"According to the DAR application of Florence Cox McFerrin of
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Ellen Alexander was born in Lincoln County now
Gaston County on 16 April 1743 and died 26 Nov 1805. If she was born in
North Carolina, it is more likely that she was born in Rowan County, but
the dates may well be correct. A gravestone for her in the Goshen Grove
Cemetery listed her date of death as 26 Nov 1805 at the age of 62 years,
7 months and 10 days, thus indicating her date of birth to be 16 Apr
1743. It is unfortunate that the gravestones of Samuel and Ellen no
longer exist but in the minds of those old enough to remember seeing them
in the Goshen Grove Cemetery earlier this century." [A. Gregg Moore &
Forney A. Rankin, The Rankins of North Carolina, (Marietta, GA: 1997),
22.]