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Alexander papers

Call Number

MS 8

Date

1665-1883 (bulk, 1717-1786), inclusive

Creator

Extent

28 Linear feet in 60 boxes

Language of Materials

The documents in the collection are in English.

Abstract

The Alexander Papers is one of four discrete but closely related collections, known together as the Alexander - Stuyvesant - Rutherfurd Collections. The Alexander Papers consists of the papers of James Alexander, James' wife, Mary Alexander, and their son, William Alexander (Lord Stirling). Material includes correspondence, surveys of tracts of land, mostly in New Jersey, contracts, wills, deeds, conveyances, accounts, bills, receipts, invoices, sight drafts, time drafts, promissory notes, memoranda, writs, warrants, depositions, affidavits, briefs, legal opinions, legal arguments, judgments, minutes, and petitions.

Biographical Note

Biographical Note for the Alexander - Stuyvesant - Rutherfurd Collections

Chronology

1691 James Alexander born in Scotland, May 27
1693 Mary Spratt born in New York, April 17
1711 Mary Spratt marries Samuel Provoost, October 15
1715 James Alexander arrives in New York
[1719] Samuel Provoost dies
1721 Mary Spratt Provoost marries James Alexander, June 5
1721 Mary Alexander II born
1722 Susanna Alexander born
1726 William Alexander born
1729 Catherine Alexander born
17?? Elizabeth Alexander born
17?? Walter Rutherfurd born in [Edgerston, Roxburghshire] Scotland
1739 Mary Alexander II marries Peter Van Brugh Livingston
1748 William Alexander marries Sarah Livingston
17?? Elizabeth Alexander marries John Stevens
1756 James Alexander dies
1756 Walter Rutherfurd arrives in America. Serves in the Royal American Regiment
1758 Catherine Alexander marries Walter Rutherfurd
1760 Mary Alexander dies, April 18
1760 John Rutherfurd born September 20
1767 Mary Alexander Livingston dies
1782 John Rutherfurd marries Helena Morris October 30. Walter Rutherfurd presents John Rutherfurd with Tranquillity (sic) estate in Allamuchy, Warren County, New Jersey
1783 William Alexander dies, January 15
1788 Robert Walter Rutherfurd born in May
1800 Elizabeth Alexander Stevens dies
1801 Catherine Alexander Rutherfurd dies
1804 Walter Rutherfurd dies January 10
1807 Gen. John Reid dies February 6, at the age of 86
1808 John Rutherfurd moves to Edgerston on the Passaic River
1809 Robert Walter Rutherfurd marries Sabina Morris
1809 Helena Rutherfurd marries Peter Gerard Stuyvesant
1816 Lewis Morris Rutherfurd born November 25 to Robert Walter Rutherfurd and Sabina Morris Rutherfurd
1841 Lewis Morris Rutherfurd marries Margaret Chanler July 22
1842 Stuyvesant Rutherfurd born to Lewis Morris Rutherfurd and Margaret Chanler Rutherfurd
1847 Peter Gerard Stuyvesant dies August 16
[1847] In accordance with a provision of Peter Gerard Stuyvesant's will, Stuyvesant Rutherfurd changes his name to Rutherfurd Stuyvesant
1854 Margaret Rutherfurd born
1859 Louisa Morris Rutherfurd born March 31
ca. 1860 Lewis Morris Rutherfurd Jr. born
1862 Winthrop Rutherfurd born
1863 Rutherfurd Stuyvesant marries Mary Pierrepont
1870 Robert Walter Rutherfurd dies
1873 Helena Rutherfurd Stuyvesant dies
1879 Mary Pierrepont Stuyvesant dies
1879 Margaret Rutherfurd marries Henry White, December 3
1892 Louisa M. Rutherfurd dies
1902 Rutherfurd Stuyvesant marries Countess Matilde E. de Wassanaer (nee Matilde Lowenguth), June 16
1903 Lewis Rutherfurd Stuyvesant born
1906 Alain Stuyvesant born
1907 Stuyvesant Rutherfurd dies July 4
1916 Margaret Rutherfurd White dies
1925 Lewis Rutherfurd Stuyvesant marries Rosalie Pillot
1927 Henry White dies at the age of 77
19?? Lewis Morris Rutherfurd Jr. dies
1944 Winthrop Rutherfurd dies
1944 Lewis Rutherfurd Stuyvesant dies, September 7
1948 Matilde Lowenguth Stuyvesant (in 1948, Princess Alexandre de Caraman Chimay) dies, July 10
1954 Alain Stuyvesant dies, Februrary 9

For more information on some of the persons represented in these collections consult:

Biographical Dictionaries

Dictionary of American Biography- James and William Alexander, Lewis Morris Rutherfurd

American National Biography- James, Mary, and William Alexander, Lewis Morris Rutherfurd, Henry White

Dictionary of National Biography- John Reid

Books

Rutherfurd, Livingston Family Records and Events New York, De Vinne Press, 1894

Valentine, Alan Chester Lord Stirling New York, Oxford University Press, 1969

Arrangement

The Alexander Papers are organized in twelve series:

Series 1: James Alexander, 1686-1764

Series 2: William Alexander, 1744-circa 1786

Series 3: Mary Alexander, 1726-1766

Series 4: Other Correspondents, 1697-1815

Series 5: Legal Papers, 1665-1817

Series 6: Surveys, [1681]-1804

Series 7: Court Papers, 1684-1818

Series 8: New Jersey Proprietors, 1707-1797

Series 9: Colony/State of New Jersey, 1674-1787

Series 10: Colony/State of New York, 1683-1785

Series 11: Business Papers, 1699-1813

Series 12: Miscellaneous Items, 1712-[1883]

Scope and Contents

Scope and Content for the Alexander - Stuyvesant - Rutherfurd Collections

The Alexander Papers is one of four discrete but closely related collections. The largest and the smallest of the four collections, the Alexander Papers and the John Rutherfurd Papers, were originally a single donation, made in the late 19th Century. The remaining two collections, the Rutherfurd Family Papers and the Stuyvesant-Rutherfurd Papers, were donated separately in the 1970's.

Together, these collections chronicle seven generations of an extended family in New York an d New Jersey over the course of two centuries. The founders of the family were James and Mary Alexander, who married in 1721. James Alexander had merchant business, but was primarily active as an attorney and government official in New York and New Jersey. Most of the material in the Alexander Papers derives from James Alexander's legal practice in both colonies, and from his tenures as Surveyor General of New Jersey, and Attorney General of New York. Other material in the Alexander Papers documents Mary Alexander's merchant business in New York, and the business activities and pre-Revolutionary military service of their son, William Alexander (Lord Stirling).

While the daughters of James and Mary Alexander are underrepresented in these collections, their husbands are represented to a greater or lesser extent in each of the collections described below. The Alexanders' four daughters married men who were or would become leading figures in New York and New Jersey. Mary married Peter Van Brugh Livingston, Susanna married John Reid, and Elizabeth married John Stevens. Catherine Alexander married Walter Rutherfurd.

The marriage of Catherine and Walter Rutherfurd also produced a son, John Rutherfurd, who evidently inherited the bulk of his father's and grandfather's papers. In 1847, Stuyvesant Rutherfurd (a grandson John Rutherfurd and nephew of Peter Gerard Stuyvesant), changed his name to Rutherfurd Stuyvesant in accordance with a provision of Peter Gerard Stuyvesant's will. Rutherfurd Stuyvesant evidently inherited at least some of the papers of his uncle. The Rutherfurd collections contain material created by or pertaining to the Alexander family, and the Stuyvesant-Rutherfurd Papers contain material created by or pertaining to the Alexanders and the Stuyvesants.

The material the Rutherfurd collections relates primarily to the landholdings and business undertakings of a wealthy and socially prominent family. The Stuyvesant-Rutherfurd Papers documents the activities of later generations of that family. By the mid-nineteenth century, the family had become more occupied in strictly leisure activities.

Various descendants of John Rutherfurd donated the collections described in these finding aids to the New-York Historical Society, and the collections extensively document the business dealings, professional activities, and family relationships of the Alexanders during the 18th Century, and the Rutherfurds from the 18th until the early 20th centuries.

Finding aids to the other three collections:

The Rutherfurd Family Papers, http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/rutherfam.html

The John Rutherfurd Papers, http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/rutherjohn.html

The Stuyvesant-Rutherfurd Papers, http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/stuyruth.html

Scope and Content for the Alexander Papers

The Alexander Papers consists of the papers of James Alexander, James' wife, Mary Alexander, and their son, William Alexander (Lord Stirling). Material includes correspondence, surveys of tracts of land, mostly in New Jersey, contracts, wills, deeds, conveyances, accounts, bills, receipts, invoices, sight drafts, time drafts, promissory notes, memoranda, writs, warrants, depositions, affidavits, briefs, legal opinions, legal arguments, judgments, minutes, and petitions. The papers of William Alexander includes a few documents relating to the sale, sickness, and burial of slaves.

Series 1, 2, and 3 contain correspondence, personal papers, and material such as accounts, bills, receipts, and invoices, that document the merchant businesses of James, Mary, and William Alexander.

Series 5, 6, and 7 contain material arranged by type, and in addition to items that relate to James, Mary, and William Alexander, contain items that relate to other persons. In the Court Papers series, for example, no distinction is made between suits or cases in which a member of the Alexander family was a litigant or counsel and those in which other persons were litigants or counsel. Similarly, indentures (excepting servant indentures) to which one Alexander Family member was a party, are interfiled in the Legal Papers series with those to which no family member was a party. Surveys made for members of the Alexander family are interfiled alphabetically with those of other landowners in the Surveys series.

Most of the material in the collection pertains to, or was created as a result of, James Alexander's various careers as a merchant, attorney, and agent of the Council of Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey. Although James Alexander was intimately involved in the defense of John Peter Zenger who was tried for seditious libel in New York in 1735, there is no material in the collection relating to the Zenger trial.

Similarly, the collection contains no material regarding William Alexander's suit in the late 1750's to have himself recognized as Earl of Stirling.

Very little of the material was in original order. When enclosures could be identified as belonging with letters, the enclosures were kept with the letters that enclosed them. Thus, a deed or will enclosed with a letter would remain with the letter in the Correspondence series; the letter would not be placed with the deed or will in the Legal Papers series. The only exceptions to this are papers relating to the court cases of DePeyster vs. Prevoost (Box 50), and Medina vs. Het (Box 51). In these instances, correspondence and legal papers have been kept in the Court Papers series, because this material appears to have been kept as a unit by James Alexander.

In all series, William Alexander appears in the alphabet under the name Alexander, William rather than under the name Stirling.

Subjects

Access Restrictions

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Use Restrictions

Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.

Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.

Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as the Alexander Papers, MS 8, New-York Historical Society.

Location of Materials

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Lewis Morris Rutherfurd, 1884

Related Materials

The Rutherfurd Family Papers

The John Rutherfurd Papers

The Stuyvesant-Rutherfurd Papers

Alexander Papers - Account Books Relating to the Equivalent Lands

Alexander, James - Journal 1718 - 1769

Alexander, James - Records and Accounts Relating to his Services in Behalf of the Children of Governors Burnet and Hunter, 1718 - 1745

Alexander, James - Register of Cases, New York Supreme Court, 1721 - 1742

Alexander, William - Ledger, 1766 - 1775

Alexander, William - Account Books, 1756 - 1758, 1763 - 1777

Alexander, William - Battoeman's Book, 1756

Alexander, William - Papers Relating to the Disposition of Lord Stirling's lands in Nova Scotia, 1831 - 1838, plus Copies of Earlier Papers

Alexander, William - [Material concerning the legality of William Alexander's Claim to the Title of earl of Stirling] compiled ca. 1857

Alexander - Livingston - Moore Account Book, ca. 1774 - 1785

William Alexander Papers

Rutherfurd Collection

Lord Stirling Papers

Collection processed by

Richard Fraser

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:47:35 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Finding aid written in English

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from alexander.xml

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024