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Rev. Hugh Paden Alexander

1836–1911

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✦ direct ancestor — Owen's 3×-great-grandfather · West line

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Life

Born: 3 Aug 1836 · Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, USA
Died: 19 May 1911 · Franklin County, Kansas, USA
Buried: Berea Cemetery, Franklin County, Kansas, USA

Parents

Father✦ John Alexander (–1876)✓ father proven by argument

Mother✦ Mary Jane Sheller (–1847)✓ mother proven by argument

Marriage & children

Spouse✦ Haddie Elizabeth Kunkel (1842–1936)

✦ Hanna Bessie Elizabeth Alexander (1870–1939)

Life as they lived it

Not the dates — the person. What the records happen to show of work, habits, possessions and the odd episode. Each line says where it comes from.

1880 In August 1880 the annual school meeting at Marysville adopted a resolution "that it was the sense of the voters of the school district that a new principal be hired in place of H. P. Alexander." The school board met the next Monday morning and re-employed him as principal, and the Marshall County News hoped that "now that the annual war about the principal of the public school is over," all would "unite to help make the school a credit to the city."

work · Marshall County News, 21 Aug 1880 · clipping

1881 When President Garfield died, he closed the Marysville schools at noon with a notice signed as principal: "as it is the duty of our public schools, supported by the Nation, to teach loyalty to the Government, to honor and respect the powers that be, as expressed by the voice of the people. Therefore, we will close the schools of our city at 12 m., to-day, that all the children and youth may unite in all the services of mourning for this sad calamity."

voice · Marshall County News, 23 Sep 1881 · clipping

1882 One Sunday morning in July 1882, as he walked along a Marysville sidewalk, "a dog showing signs of hydrophobia" whirled around and bit him on the leg. The Marshall County News reported: "It was now in order for the professor to get mad and he procured a revolver and with a well aimed bullet ended the career of that canine."

episode · Marshall County News, 28 Jul 1882 · clipping

1890 He was one of three men who signed the Anderson County Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association's resolutions of April 1890, which complained that a harrow shipped from Chicago to Kansas City for 50 cents cost $1.24 more to bring on from Kansas City, and demanded "the enactment of such laws as will compel Railroads to be subservent to the best interest of the people of the State." In May he represented the county's F. M. B. A. at the State Assembly in Iola, where, he reported, "they organized a state exchange."

belief · Garnett Journal-Plaindealer, 11 Apr and 23 May 1890 · clipping 1 · 2

1904 At 67 he was still debating. At the Sugar Valley literary society early in 1904 he took the affirmative of "Resolved that the Public Schools of Kansas are Retrograding," with A. L. Childs and Geo. Spindler, and "the judges decided in favor of the affirmative."

episode · Garnett Journal-Plaindealer, 5 Feb 1904 · clipping

Records behind this page

Ancestry.com, Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982 (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013)

Texas Department of State Health Services; Austin Texas, USA; Texas Death Certificates, 1903–1982

Find a Grave, gravestone photographs of the Alexander family of Blair and Union Counties, Pennsylvania - images read 24 Sep 2026

Memorial 203612609, Presbyterian Cemetery, Williamsburg, Blair Co., Pa.; stone photo added by Albert Ledoux, 2019

READ ON THE IMAGE 24 Sep 2026 (register K822): "MARY JANE / wife of / JOHN ALEXANDER / DIED / Dec. 26, 1847. / Aged / 36 y[rs]" - the rest of the age line is eroded. No maiden name and no child on the stone. The memorial's 'Sheller' and 2 Mar 1811 birth are not on the stone.

Memorial 119775510, Lewisburg Cemetery, Union Co., Pa.; stone photo added by Nancy Neuman, 2013

READ ON THE IMAGE 24 Sep 2026 (register K823): "JOHN ALEXANDER / DIED / MARCH 23, 1876. / AGED / 64 YRS. 2 MOS. 23 DS." - the foot line is cut off by the photograph. Names no kin.

Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1972 - Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, via Ancestry

Certificate no. 7754 (1923), Mary J. Alexander Hughes, d. 7 Jan 1923, Honey Brook, Chester Co.; registration district 351; Ancestry coll. 5164 record 2247700, image 41381_2421401757_0435-00272

read the transcript

READ ON THE IMAGE 24 Sep 2026 (register K831). Full name: Mary J. Alexander Hughes. Female, white, married. Date of birth: Jan. 16th 1847. Age 75 yrs 11 mos 22 ds. Occupation: housewife. Birthplace: Pa. (10) Name of father: John Alexander. (11) Birthplace of father: Pa. (12) Maiden name of mother: Mary Sheller. (13) Birthplace of mother: Pa. Informant: Thomas J. Hughes, Honey Brook, Pa. (her husband). Died January 7, 1923; burial Honey Brook M.E. Cem., Jan. 11, 1923.

The Evening Review (Garnett, Kansas), 1911 - Newspapers.com (Kansas Historical Society collection)

Thu 25 May 1911, p.1, 'H. P. ALEXANDER: A Sketch of the Life and Work of This Well Known Citizen' - Newspapers.com image 417550673

read the transcript

READ ON THE IMAGE, IN FULL, 24 Sep 2026 (register K827). "Hugh Paden Alexander was born in Huntington county, Pa., August 3, 1836, where he spent his early childhood. His parents, after a few years, removed to Blair county, Pa., where his mother died, when he was twelve years old. He then went to live with an uncle, but after two years, returned home. The family then removed to Union county, Pa., where his father died in 1876. He had three brothers and four sisters, two of whom are yet living: Mary J. Hughes, of Honeybrock, Pa., and Florence C. Davis, of Arcola, Wyo. In Philadelphia, Dec. 24, 1863, he was married to Hannah E. Kunkle. To them twelve children were born." Six living daughters named: Mary J. Velthoen, Maggie P. Cook, Bessie West, Minnie A. Patch, Winnie A. Cuningham, Mattie C. Dowling. Schoolmaster (Savannah Academy, Andrew Co., Mo., 1865; Marysville, Kas. schools 1872-82); supplied pulpits and organized churches as a layman. Died May 19th at his farm near Berea; funeral by his pastor, Rev. Morris of Richmond. NAMES NEITHER PARENT.

Research notes

Working notes from the research, kept verbatim — what was read, what it proved, what stays open. Many open with a line grading the parentage; what the grades mean.

Research note · 24 Sep 2026

PROOF CLASS: BOTH PARENTS = ARGUMENT (Owen, 24 Sep 2026). AUDITED 24 Sep 2026 - PARENTS ATTACHED, GRADED THE SAME DAY: John Alexander (d. 1876) and Mary Jane Sheller (d. 1847). BIRTHPLACE CORRECTED from Lewisburg to Huntingdon County, Pa. His obituary in The Evening Review, Garnett, Kans., 25 May 1911, p.1, read on the image, says: "Hugh Paden Alexander was born in Huntington county, Pa., August 3, 1836 ... His parents, after a few years, removed to Blair county, Pa., where his mother died, when he was twelve years old ... The family then removed to Union county, Pa., where his father died in 1876. He had three brothers and four sisters, two of whom are yet living: Mary J. Hughes, of Honeybrock, Pa., and Florence C. Davis, of Arcola, Wyo." Its marriage to Hannah E. Kunkle at Philadelphia, 24 Dec 1863, identifies him with this family. The obituary does not name his parents. Each of its clues meets a record read on the image the same day. MOTHER: a gravestone in the Presbyterian Cemetery, Williamsburg, Blair County (Find a Grave 203612609, photograph) reads "MARY JANE / wife of / JOHN ALEXANDER / DIED / Dec. 26, 1847."; Hugh was eleven and the family was in Blair County. FATHER: a gravestone in Lewisburg Cemetery, Union County (Find a Grave 119775510, photograph) reads "JOHN ALEXANDER / DIED / MARCH 23, 1876. / AGED / 64 YRS. 2 MOS. 23 DS." SISTER: the Pennsylvania death certificate of Mary J. Alexander Hughes, no. 7754, died 7 Jan 1923 at Honey Brook, Chester County, born 16 Jan 1847, gives her father as "John Alexander" and her mother's maiden name as "Mary Sheller". She is the obituary's surviving sister at Honeybrook, and she was born eleven months before Mary Jane's death in Blair County. WEAKNESSES: no record names Hugh's own parents; the sister's certificate was reported by her husband, Thomas J. Hughes; and the mother's stone gives no maiden name, so 'Sheller' rests on that one certificate. NOT HIS MOTHER: Find a Grave memorial 45649458 gives his mother as Jane S. Sankey. She was John's second wife, mother of Hamill (1851) and Elmira Alice (1853), married after Mary Jane's death. Do NOT attach Jane S. Sankey as mother. 'REV.': the obituary shows a schoolmaster who supplied pulpits and organized churches as a layman. Glasgow's Cyclopedic Manual of the United Presbyterian Church (1903), which sketches that church's entire ministry, has no entry for him. Earlier negatives (10 Aug 2026): Linn, Annals of Buffalo Valley (1877), Ellis and Everts (1886) and the Bucknell alumni catalogue 1851-1910 do not place him in a household. The 10 Aug note named brother Samuel's Pennsylvania death certificate no. 51293 as the decider; it was read 1 Sep 2026 and its parent fields are blank. Register K822-K831. Evidence: ancestry/sources/alexander-992-stones-upc-minutes-2026-09-24/ and ancestry/sources/west-alexander-parents-2026-08-10/. Report: ancestry/agent-report-west-alexander-parents-2026-08-10.md. 24 Sep 2026 - PROOF SUMMARY FOR HIS PARENTS (graded ARGUMENT by Owen). (1) His obituary, The Evening Review, Garnett, 25 May 1911 (cit 7186), identified with this man by his birth date 3 Aug 1836 and his 1863 marriage to Hannah E. Kunkle, says his mother died in Blair County when he was about twelve, his father died in Union County in 1876, and a sister, "Mary J. Hughes, of Honeybrock, Pa.", was living in 1911. (2) A Blair County stone (cit 7188) reads "MARY JANE / wife of / JOHN ALEXANDER / DIED / Dec. 26, 1847." - Hugh was eleven. A Union County stone at Lewisburg (cit 7189) reads "JOHN ALEXANDER / DIED / MARCH 23, 1876." Both match the obituary in county and year, and each names or implies the same couple. (3) The sister's Pennsylvania death certificate (cit 7187): Mary J. Alexander Hughes, died at Honey Brook 7 Jan 1923, born 16 Jan 1847 - her name and town match the obituary, and her birth falls in Blair County eleven months before Mary Jane's death there. It names her father "John Alexander" and her mother's maiden name "Mary Sheller". CONFLICT, NAMED: the obituary says twelve; he was eleven years four months. An obituary's round age is accepted here, not smoothed. WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: no record names Hugh's own parents, and the certificate's facts came from the sister's husband, Thomas J. Hughes. 'Sheller' rests on that one certificate. WHAT WOULD SETTLE IT OUTRIGHT: a record naming Hugh as their son - a Presbyterian baptism in Huntingdon County about 1836, or John Alexander's estate papers, Union County, 1876.

Elsewhere

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