Life History

Notes

• Alexander and the Virginia Stranges
  
  Millennium Files, Ancestry.com
  Alexander Sr. Strange
  Birth 1665 Bideford, Devonshire County, England
  Death 2 Sep 1725 New Kent County, Virginia, USA
  Parents John Strange, Phebe Mitchell
  Spouse Anne
  Son Thomas Strange
  
  The address here reported for Alexander Strange Sr differs from the address reported by Christ Church, New Kent County, Virginia, which appears to be the same Alexander Strange.
  
  Christ Church Parish, Virginia Records, 1653-1812
  Alex. Strange
  Death Date 2 Nov 1725
  
  Some genealogies have confused Alexander's children with the children of his son Alexander, Jr.  I have tried to sort this out.  Basically all the children with birth dates later than 1712 are the sons of Alexander Jr and his wife Sarah.
  
  Alexander and his family are associated with St Peter's Parish (Church of England/Episcopalian) for about 150 years.  My cousin, Elisa J Strange-von Rice of Phoenix, Arizona, has some extensive interesting history from her investigation of the church's vestry information cited here (edited):
  
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  The Strange Family in Virginia -- Alexander and Descendants
  
  I have been curious since reading that the Strange Family -- Alexander Strange and descendants -- stayed in Virginia so long ( about a century and a half) and each of them seemed to be Christened or buried at New Kent County (formerly Bisland), St. Peters Parish (Episcopalian).  I found the index to the Vestry records via a Google search and located Alexander Strange and family; more than thirty entries; mostly christenings & births & deaths.  The deaths of Alexander and wife Anne are included.
  
  I found that the monetary system was all in pounds of tobacco; I saw a shilling mentioned only once.  It seems that the congregation started in the late 1600's and they built the church 1701-1703.  The minister was very proud it was a brick church; it is mentioned many times.  It tells how many pounds of tobacco were bartered for its construction.  They later added a steeple and accessed the members again for pounds of tobacco.  Apparently the Episcopalians tell you how much your tithe is going to be; in this case so many pounds of tobacco.  If it was not paid they reminded you it was due, and how delinquent.
  
  I then went back and pulled up all the vestry records and read them; what a history lesson in the Colonies!  Martha Dandridge was a member of St. Peters Parish.  She and George Washington were married in this very church in 1757.  The Stranges were here 50 years before Martha and George.
  
  They sometimes refer to the church as the "Church of the First Lady."  Another interesting fact:  the De La Warr (became "Delaware") family came to Virginia from England.  The oldest son of De La Warr became the first governor of Virginia and one of their other son's became the second governor of Virginia.  Their Youngest son, Nathaniel, is in the vestry records as Colonel DeLaWarr.  The DelaWarr wife & Mother was ELIZABETH STRANGE.
  
  The Stanley, DelaWarr, and a couple of other families of the Virginia Company were directly related to the Stranges.  These were not farmers; it is evidenced by the excavations of the colony.  There was no farm equipment whatsoever, and there were things like gold jewelry and other items ordinary working class people would not have possessed back in those days. In one place it even refers to one as "Lord Strange."
  
  In the Amos Strange writings it said he left his very large estate and the church of his forefathers in Virginia to move to South Carolina to marry the Irish lass Frances Bailey.  Also in St Peter's vestry records it mentions a L'Estrange.  Amos was supposed to be instrumental in the establishment of a church in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
  
  He is supposed to be buried in the Camp Meeting Grounds -- what was this church?  I will be trying to find these records.  Since Amos was in the Revolutionary War was he acquainted with the de la Warr ( Strange ) and the Colonel Nathaniel De La Warr and George Washington?
  
  --  Elisa J Strange-von Rice, "STRANGE" AND DERIVATIVES, USA, http://www.yourtotalevent.com/people/STRANGE%20in%20USA.htm, 26 April 2007 (a cited link in this source is no longer available)
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  Alexander's Father
  There seems to be some uncertainty whether the father of Alexander Strange was a John Strange from Devon, reported by some as John Henry Strange of Devon, whose name is reflected in Alexander's son Henry Strnage.  Others have reported a London connection, from Hunstanton, but this also is disputed.
  
  The late John Mayer, cited by several sources, wrote a huge compendium of several volumes on the various Strange and related lines in all countries.  He has said there is no primary source information supporting the commonly reported parentage of Alexander Strange (born Bideford, Devon, and Died New Kent County, Virginia) as John Strange and Phoebe Chandler Mitchell.
  
  John Mayer suggests that the Devon Stranges (Le Stranges) descended from an Irish line that had earlier developed from the Hunstanton line.  Such a connection has not been established.  Even if this is the case, the longer-term connection is still there.  The Irish Stranges came from the Hunstanton-Shropshire line.
  
  The Family Data Collection had a middle name for Alexander and his father, but it was the same as their last name:  John Strange Strange, Alexander Strange Strange.  It is not clear if this was intentional, but it appears to be.  This makes me wonder if the S in son Henry's name is also for Strange.  I have known families where this was the case.
  
  Alexander's Wives
  Most genealogies indicate that Alexander was married twice, but give no name.  In September 2007, I found three genealogies showing a wife named Sarah (no last name) married in 1712.  This appears to be the wife of Alexander Strange, Jr.  I still have seen no firm evidence that Alexander had two wives.  I will show only one wife, until I have found additional information indicating otherwise.
  
  One genealogy by Dixie Oakley has only one wife. Since I have seen no information, explanation or documentation,  I am reporting Alexander as having only one wife until I can find documentation justifying another marriage.
  
  I find it frustrating that most people are not careful to tell how they find their data.  You don't know where they get their material, or how they know what they report.  Thus there is little by which to judge the validity or credibility of the data in many cases.  Further, Ancestry.com originally collected submitted trees into an anonymous collection of the One World Tree, which many have used uncritically.  These usually have/had no sourcing information
  
  Dates vary on the marriages, but several genealogies that report two wives date the first marriage to the nameless wife about 1684.  They date the marriage to the second wife, Ann (Sammis), about 1690.  One of the first sources I was analyzing early had two wives, with 4 children of the second wife.
  
  However, the fourth child, Elizabeth, under the first wife was born after the date of the marriage to the second wife.   Likewise, two other children under the second wife, Anne (whose maiden name Sammis was provided by another source) were born at dates earlier than the fourth child under the first wife, though after the date of marriage to Anne.
  
  Then Elizabeth is repeated under Anne, though with the same date as the first listing.  This mess is comparatively is quite neat.  I saw several on Ancestry's One World Tree that were a great mish mash.  It seems most likely that Alexander had one wife, married at the original date, which is one year before the date of the fist child Henry S.
  
  Another source has a more ordered statement of the birth of the children with two wives.  The unknown wife in this scenario was the mother of Henry and Thomas.  The second wife, Anne (no last name) is the mother of Alexander, born in 1691, and the rest of the children.
  
  A comment from another Strange descendant points out that the Strange estate in the colonies was named Hunstaton, after the estate the alternative history claims cannot be reliably tied to the Deven line of Alexander.  Intersting, then, if the alternative claim is true, that their traditoinal American estate is so named.  Lee Forbes posted the folloiwng comment on another posting of Alexander's profile in this genealogy.
  
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  Hunstanton home in Winnsboro, South Carolina
  Lee H Forbes
  
  My grandmother's father was Charles Edward Strange. Their home is depicted in a 1909 photo that was found in her papers. I visited the home in 2010 and have a recent photo on my site and also one I took in 2011.
  
  My grandmother once told me her family had been titled  and her home was named for the family home in England.
  
  She was not pretentious and I never further questioned her. How I wish I could now!
  
  I have a mahogany console table she told me was made on the plantation. The plantation was once 80 acres and has been reduced to five. The Fairfield County Museum has a published book with a sketch of the home with the name of Hunstanton.
  
  I traced it back to Norfolk, England and the Le Strange name.  It is now the home and office of a veterinarian.
  --  http://mv.ancestry.com/viewer/3871cbb1-73a8-410d-bc79-56b76f8fddd3/11830264/12888064218?_phsrc=JEi2263&usePUBJs=true
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  Sir Alexander Strange
  Birth 1665 Devon, England
  Death Sep 2, 1725 Putneys Mill, New Kent County, Virginia, USA
  
  Son of John Strange, IV and Phebe Chandler Mitchell, wife Prima Uxor their children: Henry Strange and Thomas Strange. His second wife Anne ? their children: Alexander Strange, Jr., Judith Strange, Mitchell Strange, Elizabeth Strange, Anne Strange, Robert Strange, Elinor Strange, Michael Strange and Agnes Strange.
  
  Prima Uxor merely means "first wife" in Latin. My brother, John R. Mayer, often used latin terms in his genealogy research.
  
  Spouses:
  <Prima Uxor> Strange (1670 - ____)
  Anne Sammis Strange (1670 - 1717)*
  
  Children:
  Henry Strange (1685 - 1745)
  Alexander Strange (1691 - 1745)
  Judith Strange Weaver (1696 - 1760)
  Michael Strange (1716 - 1717)
  
  Burial Saint Peters Episcopal Church, Putneys Mill, New Kent County, Virginia, USA
  
  Created by Judy Richards Jun 17, 2010
  --  Find A Grave Memorial #53806542, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=53806542
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Sources

• 1. Millennium Files, Ancestry.com
• 2. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 3. Family Data Collection - Births
• 4. Ancestry Trees
  • http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=31287469&st=1
• 5. Family Data Collection - Individual Records
• 6. Ancestry Trees
  • Ron Coleman, http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=haymore&id=I14346
• 7. Ancestry Trees
  • Gwen Goff Hobbs, http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=guinevere60&id=I994
• 8. St Peter's Parish Vestry Book and Register, 1684-1786, New Kent County, Virginia
• 9. Christ Church Parish, Virginia Records, 1653-1812
• 10. One World Tree (sm)
  • 2 sources for this date in One World Tree, which had an earlier wife.
• 11. One World Tree (sm)
  • http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=41290299&st=1