Alexander Young - birth and death of Alexander Young

Started by Roger Whitehead on Saturday, April 30, 2022
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Both entries here seem odd. When the 77th Regiment of Foot was raised in 1757 at Stirling, it was made up entirely of highlanders (excepting the Lt. Colonel and his adjutant - Archibald Montgomery and his nephew)... organized along clan lines with1460 men and Alexander as one of 65 Sergeants, who were generally either "tacksmen" or related to clan chiefs. Greenock, Inverclyde is in the Lowlands... and it seems highly unlikely that a 20 year old lowlander would be made a sergeant in charge of highland soldiers. On the other hand there are at least 6 records of Alexander Youngs born in the highlands between 1736 and 1738 listed in England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 on Ancestry®. (Source: Westphal, Nelson Orion, 1968. "The Scottish Highland Regiments in the French and Indian War". Masters Theses. 4157. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/4157)

His death in 1810 at Caldwell Road in Nova Scotia also seems suspect. The census of Lower Canada in 1825 lists him in Stanstead Township Quebec with his wife Elizabeth, on the same page as his son Andrew & family. The Quebec notarial records for Iberville (in Stanstead) for September 1828 record a gift from "Elizabeth Sneed Widow Young to Js. Young". which supports that he likely died in the in the Eastern Townships between 1825 and 1828. The townships were once known as "Caldwell's Manor", which is where Alexander's claims to the Royal Commission on the Losses and Services of American Loyalists were filed from.

If there is any evidence for these birth/death places and times (family bible, official records, grave index or ?) it would be helpful to include them here.

I believe you are correct on both points. Greenock was the coastal town where Montgomery's Highlander assembled before shipping out to Ireland to receive training. Maybe his name appears in Greenock somewhere in the records, but it doesn't make any sense that he was originally from there.

Thanks for participating in this discussion. I have drawn a complete blank on Alexander Young prior to the French and Indian War (and have little confidence in what I've seen in unsourced family trees for his wife Elizabeth). There is considerable information in NY records, the Haldeman papers, Loyalist Claims, and notarial records for Quebec from 1764 onward, but it is difficult to trace a direct link to Scotland. I have similar problems with his son-in-law John Robert Chilton (my direct ancestor, allegedly from London area and likely indentured to Young ~1774) and would be grateful for any help with him as well! I would be happy to share what I have on both.

I’ve been frustrated with Alexander Youth for a while, but after visiting Scotland last summer, I’m giving him another shot, especially after visiting the Culloden battlefield. I have a bunch of Scottish Highlanders on my paternal side, but this is the only Scot on my mother’s side.
Alexander Young’s birthdate of 1737 seems accurately set, so I brought up all the A. Youngs on Ancestry that have the same birthday. There were 9 Alexander Youngs born that year (or at least recorded). Almost all were born in the lowlands. Two were from Moray (Elgin and Drainie), technically considered the lowlands but near enough to Inverness that they may have considered themselves Highlanders.
I checked to see if they showed up in the marriage records later on, but only saw one A. Young married, and he would have been in his 40s if born in 1737. Interestingly, the one from Elgin had parents listed as Andrew Young and Margaret/Mary Sinclair. Alexander Young and Eliza Sneed had a son named Andrew and two daughters, Mary and Margaret (however, these two are very common names). Young Clan history states that a Young presence in Elgin existed for centuries. I checked out my DNA matches for ‘Sinclair,’ but although I had some Scottish matches, there weren’t any patterns of locality. So, still a mystery.
Regarding your comment about is wife Elizabeth Sneed and the “unsourced family trees.” Actually, that might be my fault, so let me explain. Elizabeth Sneed’s marriage to A. Young is listed in the U.S. marriage records as occurring in 1761. It states that she was born in NC (North Carolina) in 1742. When I plugged in the name Sneed for a DNA search, there were quite a few Sneeds with ancestors dating back to the mid 1600s in New Kent, Virginia, and a few in North Carolina. At this time, the borders between states were not yet legally defined, hence the confusion with North Carolina.
The families in this community intermarried extensively, thus creating a common group of ancestors among those who share the Sneed name. For example, in addition to the Sneed name, most of the people I match up with also have some of these surnames: Poindexter, Tinsley, Crawford, Buford, Randolph, etc. When I plug in the name Poindexter, all the people I match with, are from this same family.
I was able to locate Elizabeth Sneed (b. about 1842), whose mother was Susanah Poindexter and father was John Sneed. This is documented in published Parish Records. I am not sure how Eliza and Alexander met. He was serving in Montgomerie’s 77th, and they were actually in the Carolinas fighting the Cherokee in the early 1760s, so it is possible they met while on the campaign. They married in 1761, but the war didn’t end until 1763. I couldn’t find any records of their marriage in the local parish records. I’m assuming that after the war ended, he was rewarded with an allotment of land in New York and then sent for her.
So, I am convinced that my info is correct based partly on existing records but mostly on the preponderance of DNA evidence. However, there are researchers who have simply copied what I have without checking it out for themselves, and this can be a little annoying—especially when something is added that is incorrect. This is not to say that I’ve never made mistakes or haven’t gone fishing for hits by listing potential ancestors I’m not sure about.
Hope this helps a little with your research. Have you had your DNA sorted out?
Jocelyn

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