Rev. Hugh Paden Alexander

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.