Alexander Mc Lean

by


The name "Alexander Mc Lean" or Mc Clean is encountered in a number of interesting contexts during the second half of the eighteenth century. We are uncertain as to how many different same-named individuals the following notes describe.

One Alexander McLean was born in Scotland in 1731 or '32. His wife was Annie Laing. Their son was christened in Albany in 1758.

One of these characters lived for a time in mid-eighteenth century Albany. In July 1756, "Fisher & Mc Clean" were listed on a census of Albany householders and identified as merchants. This profile seeks to comprehend the life of that individual.

In 1758, Alexander Mc Lean was selling uniform accessories in Albany.

In 1770, he shipped thirty bunches of onions out of Albany for sale in the West Indies.

1770 or '71 , he was one of a number of area men who purchased newly partitioned property at Lansingburgh.

In 1775, his name was on a list of insolvent debtors in New York City.

In June 1778, a individual of that name brought useful information to the attention of the Albany Commissioners.

In 1785, the St. Andrews Society listed McLEAN, CAPTAIN ALEXANDER as #74 and an early member: Captain McLean kept a general store in Albany, New York, "living between the English and Dutch Churches a little below the main guard, in the Main street." He traded between New York and Ireland in the snow Charming Nancy and became a member of the Marine Society in 1781.

Another same-named individual was among those on a long list of New Yorkers who left the city for Nova Scotia in 1783. He is said to have died there in 1801.

biography in-progress


notes

the people of colonial Albany Sources: The life of Alexander Mc Lean has not been assigned a CAP biography number. Except for a dubious reference on the census of householders in 1756, so far, he has escaped our sweep of family and community-based resources. This preliminary baseline sketch (not even a baseline certainty is derived chiefly from online resources.





9/1/08; compilation begun!