Alexander Ramsey was born at sea on the way from Ulster to America. The Ramseys were Scotch-Irish and settled in Virginia. His father John Ramsey died after being chased by Indians and drinking water too fast (This is according to Nathaniel Ramsey in the 1880 history of Logan County, Ohio. Alexander had a brother John, and a sister Polly, who supposedly settled in the South). After his father's death Alexander went to Lexington, Kentucky where he learned blacksmithing. Around 1800 he went to Ross County, Ohio. Here he married Elizabeth Cutright, daughter of John "the Bear Hunter" Cutright and Elizabeth (Subre) Cutright, also early settlers in Kentucky and Ross County.

Alexander and Elizabeth's children were Polly, who married Henry Shaner, John C., Cynthia, who married Joseph Essex, Andrew, Rosanna, who married Joseph Emberlin, Catherine, who married Joseph Barker, Anderson, and Nathaniel. Elizabeth died after Nathaniel's birth, and Alexander remarried to Elizabeth Cullenbock in 1816. A son, Alexander was born before her death. In 1818 the family moved to Fayette County where Alexander remarried again in 1820 to Tabitha Scissel.

In 1833 Alexander Ramsey and his sons John, Nathaniel, and Alexander came to what is now Bokes Creek Township, Logan County, Ohio. John bought 50 acres in VMS 9938 on 7 April 1834. Andrew Ramsey and Joseph Essex soon followed, as did other settlers from Fayette County. Alexander Ramsey and his sons built the first sawmill in Bokes Creek Township, on Rush Creek. This was essential in opening the area up for settlement. For a short time they also had a store at the mill until Alexander's death in 1838.

Andrew and Nathaniel Ramsey remained in Logan County. John Ramsey went to Coles County, Illinois in the 1850s. Anderson Ramsey stayed in Fayette County until the 1850s when he moved to Wells County, Indiana. The Essexes went to Paulding County, Ohio in the 1870s. The Barkers and Emberlins both went to Indiana, near South Bend. The Shaners went to Southern Illinois, with some of the Cutright family.

• This Page Updated 17 June 2007 copyright Tom Ramsey