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This is excerpted from the introduction to the Photo Album of Daphne Adella Meares Patton by Tee A. Corinne, 1999.

THE ALEXANDERS OF VIRGINIA, GEORGIA, AND FLORIDA
On the American side of her family, one of Daphne's grandmother's great grandfathers was James Alexander (1722-1803). When he was born, Virginia was still a British Colony. He was probably born in an area of Orange Co. which, in 1748, became Culpeper Co. He married a woman named Elizabeth and they had at least six children, two of whom fought in the Revolutionary War. James died around the age of 81, three years into the nineteenth century, in Madison Co., state of Virginia, United States of America.
Children of James Alexander and Elizabeth:
George Alexander (1754-1809) b. Culpeper Co. VA, d. Elbert Co., GA
Mary Alexander (b. abt 1756)
Elizabeth Alexander, (b. abt 1757)
* William Alexander (1758-1806) b. Culpeper Co. VA, d. Elbert Co., GA
m. Frankey (Frances) Rucker of Culpeper Co., VA
* m. Nancy (unknown, died between 1840-1850)
Lucy Alexander (about 1760-1831) b. Culpeper Co. VA, d. Elbert Co., GA
Mildred Alexander

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: James' son and our ancestor, William Alexander, was 18 years old the year the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. His brother George was 22 and his sister Lucy was 16.

WAR AND MARRIAGE
REVOLUTIONARY WAR 1775-1783: The war for American Independence lasted eight years. William and his brother George fought in the Revolutionary War as soldiers from Virginia. The year before the war's end, William married Frankey (Frances) Rucker in Culpeper Co., Virginia, 27 Aug 1782. Their first child was born in Virginia.
William Alexander moved his family to Georgia during the war and also fought as a soldier from Georgia. The rest of his children from two marriages were born in Georgia.
In 1784, the year after the war's end, William received Bounty Land in Wilkes Co., Georgia, as a reward for his services as a soldier in the Continental Army. The area became Elbert Co. in 1790. In 1806, also for his Revolutionary War service, he drew land in Elbert Co. Both Wilkes and Elbert Counties border on South Carolina and have the Savannah River as their northeast boundary.
William's brother George moved to Wilkes Co. in the mid-1780s and at least one sister, Lucy—along with her husband Oliver Crawford—also moved to the Wilkes/Elbert area.
Children of William Alexander and Frankey Rucker:
Peter Alexander (1783-1856)
Mary Alexander (1784-1855)
Milly Alexander (abt 1785-)
Ezza Alexander (b. abt 1787)
Frances Alexander (b. abt 1788)

WILLIAM ALEXANDER MARRIED A SECOND TIME
Frankey must have died, probably in the early 1790s. William Alexander married a second time to a woman named Nancy (abt 1765-1840s) . Her last name is not yet known, nor are her exact date of birth or death or where she and William are buried.
Children of William Alexander and Nancy are believed to be the following:
James Alexander
Elijah Alexander
(female) Alexander
John Alexander
George Alexander
* Mordica Manning Alexander (1795-1868)
m. Judith Shackleford
Willis Alexander
Sarah Alexander (1800-1863)

William Alexander died in Elbert Co., Georgia, in 1806 when his son and our ancestor Mordica Manning Alexander was 11 years old. Mordica had been born on July 22, 1795, in Georgia, probably in Elbert Co. On August 7, 1817, he married Judith M. Shackleford a few weeks after his twenty-second birthday and three months shy of her twenty-third.[280184.GED.FTW]

Only surviving child of Col. William Thornton of King George. (FTM CD-162, Vol II, Fitzhugh Family, p. 846.)

1781 Will: King George Co, VA, Written 26 Jan and proved 1 Mar 1781. Names late husband John Alexander, Esq., youngest son William Thornton Alexander, oldest son Philip Thornton Alexander, granddaughter Lucy Thornton Hooe, daughter Frances Alexander, daughters Mary Thornton and Lucy Taliaferro. Mentions sons-in-law George Thornton, Seymour Hooe, and John Taliaferro. (Ibid., Vol I, Alexander Family, p.35.)