January 31, 2026

A Letter to Archer’s Friends and Family, January 2026

Each month, I would like to share the latest news and events, and a short story that you won’t find anywhere else, about Archer Alexander. The Archer Alexander Group of Friends and Family appreciates all of the support that we receive in hopes of sharing his story with the world. In today’s fast-paced world, it’s hard to find time to find interesting stories that are well- researched and documented. No AI here. All donors of $25 or more will begin receiving the new Letters from Archer as a Thank you for their donations. We hope you find our letter interesting, and always welcome your comments and conversations.

Dorris Keeven-Franke

Story

SOLD!!!

The following is an excerpt from TO TELL A TRUE STORY (Working Title) by Dorris Keeven-Franke

It wouldn’t be until Archer was forty-three years old, that he would be sold for the first time in his life. Archer had been born and grew up at the home of John Alexander, in Rockbridge County, Virginia,, and was passed on to his son James in 1820. James Alexander had brought Archer and Louisa to Missouri in October of 1829. A cholera epidemic swept the countryside, and James Alexander died in 1835,, two years after his wife Nancy McCluer, leaving behind four orphans. In Alexander’s will, he explicitly stated that none of his property, including his enslaved, was to be sold. Archer and Louisa were to be leased out and the funds used to care for white Alexander orphans who had been sent back to Lexington, to live with their father’s sister, Betsy, and her husband, Alexander B. Stuart.

The years pass, and by June of 1849…

…the young children of James Harvey Alexander, in Lexington, Virginia, had finally grown up. It has been nearly fifteen years since their parents died, all of which was spent in Virginia, in the home of their aunt and uncle. The oldest, John was wanting to divide their shares of their father’s estate. His brother William had also come of age, and had read for the Bar and passed his exams. He admired his uncle, William Campbell, who had been administering the estate for the past fifteen years, and would join him at his law firm, handling his law office on the Main Street of St. Charles. The huge estate consisted of both hundreds of acres of land on Dardenne Prairie and southern St. Charles County, and his enslaved property, Archer, Louisa and seven of her children in Dardenne Prairie are part of that property.

Meanwhile, Archer and Louisa, whose children were often raised by others, then leased when they were old enough to work, or sold, are consolidated in the estate’s legal papers, only to be parted by the Missouri Court and the heirs division of their father’s estate. All of the enslaved had been leased from January 1st till August 1st, in 1850, for this reason, and for some reason they only brought in $166 in revenue that year. Campbell’s records are poorly kept. No records exist today of which child would inherit which enslaved person, nor do they tell what became of each of them afterwards. The real estate was sold at auction that was held on the 1st Monday of October, 1850. Afterwards, William Archibald Alexander would remain living in St. Charles, working in the St. Charles office, as a law partner with William Campbell, who had become like a father to him.

The estate papers listed these seven children as still left with Louisa: Eliza who’s value is established as $325, Mary Ann at $300, and a son who is also named Archer is valued at $225. There is a son named James valued at $200, another son named Alexander appraised for $175, the youngest daughter named Lucinda valued at $150, and the youngest son, John, old enough to work and is therefore valued at $125. There were ten children born to Archer and Louisa, these are the youngest and all that the estate papers have named as children of Louisa in 1850, as the oldest have already grown or sold. On October 1st, the final sale of all the property was complete, and the Final Settlement is held in St. Charles Circuit Court. Archer is forty-four years old, and Louisa is a few years younger. Archer Alexander becomes the property of David K. Pitman near Cottleville, while Louisa is sold to James Naylor, a Merchant a few miles west on the Boone’s Lick Road.

IN THE NEWS

In January the Washington Post carried a story on Archer Alexander: https://archeralexander.blog/2025/12/20/washington-post-article-includes-archer-alexander/

Also in January, Missouri Life Magazine’s readers declared my story on Archer Alexander one of the most popular stories of 2025. Here is a downloadable PDF of the Article THE LAST TO RISE ©Missouri Life Magazine

ML0925_Alexander_FinalB Download

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