He has been twice married, having ten children by the first, and twelve by the last wife.  He was accompanied to the centennial meeting by one of his younger sons, a lad forty-one years of age.  His oldest child, a daughter, is still living, aged eighty-eight years! He named one of his sons Julius Alexander, an intimate friend and junior schoolmate.  As he and Alexander grew up, they frequently heard the two meetings of the 20th and 31st of May, 1775, spoken of as being separate and distinct.

Having already attained a longevity seldom allotted to frail humanity, may continued health, prosperity, and, above all, the consolations of the Gospel, attend him in his remaining days upon earth!

P.S.—­Thus the author wrote soon after the centennial celebration in Charlotte, on the 20th of May, 1875, but before these sketches go to the press, he is informed of the death of this veteran and worthy citizen; passing away calmly and peacefully, at his home in Union county, N.C. on the 9th of May, 1876, at the extreme old age of one hundred and eleven years three months and five days!

SIGNERS OF THE MECKLENBURG DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

Abraham Alexander, the Chairman of the Mecklenburg Convention of the 19th and 20th of May, 1775, was born in 1718, and was an active and influential magistrate of the county before and after the Revolution, being generally the honored chairman of the Inferior Court.  He was a member of the popular branch of the Assembly in 1774-’75, with Thomas Polk as an associate; also one of the fifteen trustees of Queen’s Museum, which institution, in 1777, was transformed into “Liberty Hall Academy.”

After the involuntary retreat of Josiah Martin, the royal Governor, in June, 1775, from the State, its government was vested in—­1.  A Provincial Council for the whole province. 2.  A District Committee of Safety for each county, of not less than twenty-one persons, to be elected annually by the people of each county.  The members of the Provincial Council for the Salisbury district were Samuel Spencer and Waightstill Avery.  The members of the District Committee of Safety were John Brevard, Griffith Rutherford, Hezekiah Alexander, James Auld, Benjamin Patton, John Crawford, William Hill, John Hamilton, Robert Ewart, Charles Galloway, William Dent, Maxwell Chambers.  The county committee, elected annually by the people in each county, executed such orders as they received from the Provincial Council, and made such rules and regulations as the internal condition of each county demanded.  They met once in three months at the Court-house of their respective counties, to consult on public measures, to correspond with other committees, to disseminate important information, and thus performed the duties and requirements of courts.  The county committees exercised these important functions until justices of the peace were appointed by the Legislature and duly commissioned by the Governor.