mini biography

from a memoir by Duane E. McIntosh:

There is a large sandstone marker, hand carved "A. M'INTOSH LOST D29 1809", standing amidst his descendant's markers in the "OLD SCOTS BURYING GROUND" near Carthage, Moore County, N.C.

Alexander emigrated to what is now Moore County, N.C. in 1772/3. The family took ship from the Isle of Skye with sons John and Neill, who had just been born on Old Christmas Day 1772. A third son, Alexander, was born aboard ship en route. Several attempts to determine whether Alexander (1.0) was residing on Skye or there temporarily until passage could be arranged, ended in failure. There are no records at the Portree Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages older than 1855. The registrar suggested "America was a better place to look". I think he is right too as I found everthing in the Mormon Library that I had seen in Edinburgh, and more.

Alexander is supposed to have died soon after arrival in N.C. while returning to the port of arrival to fetch household goods. I don't think this is correct for two reasons, there is after all the marker, and the two daughters born to him in N.C. The marker has been several times identified incorrectly as belonging to his son John. In 1957, my brother R.C. McIntosh, removed the moss from the stone and clearly read "A. M'intosh..."

1.1.0 John, born Scotland... died Moore County N.C. ... No known issue and no known spouse. There is an old native red sandstone marker in the McIntosh plot, said by Alexander (1.3.1.4.0) to be that of John, this was written in the "McIntosh Memoranda" in 1933 and was related by Alexander to my relatives, while viewing the stone in 1936. It is clear that the moss covering the inscription on the stone had not been removed in this gentlemans time, and he was just repeating what had been handed down to him.

The 1809 date of death does not disagree in substance with the McINTOSH MEMORANDA, wherein Alexander died while going back after household goods. I think that it was unlikely they had enough funds to ship more household goods than they could wear or carry. It is possible that they settled initially nearer the coast, and old Alex perished going back after another wagon load of furniture.

I have found with other "mouth to ear family history", there is always a lot of truth in it, but a few distortions have invariably crept in, and this case is no exception. Further, I think that this accounts for the absence of Alexander in Moore County records during the period from 1773 to 1800. He wasn't in Moore county until 1809, and by the 1810 census, he was dead. I leave these thoughts to some future researcher in hopes that the riddle may yet be solved.

I also think that John married. There are just enough "unaccountable" McIntoshes around Richland and McClendon's Creeks to justify another source. For example, Alexander McIntosh who rests in the McIntosh plot, b. 1810, d. 1849. This was neither Neill McIntosh's child nor Alexander McIntosh's child. They both produced Alexanders, but not this one. The date of death is not in error, John Jackson McIntosh makes application to act as executor of his estate, and confirms the date. This is but one example, there are others who seem more tied to the Carthage McIntoshes, than those over in Lee County.

Notes by Michael D. McIntosh:

I visited an "OLD SCOTS BURYING GROUND" near Carthage, Moore County, N.C., in 1989, and made a partial inventory of the markers. The most intriging observation made concerned a hand carved sandstone marker, which in two lines says:
Alistir M^Cin
tosh d 29 1809
The surface of the stone is natural, very rough, and the "A" is in large script; I think this is easily misread as:
A. M'Intosh
lost d 29 1809

Or, vice versa.

exit frames

Michael D. McIntosh mcintosh@redwhortleberry.com

2005.09.10