John Alexander of Dresden died in 1840, leaving a will naming his living children and grandchildren. One listed was a Charles Alexander. John had only two sons, both of whom died in 1827 when they were 21 and 23. Though old enough to have children of their own, I have found no marriage record for either John or William nor any other references to any possible children.

I stumbled across a Dr. Charles Alexander of Farmington and Chesterville recently and in trying to figure out who he really was, discovered that he was born in Pittston 28 Apr 1824 and died 9 Oct 1897¹ according to his obituary.²

It would have been possible for either John or William to father a child then but they would have been either 18 or 20, a little young but possible. Someone posted on the findagrave page that he was the son of Benjamin and Betsey. So what is known about Dr. Charles Alexander?

His obituary says his family moved to Farmington when he was four – 1828, the year after the Alexander boys died. So again, making it possible that either was his father.

The only Benjamin Alexander that could possibly be his father was Benjamin, son of Hugh of Harpswell. He married Hannah Sewall and by 1820 was living in Chesterville. The 1830 Chesterville census, however, only lists one male child under 5 and there two earlier male births in the records; however, only one of Benjamin’s children can be found as an adult and the family doesn’t appear in the Maine censuses after 1830. According to Charles Nelson Sinnett, there was a son named Henry b.1825 who moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, “at an early age”.³ Henry’s birth is not among the records I found though. Close to the same birth year and both moved to Wisconsin. Can this be the same man? That “at an early age” is definitely different. Sinnett’s accounts are always fraught with errors, especially about folks who moved away from Maine. The birth place as Pittston for Charles makes it less likely this is the son of Benjamin and Hannah.

My strongest take away was that Wisconsin held allure from some folks in the Chesterville area!

Dr. Charles was educated at the Farmington and Yarmouth Academies. He attended several universities including Harvard and graduated from the “medical department of the university of the City of New York” in March of 1850. That same year he appears in the Orono census as Dr. Charles. He married Achsa Evelina Allen of Industry 11 Jan 1851⁴. They did have a daughter, Agnes, who lived less than a year. Achsa died two years later in 1856.

He married again in 1861 to Charlotte Augusta Allen of New Sharon, Maine. He did serve in the Civil War, 1862- 1864, in the 16th Maine Infantry.⁵ In December of 1866, they moved to Wisconsin and had a child on 21 Nov 1870. Joseph Bullen Alexander ended up being Dr. Charles’ only surviving child but his mother died in 1875 when Joseph was only five.

Charles then married Charlotte’s sister, Harriet Josephine Frances Bullen in about 1880 in Wisconsin. She had had two previous husbands and had one daughter, Olive Adams. In fact, in the 1870 census, Harriet and Olive are living with Charles and Charlotte. Harriet is listed as a schoolteacher. She had divorced her last husband in 1865 in Maine.⁶

Harriet died 21 January 1894 so in the end Charles outlived three wives. He died three years later.

Charles’ son, Joseph Bullen Alexander, attended Colby College in Waterville, Maine, and then the University of Wisconsin for his law degree. He married Jessie May Bunker of Waterville in 1898 and accumulated an honorary Master of Arts degree from Colby College that same year. After some years in Wisconsin as a judge, he moved to Seattle in 1900, established a law practice, and served as assistant attorney general for Washington state for several years. He and Jessie never had children. He died 27 Feb 1949 and Jessie followed him in 1956.

His obituary states ” He is felicitous and clear in argument, thoroughly in earnest, full of the vigor of conviction, never abusive of his adversaries, imbued with highest courtesy and a foe worthy of the steel of the most able opponent. “⁷

In the end, I believe Dr. Charles was the son of one of John’s two sons, more likely of the oldest, John. Without any living descendants, the complete and final proof may never be had.

As I continue my Alexander research, I’ve finally gotten some “closure” on John and Susannah Reed Alexander of Dresden, Maine.

At this moment I do not know if there are any living Alexander-surnamed descendants of John and Susannah but there are other descendants though possibly not many. They may well not know the story though due to the early deaths in the family!

John and Susannah married 17 Nov 1791¹ and by 1800 were living in Bowdoin with a wife and 5 girls. In June of that year he bought land from Matt Hussey in Dresden² and then appears in the Dresden censuses of 1810, 1820 and 1830.

He also appears in a number of other records in Dresden – as Fish Warden in 1802³, with a 32-ton schooner, the Stralston, with a son-in-law⁴ and as a subscriber to the Methodists along with a daughter in 1818⁵.

In 1830 John is listed in the census along with his son-in-laws, Ebenezer Small, Josiah Hill and John Hathorn near him. At the time all three wives, Sally, Lavinia and Susanna were living. Ebenezer’s wife, Lavinia, died before October of 1831 when he remarried.⁶

In 1833 John sold his home except for two rooms, one cow, one horse and a yoke of oxen to Ebenezer. It was a life tenancy type of arrangement where Ebenezer was to furnish food, raiment, medical and nursing to both John and Susanna until their deaths.⁷ This life tenancy arrangement was canceled in Dec 1835 when John sold everything to Ebenezer.⁸ It can be assumed this is when John and Susanna moved in with their daughter, Louisa, as they married the next month.

The final note was the discovery of John’s will in Kennebec County.⁹ Since Dresden is in Lincoln County, it never occurred to me to look to Kennebec for any trace of this family. I asked Eleanor Everson, owner of the land where John and Susanna were buried, how far was the river/county border from her house – she said about a 1000 yards. The Alexanders and their grown children all resided on the city/county border! John died in Kennebec County because he was living with his daughter, Louisa, in Pittston.

In the will he gives all remaining property to Louisa, one dollar to his other surviving child, Sally Hill, and one dollar to each of his grandchildren. The exception was the $100 he left Gamaliel Small, son of Nancy, whom John may have raised after his parents’ deaths. One grandson was named Charles Alexander, perhaps the son of either John or William who both died in 1827.

The Dresden Vital Records ¹⁰ gives us much of the children’s records:

Bornn to John Alexander of Dresden and his wife Susanna
1 a daughter named Sally Alexander Jan 29th 1792 [author: d.24 May 1858]
2 a daughter named Elizabeth Alexander the 10th day of June 1794 [d.March 4th 1829]
3 a daughter names Susanna Alexander the 30th day of June 1796 [d.8 Sep 1822¹¹]
4 a daughter named Polley Alexander 13th day of May 1798 [d.2 Feb 1822¹²]
5 a daughter named Lewyna [Lavinia] Alexander the 4th day of July 1800 [author: d.bef 1832]
5 a daughter named Nancy Alexander the 18th day of September 1802
7 a sonn named John Alexander Jun: the 8th day of May 1804
Recorded September 20th 1805 per John Polereczky Town Clerk
John Alexander Junr died in August 1827 John Polereczky Town Clerk
William Alexander died December 10th 1827 John Polereczky Town Clerk
Widow Nancy Small died March 4th 1829

So 4 daughters died between the ages of 24 and 34 and I find none of their children’s deaths during that decade. No deaths seem connected to childbirth but two of the Small husbands also died during these years as did both of the Alexander sons. Of course, there’s no proof how any of these died but since 6 of 8 of John and Susanna’s children died in that one decade, one cannot help but consider a genetic issue such as a heart problem. I have not been able to find all the death dates for the grandchildren though which could provide further proof of that theory. Tuberculosis could possibly be in play but I’ve seen other families with TB deaths and this does not appear similar.

One interesting tidbit is that three of the daughters married three Small brothers from Pownal, sons of Isaac and Susannah Sawyer Small.

John Alexander died 1 Feb 1840 and Susanna died 25 Mar 1835, having outlived 6 of their 8 children. The children and many grandchildren are buried in Dresden, Pittston and Randolph – handy for me now that I live across the river from Randolph! Next up – Charles, grandson of John. I think I found him!