From "HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY,"  Vol. I, pages 697-698.
Brant & Fuller, 1890.


J. ALEXANDER EWING

J. Alexander Ewing, a leading attorney of Moundsville, is one of a 
family that has been well-known in the settlement of this portion of 
the Ohio valley from the colonial times.  His grandfather, James 
Ewing, came from the eastern shore of Maryland about 1765, and 
settled on lands which are now a part of the city of Wheeling.  
Shortly afterward he occupied land in what is now the northeastern 
portion of Marshall county, which is still in the possession of one 
of the grandchildren, William W.  James Ewing was much devoted to 
military service, was first lieutenant of a militia company which 
served in the war of 1812, and continued to drill until he was eighty 
years old.  He was well educated and had a fine library.  His death 
occurred at the age of eighty-four years.  His son, William Ewing, 
father of the sucject of this sketch, was a successful farmer, a 
power in local politics, but not an office seeker, and a devout 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which his wife also 
adhered.  She, by maiden name Martha Martin, was born in 1813, and 
died in 1877.  Her husband died at the age of fifty-two years.  Of 
their eleven children, ten are living: J. Dallas; Mary W. (Mrs. 
Alfred McCuskey); Elizabeth, wife of Daniel Hartley; Susan A., wife 
of Robert Taylor; George M., William W., J. Alexander, Samuel H., 
Robert A.; Thomas E., deceased, and Isaac N.  J. Alexander Ewing was 
born in Marshall county, October 11, 1845.  He spent his early years 
attending an academy and clerking for a brother, until May, 1868, 
when he returned to Marshall county, and began preparing for the bar, 
to which he was admitted in 1871.  In the law he has attained 
distinction, and he has also served the public in various honorable 
public functions.  In May, 1876, he was elected a member of the city 
council, and in the same year chosen mayor to fill a vacancy.  
Subsequently he was twice elected to the council, and in the meantime 
served three years as city solicitor.  In October, 1878, he was 
elected a member of the legislature from Marshall county for a term 
of two years.  From March until May, 1886, during the controversy 
between the governor and the senate of West Virginia, he served as 
superintendent of the state penitentiary.  He is, as is his wife 
also, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and has been for 
the past three years president of the Wheeling District Camp Meeting 
association.  He is prominent as a member of the Knights of Honor and 
National Union, and has represented the state in the national 
assemblies of both, three times for the former fraternity.  Mr. Ewing 
was married May 14, 1872, to Mary V. Blake, of Moundsville, and they 
have seven children: William O., Anna V., Olive M., Bessie G., Edith 
M., Mary A. and Helen B.
 

(Linda Fluharty)