Alexander, James, 1691-1756

James Alexander was a lawyer in New Jersey and New York during the eighteenth century. Born in Scotland in 1691, Alexander fought in the Rebellion of 1715, which resulted in the exile of the Stuarts from England. That year, he moved to the United States and became the surveyor general of the Province of New Jersey. He served on both the Council of New York, from 1721 to 1732, and the Council of New Jersey, from 1723 to 1735. From 1723 to 1727, he also served as New Jersey's attorney general. Alexander died in 1756.

James Alexander (1691-1756) was an attorney, surveyor general of New Jersey, attorney general of New Jersey, deputy secretary of New York, boundary commissioner, etc.

James Alexander (1691-1756) was counsel for John Peter Zenger during his trial for libel, 1734-1735, in Mount Vernon, Westchester County, N.Y.

James Alexander was the surveyor-general of the Province of New Jersey and later of New York. In 1718, he became the recorder of Perth Amboy, N.J., where he resided. By 1723, James Alexander had been made deputy-secretary of New York (1718), boundary commissioner of New Jersey and New York (1719), a member of the Councils of New York and New Jersey (1721, 1723 respectively), a member of the provincial bar and attorney-general of New Jersey (1723). In 1725, with his seat in the Council of New Jersey, he tried to make positive legal reforms but in vain. As a result, in 1727, he stepped down as attorney-general of New Jersey.

By the onset of the Revolution, William Alexander (Lord Stirling) opposed the Stamp Act and organized a company of grenadiers. He was suspended from the Council after a heated correspondence with the Loyalist Gov. Franklin. On November 7, 1775, he was made colonel of the 1st New Jersey Regiment and raised and equipped two regiments in the state. In January 1776, with forty volunteers in a pilot boat, he captured at Sandy Hook the British transport Blue Mountain Valley. For this, he was thanked by Congress, and in March of the same year received the commission of brigadier-general in the Continental army. His services would lead to his promotion to major-general on Feb. 19, 1777. Stirling went on to play important roles in notable events like Valley Forge and the inquiry concerning the treachery of Benedict Arnold.