Robert Alexander

Robert Alexander (November 1746 – December 1820) was a Virginia patriot and planter who served as the first clerk of court for newly established Campbell County, Virginia, as well as represented it in the Virginia Ratifying Convention .

Early and family life

Born in then-vast Augusta County, to Esther Alexander and her schoolmaster husband Robert, who had immigrated from Ulster to the Pennsylvania colony in 1737, then nine years later moved his young family south to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, where he established a school that became a predecessor of what became in this man's lifetime Washington College, and is now Washington and Lee University. The family included five additional brothers and four sisters. When Alexander wrote his will in 1814, he owned a thousand-acre plantation and eighteen slaves.

Death and legacy

Alexander died between the adjournment of the Franklin county court session on November 17, 1820, and the next session which began on December 11. According to historian Brent Tarter, several colorful anecdotes about early Campbell County featured Alexander, who often carried a large musket and was prone to wild behavior when drunk.