in the latter year Hugh was a “wool carder & spinner employing sixteen workers, the farmer of thirty-four acres”.  Hugh died at Waterside on 19 March 1861:  the inventory of his estate described the business as “Hugh Alexander & Sons, Woolspinners”.  Isabella died, still in Fenwick, on 15 April 1880.

John’s fifth child, Jean, was born in Beith in March 1793;  nothing further is yet known of her.

John’s sixth child, Margaret, was born in Beith in March 1795.  She died at Fenwick on 4 May 1824.

John’s seventh child, William, was born at Beith in November 1798.  Nothing further is yet known of him.



THE CHILDREN OF HUGH KERR  (1792 - 1861)

Hugh’s first child, John, was born in 1824.  In 1841 & 1851 he was living with his family at Waterside, Fenwick, Ayrshire “employed on the farm”.  In his father’s will of 1861 he was referred to as a partner in the wool-spinning business.

Hugh’s second child, James, died of ‘chincough’ on 4 November 1829, at Waterside, being buried there three days later.

Hugh’s third child, Hugh, was born in 1829.  In 1841 & 1851 he were living with his family at Fenwick, latterly employed “on the farm”.  In 1861 Hugh was named as an executor of his father’s estate.

Hugh’s fourth child, Isabella, was born in 1831.  In 1841 & 1851 she was living with her family at Fenwick, latterly “employed at home”.  She married William Fulton, a shoemaker of Fenwick.

Hugh’s fifth child, James, was born in 1833.  In 1841 & 1851 he was with his family at Fenwick, inthe latter year “working onthe farm”.  On 7 July 1864 in Stewarton he married Agnes Anderson, with whom he had five children – Janet born in about 1867, James in 1869, John in 1871, William in 1872, Robert in 1874 and Isabella P in 1877 (details below).  In 1871 James & Agnes were living at Waterside, Fenwick with their two oldest children, James being recorded as  a “wool spinner”.  Ten years later the family were still there:  James was working as a “woolen yarn manufacturer”.

Hugh’s sixth child, Robert, was born on 8 April 1836;  his seventh, William, in 1838;  his eighth, Stephen, in 1844;  and his ninth, David, in 1846.  In 1851 they were at home with thier parents at Fenwick.  In 1861 Stephen, still at Waterside, was an executor of his father’s estate.



THE CHILDREN OF JAMES  (1833 - aft. 1880)

James’ first child, Janet, was born in about 1867.  Four years later she was recorded with her parents and younger brother at Waterside, Fenwick, in Ayrshire.  She probably died in childhood.

James’s second child, also James, was born on 16 April 1869 at Waterside, Fenwick, Ayrshire.  In 1881 he was living with his family there, a ‘scholar’.  He married twice:  first, in 1893, Margaret Renée Watt Hall (‘Maggie’), with whom he had two children – Helen Agnes Renée (‘Renée’) in 1896, and James Robert Bentinck, born in Balham in 1901 (details below).  Maggie died in 1910, whereupon the following year James married her younger sister Isabella Louise Jane (‘Louise’).  James moved to Galston where he worked as a doctor.

James’ third child, John, was born in 1871;  nothng further is yet known of him.

James’ fourth child, William, was born on 27 February 1873 at Waterside, and nine years later was recorded living with his family there.  Like his elder brother James, he qualified as a doctor;  and was involved in the South African War, where he was “commandeered by the Boers”.

James’ fifth child, Robert, was born in 1874;  and his sixth, Isabella P in 1877.  In 1881 they were living with their parents in Fenwick, Ayrshire, but nothing further is yet known of them.



THE CHILDREN OF JAMES  (1869 - aft. 1910)

James’ first child, Helen Agnes Renée (known by her last name), was born on 20 March 1896.  In 1924 she married Evan Moir Byres.

Alexander Family Tree                John & Liz’s Family History