Notes for: Alexander Ireland
From Minnie Kendall Lowther's "History of Ritchie County," p. 103, regarding early settlers of South Fork:
"Near the year 1818, Alexander Ireland, senior, with his family came from the vicinity of Clarksburg and settled just above the mouth of Otterslide, on the farm that was formerly designated as the 'Joshua Davis' -- now a part of the Flannagan homestead. Here he remained until some time in the early thirties when he removed to Tyler County, where he passed from earth on July 18, 1843, at the age of seventy-one years.
"Mr. Ireland was a native of Maryland, and with his father, William Ireland, who as also a Maryland product, migrated to Harrison County in his boyhood. Little else is known of his early family ties, other than that he had one half-sister, who became Mrs. Sheets, and that his father died near Clarksburg."
From Minnie Kendall Lowther's posthumously published "Ritchie County in History and Romance," p. 251, on the same topic:
"Alexander Ireland came along with Elias Lowther from Harrison County and found a home on what later became a part of the Flanagan Farm. He was born, 1772, in Maryland, and came to Harrison County with his father, William Ireland, in his boyhood. There he met Miss Elizabeth Ragan, who was the daughter of a Revolutionary Soldier, and who was born at West Milford, 1774. They were married on September 8, 1795, and founded their home just above the mouth of Otterslide, where they remained until some time in the early thirties, and then removed to Tyler County."