Letters

Letters
Box	Folder	Item I.D.	Description	Thumbnail
1	1	1	Dear Friends, I am not perplexed to know how to answer a nameless friend. Some few weeks ago on the reception of a newspaper, I saw a marginal note from some person unknown to me claiming relation, purporting to reside at a post office, also unknown to me, by the name of Lapland, and failing to name the county I am at loss for proper address: but fondly recollecting the many collateral branches of our family I have no hesitancy in believing and acknowledging that we are all the same breed of dogs. In [reply] to your inquiry, I can give you a tolerably correct history of the Bedents, at least two of them, namely My Uncle Bedent and myself, the first Bedent Baird that was ever on the face of the earth. Two of the Bairds came over from Scotland in the Caledonia and settled in the Jerseys as I am told and one of them my grandpa (John Baird) married a woman named Mary Bedent and to the name they called their first child Bedent Baird. After that she brought them six sons in succession. My father was the seventh, was Ezekiel and was educated for a doctor, but apprenticed to the trade of a tailor. My other five uncles that came in between, as well as I can recollect, were, William, Samuel, Abadian, Borzilla, and Jonathan. The first Bedent was one of the individuals who belonged to the small company called the "Jersey Blues", and, a little before the opening of the revolution, was suspected of being one of the seventeen who, in Indian garb with a large number of Indians, went aboard the tea ships and throw overboard a part of the tea and made a tea riot. The next thing I heard of this my uncle, Bedent, was in the death of his first wife. He soon afterwards married a second time and moved to a place called the "German Flats" in Canada, where we lost sight of the old man. It may not be amiss to mention one of his sons, who, at the close of the war, went with the Marquis of Hastings, Sir Arthur Wellesley, and his brother to the reduction of the Mogul empire.
1	1	1	This Sir Arthur is the man that the English think is the greatest man God ever made and I think so, too, for he was the man that captured the greatest human butcher that ever lived, Napoleon Bonaparte, at the battle of Waterloo. But to return to my cousin's history, who went in concert with Sir Arthur- Governor General of India- and served many years in his service, and was commanding general of a battalion that fought the last battle in which Tippo Salle, the last of the Mogul emperors, was killed. The latter was shot through with three musket balls, and, while in the agonies of death, the soldier stepped back and picked up his fusse and blew his, the emperors brains out, and after the battle was over he was recognized among the dead, and was carried away and interred in the Layling, a monument where a dynasty of kings and emperors have been interred. At the close of the day, through the savity and clemency of my cousin and friend, General Baird, the royal family was saved alive- (see Robert Tear's History of India and China)- also through him Koh-i-noor (big diamond) now, in the crystal palace, among the crown jewels of Queen Victoria that has made so much noise in the newspapers, was found among the crown jewels of the emperor- Tippo Salle- after the battle was over. I am also told that this, my uncle and first Bedent Baird, was married three times and reared three numerous families which must have made a right smart sprinkling of Bairds somewhere in British America, not to mention grandpa's (John Baird) brothers and his issue, and also the issue of my five uncles, who helped to break the forest and settle five or six of the southwestern states. It would be somewhat uninteresting to you or I would try to give names of the connections of ancestors...... Uncle Samuel married Susannah Rodgers, Uncle Borzilla's wife was a Bullman; the other two I have forgotten. My father, Ezekial Baird married Susannah Blodgett, my mother whose father was killed in volunteer fighting under George Washington, then a colonist in the old war, under General Braddock, at a narrow defile near Fort Duquesne, where Braddock was mortally wounded and his army totally defeated and their the hills of the Monogahela, years without interment. It appears that Braddock's mortal wound was a blessing in disguise, and the cause that saved the remnant of the army alive. Washington, his general consort, then sounded a retreat and brought off the regulars and what few rangers were left- a melancholy retreat and the field of battle left to the mercy of the victor.
1	1	1	It appears, at the commencement, that the French Indians had no idea of anything more than a skirmish; but fighting under a shelter and the British army completely exposed to every fire, was cut down and Braddock fell and then saw his army retreat. Instead of pursuit, they fell to plundering the camps and Washington brought off the remnant by miraculous and pervidential aid, that to this day looks like one of the wonders of the world and very dissimilar to Arnold's plot and the execution of Major Andre. While these things that excite the wonder of mankind are going on, my father Ezekiel Baird, moved to North Carolina and I am left in my eighty-eight (88) year to write you with trembling had a short letter for further acquaintance. Robert E. Baird Please address me Sugar Grove P.O., N.C.
1	1	2	One Branch of an Old Family From a letter written by Bedent E. Baird, January 28, 1858, from Sugar Grove post office, Watagua county, to have a "Nameless Friend", at Lapland now Marshall, N.C. was supposed to have been ex-Senator Z.B. Vance, the following interesting facts are gathered. John Baird and a brother came over from Scotland in the Calledonia and settled in the Jerseys. This brother's career is not further mentioned, but John Baird married Mary Bedent. She gave birth to seven children, the first of whom she named Bedent Baird, the second William, the third Samuel, the fourth Adabiah, the fifth Borzilla, the sixth Jonathan, and the seventh Ezekial Baird. Ezekial married Susannah and came with his wife to North Carolina about the close of the Revolutionary war. The writer of the letter, a son of that marriage was 88 years of age in 1858, which would place his birth in 1770, but he does not state whether he was born in North Carolina or before his parents removal here. IT would seem that his father had married before his coming to this state, since it is stated that his wife's father had been killed in the defile near Fort Duquensne, under Braddock, as there were not many soldiers from North Carolina in that ill-fated expedition. Samuel Baird married Susannah Rodgers, Borzilla's wife was a Bullman, but the writer did not remember the wives of the others. It appears that the first Bedent Baird, uncle of the writer, after the death of his first wife, moved after a second marriage, to the German Flats of Canada, where he is lost sight of. But he left a son, Bedent, who took paet under Sir Arthur Wellesley in the reduction of the Mogul Empire, commanded a battalion in the last battle, and saved the lives of the royal Mogul family after the death of Tippo Salle, the emperor, and now found among his effects the great diamond, the Kooh-i-noor, now among the crown jewels of Great Britain. He refers to Robert Tears' History of India and it seems, was married three times and "reared three numerous families, which must have made a right smart sprinkling of Bairds somewhere in British America, not to mention the writer's grandfather's brother, who had come over in the Caledonia with him from Scotland, and his issue or the issue of my five uncles... who helped to settle five or six of the southwestern states.
1	1	2	Just what the relationship is between these Watagua Bairds, a large and influential family, and the Buncombe Bairds may be established from the foregoing facts. It is a curious fact, but in keeping with the writer's statement that Bedent Baird lived in the Jerseys, that Dr. Gilbert Tennent has seen the diagram of an old church showing the pews one of which was held by Zebulon and another by David Baird in 1750. That church was then called the Freehold church but is now known as the Tennent church. But the John Baird who immigrated from Scotland came in 1683, aged 18 years, and died in April 1775, aged about 90 years. He married Mary Hall in 1684, she having been rescued from a wrecked vessel. It is supposed that their children were David, Andrew, and Zebulon. The book from which the foregoing was taken is called "History of the Old Tennent Church", complied by Rev. Frank Symmes, 15 pastor, Cranbury, N.J. George W. Burroughs, printer.
1	1	3	Coy of letter Gallatin, Tenn. March 10th, 1908. Col Harvey Alexander, My Dear Cousin;- I send you the military record of your great, great grandfather, Captain William Alexander, which I believe you will prize and preserve. It was like finding the "mythical needle in the hay stack" as I had so little data to go upon. There were three William Alexanders prominent in the Revolution and all were Captains of Cavalry. one was called "Black bill", Red Bill, and Rowan Bill. We never knew which one was our ancestors, until I received the letter from the Pension Office. Wheeler and Ransay in their histories of North Carolina speak most complimentary of them, but it was confusing, as I did not know which was our Grandfather. My father remembered his Grandfather, Capt. Alexanderwell, and said when he was reminiscent he was a delightful companion. He made a narrow escape at Cowpens, and my Father has seen the Musket with its Sabre cuts, of the British Officer he fought in a single combat. You have cause to be proud of your lineage and this historical paper, will entitle you to membership of The Order of the Cincinnati. This society only exists in the thirteen original states. It would be fit and appropriate for you, as a representative member of the Alexander Family, to perpetuate and establish his name, and record in that way. Years ago as a mere boy, you were kind and courteous to my niece Bettie Barry, and drove her out to see your Grandfather, Cousin Will Alexander, she greatly enjoyed the visit. My father has often declared that Dr. Marshall Alexander was the handsomest man he ever saw except General Sam Houston, and that his
1	1	3	brothers were all brave and noble. I send you a little sketch of your Grandmother, Mary Brandon Alexander, also send a letter describing the graves. I regret I never met you, but if you were in Gallatin I could not see you now. I haven't walked in ten years, the victim of rheumatism, and now the last stage of consumption. It makes me sick to talk and I cannot sit up, or see company. Yours Sincerely, Miss Peytona Barry.
1	1	4	[incomplete] it, as you ignore it altogether. Now I would not have brought up this subject of family but for your throwing off on your own father, and having the nerve to cite the Myers. When the Alexander & Davidson Clans came to this country in the sixteen hundreds, they settled in Pa. Being unable to get along with the Quakers, all of them except one, migrated south. From the one who stayed came the president of the New York Life Ins. Co. Rev. Archibald Alexander and any others were prominent from this son. Wm. Alexander received a grant in Va. Feb. 4th 1635. Col. Wm Alexander 1744 died 1814 at his home in Effingham Prince Wm Co. Va. General Wm Alexander N.J. died 1793. John Alexander sold 1100 of six thousand acres he bought from the original grantor, to John Park Custis in 1728. He established this town, gave the land for Christ Church and other properties and the town was named for him. One of the brothers settled at what is now South Hill, Va. Was a prosperous farmer. I visited Mark Alexander there several years ago. He became General Manager of the Old Forrester Distilling Co. of Louisville, Kentucky before he retired. He left all his children with good farms and well fixed. The other brothers went on to North Carolina. Our branch settled in Old Fort with one of the Davidsons. Davidson went over to the mountain near the point the So. R.R. goes and which is now Montreat, cleared some ground, built a cabin and moved in with his wife one negro woman and a baby. The Indians killed him early one morning when he went out to get his horse which was belled. The others fled back to Old Fort arriving at nine o'clock that night. A posse was formed, the Indians were surprised in camp at Sulphur Springs west of Asheville and decimated. Peace with them was declared later and Uncle Bill Alexander moved over the Mountain and settled at Bee Tree so called at the head of Swannoa River, and became the first settler of now is known as Buncombe Co. The other brothers settled in what is now known as Charlotte, NC. They established the first Presbyterian Church in North Carolina. There is a granite monument in Charlotte erected to the memory of the signers of the Meclansburg Declaration of Independence. On this is the name of Three Alexanders. This was prior to the declaration that was signed at Philadelphia. A county was named for the Alexander and Davidson River for that family. General E.P. Alexander from Carolina was in charge of all Lees Artillery at the battle of Gettysburg, and covered the retreat.