excerpts from THE MECKLENBURG SIGNERS AND THEIR NEIGHBORS,by WORTH RAY

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THE MECKLENBURG ALEXANDERS

We know that John MCKNITT (or MCKNIGHT) Alexander was of the Cecil County,
Maryland Family, and have followed the history of the Alexander’s to the point where
it seems that after all, those of Cecil County and those of Somerset were of
the same Scotch Irish strain. We have found it easier to trace The John MCKNITT (MCKNIGHT) ALEXANDERS, who lived in Mecklenburg, and when it appears that one was not of his stock, we just credit him to the Somerset Family.

The last will and testament of Joseph Alexander, Tanner, of New Munster,
Cecil County, Maryland;
Dated December 15, 1726
Proved March 5, 1730
Witness to the will:
John MCKNIGHT
The witness John MCKNIGHT was the brother of the wife of Joseph ALEXANDER,
who was Abigail MCKNIGHT. James ALEXANDER, the son and residuary legatee,
married his cousin, Margaret MCKNIGH, a daughter of the witness John
MCKNIGHT. She was the mother o John MCKNITT ALEXANDER, one of the signers of
the "Mecklenburg Declaration"

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John MCKNIGHT. That there was a family of MCKNIGHTS who came from the
vicinity of the Donderri and settled in Cecil County, Maryland, with Joseph Alexander and his
family, there is no question.
They may have pronounced it MCKNITT, and it is certain that John MCKNITT
ALEXANDER so spelled and pronounced it. But, that it was spelled MCKNIGHT
there can be little question, either, for it was so written wherever found on
the records. These MCKNIGHTS came to parts of Virginia, and remained for a
time, and then to the Carolinas, and Rev. James MCKNIGHT was a very early
Presbyterian Minister in Mecklenburg County, where he left descendants who
intermarried with several of the older families of the County. We are
Impressed with the idea that there was no distinction, save in the
pronunciation, between these persons, and that the Rev. James MCKNIGHT was of
the same family as John MCKNIGHT of Cecil County, Maryland, whose sister
Abigail married Joseph ALEXANDER and was the mother of John MCKNITT ALEXANDER.
James ALEXANDER, the son of Joseph, who will appear on the next page, married
Margaret MCKNIGHT, the daughter of John MCKNIGHT, the witness, as his first
wife. By this marriage he had nine children. After the death of Margaret
MCKNIGHT, he married his second wife Abigail______. And they had five
children. It was ascertained that James ALEXANDER had a sister named Abigail,
who was named for her mother, Abigail MCKNIGHT, and chances are the second
wife as well as the first were a cousin.