Alexander Love

A Patriot of the American Revolution for SOUTH CAROLINA. DAR Ancestor # A071802

Alexander Love 1718 – 1784

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~scyork/LouisePettus/love.htm

Our history of Alexander Love begins in Pennsylvania. The exact date of arrival of the Love family in America is not known, but from research and available documents, it appears they were part of the Scotch-Irish immigration into Pennsylvania in the early 1700’s.

In 1743, Love married Margaret Moore, a native of County Antrim, Ireland. The Moores were Quakers and strongly objected to the marriage of their daughter to a Presbyterian. Margaret was disowned by the Society of Friends, and a brother was suspended for a time for siding with her. However, Love’s family had no objection to the marriage.

Public records place Alexander Love in Straban Township, Lancaster County, which later became York, and finally Adams counties. In April, 1755, the will of John Love of Straban Township was probated and lists his son, William Love, and son in law, Michael Drumgold as executors. Alexander Love and John Murphy signed as witnesses. Alexander would have been 37 years old. Other records of that time period in Straban show various members of the Love and Murphy families applying for business licenses together.

The Scotch-Irish continued their migrations as cheaper lands opened up in Virginia and the Carolinas. The exact date that Love left Pennsylvania is unknown, but it was before 1771. He settled his family on Upper Fishing Creek, about 1 ½ miles from what later became Yorkville, S.C. This area was then Craven County, North Carolina, later Craven County, South Carolina, then the New Acquisition, now York County. Many believe he and his family were the first settlers in the area.

Love was soon recognized as a prominent member of the frontier society. He was one of a 14-member delegation to the Provincial Congress of South Carolina that assembled in Charleston on November 1, 1775, to protest British treatment of the Colonies.

In August 1775, after his election, Love wrote his brother John in Pennsylvania, stating, “I don’t like it. It is 200 miles off and very expensive, but I cannot get clear. I doubt it will hurt me, but anything is better than Slavery.”

When the district in which the Loves lived was laid out, he was sent as a member to the legislature where he succeed in having the new district named York after his old home of York County Pennsylvania. He was active in the Bethesda Presbyterian Church, where he is buried. During his life there he managed to accumulate a large amount of property in the Bethesda Community.

The Love Family was actively involved in the Revolutionary War. Francis Ross, husband of the Loves’ oldest daughter, served as a major. He was killed in action near Rocky Point, in present-day Aiken County. Andrew Love became a colonel of the local forces and was wounded at the Battle of Kings Mountain. He also served in the state legislature. Son Robert was also a soldier during the war

The children of Alexander and Margaret Love were Rachel, married Francis Ross; Andrew, married Anne Lattimore; James; never married, drowned; Mary, married David Horner; Jane, married John Murphy; Elizabeth married Charles Miles; Margaret, married James Sterling; Sarah, married John Sterling; Robert; Alexander, never married; and William, married Margaret McDowell.

In September 1971, a group of descendants representing the Alexander Love Chapter, NSDAR, assembled at Bethesda Presbyterian Church Cemetery to mark the grave of Alexander Love. The marker reads:

Alexander Love Revolutionary War Soldier – 1718 – 1784 Daughters of the American Revolution

His grave is marked by a marble slab, which bears the following inscription:

Alexander Love, Died March, 1784, aged 66 years

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ALEXANDER LOVE By: Louise Pettus

Alexander Love (1718-1784) was one of York County’s first representatives in the state legislature. Love introduced the resolution in the legislature naming it York County after his old home in York, Pennsylvania.

Before it was named York County, the southern part (below the 35th parallel) was part of Craven District with its courthouse in Camden. The area above the 35th parallel was called the New Acquisition for the 11-mile strip added to the SC claim west of the Catawba river in 1773.

Love was a native of Pennsylvania. In 1743, he married Margaret Moore, a native of County Antrim, Ireland. They were in a Scots-Irish settlement and the Scots-Irish were nearly all Presbyterians. Love was a Presbyterian, but his bride was a Quaker. The Moore family didn’t object to the marriage but the Society of Friends dismissed Margaret from the Society. One of her brothers supported Margaret and he was suspended by the Friends.

The Loves left Pennsylvania and came south. The claim has been made that the Loves were the first settlers of York County. They settled on Upper Fishing Creek, not far south of the town of York. Love became active in the Bethesda church and accumulated much property in the Bethesda area.

Alexander Love was soon recognized as a prominent member of frontier society. He was one of the 14-member delegation from the New Acquisition to the Provincial Congress of South Carolina that assembled in Charleston Nov. 1, 1775 to protest British treatment of the colonies. Love, like his fellow Scots-Irish, was a staunch Whig.

In August 1775, Love wrote his brother in Pennsylvania about his election to the Provincial Congress. Love wrote, “I don’t Like it is 200 miles off and very expensive. But I Cannot get clear I doubt it will hurt me But any thing Before Slavory.” It is not clear whether Love was referring to British enslavement of colonists or to the institution of slavery as then practiced in South Carolina which he also opposed.

Alexander Love’s son, Andrew, became a colonel in the local forces and was wounded at the Battle of Kings Mountain. Andrew Love also served in the state legislature.

Robert Love, another son, was a Revolutionary soldier. The story is that when the war ended Robert was so anxious to see his fiance that he walked 72 miles in one day and part of a night and from this exertion caught a fever and died suddenly. The fiance, Margaret McDowell, later married Robert’s brother, William. The couple moved to Mississippi.

Love’s eldest daughter, Rachel, married Francis Ross who was a major in a cavalry unit during the Revolution. Ross was mortally wounded when his party was attacked by Tories and Cherokee Indians at Rocky Point near Aiken, SC.

Alexander’s daughter Sarah married a Tory named Stallion. Sarah’s brother Andrew didn’t hesitate to take a portion of his command to his brother-in-law’s home to arrest him. They surrounded the Stallion home and ordered the occupants to surrender. They refused. Col. Love shouted that he would shoot the first man to come out. “His sister unfortunately came to the door wearing a hat when one of his men shot and killed her.”

Alexander Love, aged 66, died March 1784 and was buried in Bethesda cemetery where he had been an elder. His tombstone carries the words “A lover of mankind, A friend to his country.”

In September 1971, a group of descendants representing the Alexander Love Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution of Houston, Texas assembled at Bethesda Presbyterian Church to mark the grave of Alexander Love. The marker reads, “Alexander Love, Revolutionary War Soldier—1718-1784, Placed by the Alexander Love Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.”

Sources

1. Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania Page 348-349

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http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=13831408&ref=wvr