Jane Stevenson

Jane Stevenson Alexander Jane Stevenson Alexander, wife of John Alexander, was born soon after the signing of the Declaration of Independence of the United States. Her parents, Alexander Stevenson and Margaret Graham Stevenson, married in Virginia about 1762. Someone continued keeping a family record even after Alexander and Margaret Stevenson were dead. The Stevensons lived in South Carolina when Jane and John Alexander married. The following list of Stevenson children was included in a letter dated September 2, 1837, from Sarah Stevenson Patterson of Illinois to her sister Jane, living in Arkansas: Eleanor Stevenson b. September 15, 1764; Mary Stevenson b. September 29, 1766; Elizabeth Stevenson b. March 27, 1768; John Stevenson b. June 15, 1770; Sarah Stevenson b. August 18, 1772; James G. Stevenson born July 14, 1774; Margaret Stevenson b. December 12, 1776; Jane Stevenson b. April 28, 1779; Mary Stevenson b. July 6, 1781; Samuel Stevenson b. October 12, 1785. The first child of Jane and John Alexander was born while they lived in South Carolina. The next child was born in Georgia, then back to North Carolina for the birth of the first son. They probably stayed there a few years, then went through Tennessee and Kentucky to spend several years in northeastern Arkansas, where they found other Stevensons located. The last child of Jane and John Alexander was born in Lovely's Purchase in 1823. In this new country, people had to know how to do their own work. With the help of the children, Jane made clothes and bedding from skins of wild animals. Children at play would load the hides with the younger ones riding and pull the hides over the ground until the hides were soft as cloth. Water was carried from the springs for household use. The cool water coming from rocky crevices served to keep food supplies cool. Once, a bear cub was trying to get to that food when captured by the children and made into a pet. The daughter Jane Alexander was married to W. C Sparks and was living near Nacogdoches, Texas, when her mother Jane Stevenson Alexander rode horseback to visit her. Years later it was reported by the Armstrong family in Texas that Grandma "sat her horse like a young woman" on this ride from Arkansas. The last days of Jane Stevenson Alexander were spent with her <laugher Fannie Baker. In the 1870 census of Washington County, Arkansas, Jane was listed in this Baker household. Jane Stevenson Alexander died February 18, 1873. She was buried beside her husband fohn Alexander in Black Oak Cemetery near their Arkansas homeplace. Their eleven children were: Sarah Alexander b. in South Carolina, October 12, 1798; Abigail Alexander b. in Georgia, September 14, 1801; Samuel Stevenson Alexander b. in North Carolina, August 23, 1804; Jane Alexander b. January 28, 1807; Tempa Alexander b. May 18, 1809; Menerva Alexander b. June 26, 1813; Narcissa Alexander b. northeast Arkansas, September 26, 1815; Fannie Alexander b. northeast Arkansas, October 26, 1817; John M. Alexander, Jr. b. northeast Arkansas, November 6, 1819; Polly (Mary) Alexander b. northeast Arkansas, November 15/20, 1821; William Long Alexander b. Lovely County, Arkansas, November 15, 1823. By: Gladys D. Alexander