Alexander JAMESON 1760-1820

Alexander Jameson was the first child born to Hugh and his second wife Jane. He was also the first son born in America, the eldest surviving male child of Hugh Jameson and there-by the eldest progenitor of this particular strain of the Jameson family. He was born in what is now known as Dunbarton, New Hampshire, probably on the family homestead where he grew to manhood and remained for many years after marrying and where all but one of his children were born.

Alexander was a soldier in the American Revolutionary war. He enlisted in 1777, when just seventeen years old, for a short period - September 30, 1777 to October 26, 1777, in a call to arms to repell the British invading from the north. He served as a Private with Captian John Duncan’s Company in Colonel Daniel Moore's Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers.[1] They marched from Bedford, New Hampshire to join the Northern Continental Army at Beningtown (sic), Vermont for what became the Battle of Bennington and the Battle of Saratoga in 1777.[2]

Mr. Jameson and his brother Daniel, signed a bond November 15, 1782, to provide for their parents in consideration of a deed to the old homestead farm, in Dunbarton, given to them by their father, Hugh Jameson. In 1788, their father still living, he and his brother divided the farm and in 1790, when their father died, and each came into the full possession of their half of the property.

About 1800, Mr. Jameson sold out his interest in the family homestead to his brother, Daniel and with his wife and eight children, the eldest not yet fifteen years old, moved to Barnet, Vermont, joining his wife's siblings who had moved to nearby Peacham a few years earlier. It was here their youngest child, William, was born, and where his wife Jenny died[3] when the child was just four weeks old. The family then splintered with most initially moving back to the Dunbarton, New Hampshire, area and the rest taken in by family and friends. By 1810 they all had moved on and settled in various places in New Hampshire and Vermont. Alexander, who apparently survived the tragedy, eventually moved to Canandaigua, Ontario County, New York, probably about 1811 or 1812, where he died in 1820.[4] A more in depth analysis of this can be found here.

Ontario County, New York

The Hartford Treaty of 1786 settled the conflicting claims of Massachusetts and New York, awarding New York political sovereignty and Massachusetts the right of pre-empting and selling the Iroquois-controlled land. In 1787, Massachusetts sold its rights to the six million acre tract to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham. The Buffalo Creek Treaty, negotiated by Phelps, eliminated the native American claim to the 2,250,000-acre eastern portion. The western part reverted to Massachusetts ownership and was later sold to Pennsylvania financier Robert Morris.

Established in 1789, Ontario County encompassed all of western New York State from the Pre-emption Line to Lake Erie and from Lake Ontario to the Pennsylvania border. Now fourteen separate counties, the early history of this vast area is retained in the records of the parent County.

Phelps and Gorham surveyed the Purchase into ranges and townships, establishing the first land office of its kind in Canandaigua. Settlers from eastern New York and New England poured into the county, attracted by the fertile soil, temperate climate, and low prices. As the population increased, the New York State Legislature was pressured to subdivide and form new counties. Thus Steuben was taken off in 1796, Genesee in 1802, Livingston and Monroe in 1821, and Wayne and Yates in 1823.

but why Canandaigua ?

E. O Jameson states in his book "Jameson's in America" that Alexander moved to Canandaigua (sometime) after his first wife died in 1803.[5] This is entirely credible, in that his brother Hugh, with his wife and family, were living there at that time. We know independently that he didn't actually move there until sometime after 1810. Further affirmation of this is that Alexander is known to have died there in 1820.[4] Unfortunately, no known grave site or any other known local reference to him, or his wife, in that local can be found. Also, according to E.O. Jameson, Alexander remarried a Mrs. Parks, and from the way it is presented in "The Jameson's in America" this apparently would have been in Canandiagua, although it is not known exactly when.

It is alternately possible Alexander actually settled in Riga, New York, as some sources suggest,[6] with his second wife and some of his children, sometime after 1811 and that Alexander was only visiting his brother’s widow and children in nearby Canandaigua (Riga and Canandaigua are about fifty miles apart, probably a day’s journey in those times) when he died suddenly in 1820. Mr. Jameson’s brother, Hugh, had lived in that town with his family as early as before 1800. Hugh died there in 1814 and he and his wife Janet are known to be buried there. It is also possible that Alexander was living somewhere else in New York state or even still in Vermont and that he was visiting Canandaigua when he died. In that case his remains most likely were then taken to where he lived and buried there. Locating his grave and/or the area of probate would solve this riddle.

A Conundrum

It is important to note here that E. O. Jameson relates a story in the narrative of his youngest son Alexander, that this Alexander (his father) died shortly after his wife Jenny died, both in Vermont in 1803.[7] This story is not supported in any way by E. O. Jameson, other than it’s inclusion in his book and contradicts (E. O. Jameson) himself and other records, that Alexander remarried and moved to Canandaigua, New York, where he died in 1820.[5] A more in depth analysis of this issue can be found here.