Wilson Family Genealogy
Stories About Alexander Wilson
From Bob, written in June 1996:
"Before Alexander, Sr came to New York the Dutch had not owned the Manhattan Island for almost one hundred years. In the decade before (1760) the Revolution, the city that had begun as a little Dutch village had a population close to twenty thousand. Old Trinity church located at Broadway and Wall Streets was built in 1697 and was destroyed in the Battle for Manhattan on September 21, 1776. The records of burial prior to that time are destroyed. Since it is known that [Alexander Wilson] died in the year 1771 it seems unlikely that unless new evidence is found his birth and death date will remain a mystery. At the head of Wall Street just off Broadway stood the Presbyterian Church with its tall steeple and little burying ground in front. It may be possible that he is buried there and Pat * * * has written to get any records from this church. [There are no records of his belonging to or being buried at this church. Letter from the church dated 9/96. Note from Wilson Family Historian: This statement from the Church must be viewed in light of the fact that all Church records burned in 1776, 5 years after Alexander Wilson's death. The fact that the Church has no records from that time period really does not prove anything.] The information above is from Olga Hall-Quest's book "From Colony to Nation" 973.3 H181f. From the same source. The Stamp Act was passed in November 1, 1765 which required the colonists to purchase a stamp for almost every kind of paper, newspaper, ships clearance papers, wills, and deeds, costing from a halfpenny to twenty shillings. "There was such stagnaton of business in New York during the summer of 1765 as the city had never known before. Trade in this part of the world, a citizen wrote is come to so wretched a pass that you would imagine the plague had been here, the grass growing in most trading streets". It was not an easy time to be in business and our ancestors surely suffered as did all the residents of New York. They too must have felt and resisted the increasing tax burdens imposed by Mother England."
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From the Wilson Association Historian:
In several places, references have been found to Alexander Wilson being a cousin of Alexander Hamilton. One reference acknowledged that the early generation descendants who had been told of this relationship did not have the information to prove it. Another reference indicated that Alexander Wilson was buried in the same cemetery as his relative, Alexander Hamilton. Alexander Hamilton is buried in Trinity Churchyard, USA, NY, New York City, Manhattan. This is the cemetery in which Alexander Wilson is reputed to have been buried in 1771, although none of his descendants who have searched for his stone there have found one and all Church records from that time period were destroyed in the fire in 1776 when the British invaded New York City.
Alexander Wilson was born in Scotland, and immigrated to New York City. Alexander Hamilton's father was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Alexander Hamilton was born on the Caribbean island of Nevis and grew up on Saint Croix, coming to New York City to attend college. If there was a relationship between the two Alexanders, the common ancestor was unquestionably in Scotland.
At the present time, there is still no proof of this relationship.