Alexander Graydon

Captain Alexander Graydon
Born	(1752-04-10)April 10, 1752
Died	May 2, 1818(1818-05-02) (aged 66)
Occupation	Author and officer
Notable works	Memoirs of a Life, Chiefly Passed in Pennsylvania, Within the Last Sixty Years

Alexander Graydon Jr. (1752–1818) was an author and officer in the American Revolution. He was commissioned captain on January 5, 1776, and commanded a company of men in the Battle of Long Island and in the Battle of Harlem Heights. He was taken prisoner during the Battle of Fort Washington. After the war, he was elected as prothonotary of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania (1785–1799).^[1]^[2]

He wrote his memoirs in 1811, chronicling his life and times in which he lived. His work became popular when it was republished posthumously in 1822, 1828, and 1846.^[3]

Life and family

Graydon was born on April 10, 1752, in Bristol, Pennsylvania, to Alexander Graydon (d. 1761) and Rachel Marks (d. 1807).^[4] His parents were married on February 14, 1747.^[5] He died in Philadelphia on May 2, 1818.^[6]^[7]

Publications

Graydon, Alexander (1811). Memoirs of a Life, Chiefly Passed in Pennsylvania, Within the Last Sixty Years; With Occasional Remarks Upon the General Occurrences, Character and Spirit of that Eventful Period. Harrisburg: John Wyeth. OCLC 13597246.
Graydon, Alexander (1822) [Harrisburg, 1811]. Galt, John (ed.). Memoirs of a Life, Chiefly Passed in Pennsylvania, Within the Last Sixty Years. Edinburgh: William Blackwood.
Graydon, Alexander (1846). Littell, John Stockton (ed.). Memoirs of His Own Time. With Reminiscences of the Men and Events of the Revolution. Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston.
Alexander Graydon. Life of an Officer, Written during a Residence in Pennsylvania, Edinburgh, 1828.

References

^ Egle, William Henry (1883). "Capt. Alexander Graydon". History of the Counties of Dauphin and Lebanon. Philadelphia: Everts & Peck. pp. 496–7.
^ "Alexander Graydon".
^ Stephen Carl Arch. Writing a Federalist Self: Alexander Graydon's Memoirs of a Life. The William and Mary Quarterly. Vol. 52, No. 3 (July 1995), pp. 415-432
^ "Graydon, Alexander". Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1943. pp. 524–5.
^ Linn, John B.; Egle, William H., eds. (1896). Pennsylvania Archives: Record of Pennsylvania Marriages, Prior to 1810. Harrisburg. p. 172.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ "Graydon, Alexander" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.
^ "Captain Alexander Graydon by Robert Feke: Provence". National Gallery of Art. 7 July 2023.