For some time the author delayed preparing a genealogy for this part of his family--the biggest reason being that he could not learn anything about the ancestry of the last wife of his ancestor, James Washington Alexander, who apparently married five times. Also, it seemed doubtful that a group of seven brothers and sisters Alexander in Somerset County, Maryland were really the issue of a Rev. James Alexander as had been claimed by some researchers for several decades. Recent research has linked the group of seven children to John Alexander of Eredy, County Donegal, Ireland, and his son William Alexander.The author has primarily followed only his direct line that removed from Maryland to Virginia, through John Sheldon Alexander, and has not pursued his siblings' descendants past about 1800.Facsimile reprints of original documents, photographs of people and places, a bibliography, and an every-name index add to the value of this work.