Garvin, Alexander

Alexander Garvin family

Alexander Garvin (1784-1832) and three of his daughters—Amma (1812-1832), Permelia (1816-1843) and Juliann (1818-1839) were buried at Black Walnut Cemetery. Our volunteer restoration team recently located and reset Permelia’s gravestone. The other gravestones have not been located as of July 2021.

Internments at Black Walnut Cemetery

Alexander Garvin 15 September 1784—20 April 1832

Amma Garvin 1812—29 April 1832

Permelia Garvin 29 February 1816—08 October 1843

Juliann Garvin 22 August 1818—10 August 1839

Alexander was one of three brothers—Alexander, Benjamin, and John—sons of Benjamin and Margaret Boyd Garvin of Butler County, Pennsylvania, who moved from that county to St. Charles as early as 1819.

According to the History of St. Charles County, published in 1885, “Alexander Garvin, of Pennsylvania, married Amy Mallerson, and settled in St. Charles in 1819. His cabin was built of poles and was only 16 x 18 feet in size, covered with linden bark weighted down with poles. The chimney was composed of sticks and mud. The house was built in one day, and they moved into it the next. Mr. Garvin and his wife had seven children: Amy (Amma), Margaret, Permelia, Alexander, Jane R., Julia A. (Juliann), and Fannie D. Amy, Julia and Permelia all died single. Margaret married first to a Thomas Lindsey, and after his death she married Joles Dolby (Joel Dalbey), and is now a widow again. Alexander married Elizabeth Boyd. Jane R. married Robert Bowles (Boal), Fannie D. married Robert (Hugh, not Robert) Roberts.”

Robbins family historian, Philip Rhea, has been researching the relationships between the Garvin, Mallerson, and Robbins families and their intermarriages. He has traced these families back to Pennsylvania and Connecticut to learn of their nascent connections in a time before they arrived in St. Charles, Missouri.

What we do know about this Garvin family is that Benjamin, the brother of Alexander, lived in St. Charles until he moved to Alabama and then to Mississippi where he died, single, about 1856. While he lived in St. Charles, Benjamin often was associated with the Robbins family in one capacity or another, often involving land transactions. One illustrative event occurred in 1826 when Abigail Robbins appointed Benjamin and her son, Welcome A., to represent her legal interests in Butler County, Pennsylvania. John, the other brother, disappeared from St. Charles after 1840. Amma/Amy, Permelia, and Juliann/Julia A. all died young and single in St. Charles. Margaret married twice—Thomas Lindsay who died in 1841 and then to Joel Dalbey who died in 1869. She had one son, William T. Lindsay who died in 1875. Jane R. married Robert K. Bowles/Boal who died in 1850. She then disappeared. No known children. Alexander married Elizabeth Jane Boyd. They had at least four identified children together—Lela, William Everett, Alexander Boyd, and Elizabeth Gertrude. Francis/Fanny married Hugh Roberts. Together they had three children—Fannie, Hugh A., and Newton. All three moved to and lived in Spokane, Washington. Both Fannie and Hugh died before 1880.

In 2001, Betty Oldenburg Kluesner questioned whether Amma Mallerson Garvin, who died in 1871, was buried with her husband, Alexander, at Black Walnut. We have located Amma’s gravestone in Quincy, Adams, Illinois where, according the 1870 U.S. Census, she had been living with her daughter and son-in-law, Fanny and Hugh (not Robert) Roberts, and family. She was buried in Woodland Cemetery in Quincy.

This Garvin family of St. Charles is not to be confused with John Benjamin Garvin (1826-1896) and family. At this point, we have not determined any connection between the two. Nor have we connected John B. Garvin whose wives, Rebecca Reed, Rosannah Mallerson, and Elizabeth King are buried in Black Walnut Cemetery. Additional research is required.

Version—July 2021