Cumberland mountains with a wagon, married Jane,
a daughter of William and Ellen McDowell, of York county, S.C. Both
Jane and her mother went to King's Mountain after the battle, and
remained several days in ministering to the wants of the wounded
soldiers. It was mainly on the account of Robert Wilson's
distinguished bravery at King's Mountain that William McDowell gave
him his daughter Jane in marriage--a worthy gift, and worthily
bestowed on a gallant soldier.

QUEEN'S MUSEUM

One of the most useful institutions of the Revolutionary period, and
around which cluster many patriotic associations, was the College in
Charlotte, known as Queen's Museum. As the early fount of educational
training in Mecklenburg, and the _nursery of freemen_, as well as of
scholars, it should ever claim our warmest regard and veneration. A
brief notice of its origin, progress and termination may be acceptable
to the general reader.

The counties of Mecklenburg, Rowan and other portions of the State,
lying in the track of the southern tide of emigration from more
northern colonies, were principally settled by the Scotch-Irish, who,
inheriting an independence of character and free thought from their
earliest training, soon became the controlling element of society, and
directed its leading religious and political movements. They were not
only the friends of a liberal education, but the early and unflinching
advocates of civil and religious liberty. The "school-master was
abroad in the land," and as duly encouraged as in our own day.
Wherever a preacher was established among them, to proclaim the gospel
of salvation, there, with rare exceptions, soon sprang up into lively
existence a good school, both of a common and classical order.
Prominently among these seminaries of learning may be named Sugar
Creek, Poplar Tent, Center, Bethany, Thyatira, Rocky River, and
Providence, all located in Mecklenburg and Rowan counties. Of all
these, Sugar Creek was probably the oldest. The time of its
commencement is not certainly known.

After the death of the Rev. Alexander Craighead, in 1766, the first
settled pastor of Sugar Creek, the Rev. Joseph Alexander (a nephew of
John McKnitt Alexander) became his successor for a short time,
previous to his removal to Bullock's Creek, S.C., where he ended his
days. Mr. Alexander was a fine scholar, having graduated at Princeton
College, and through his influence, confirmed by that of the
Alexanders and Polks, W