Smith County, Texas
Going back further in time, Samuel Overton's ancestry was dotted with accomplished Americans, many of whom were landed in America prior to the Revolutionary War. One of Samuel's maternal great grandfathers, Ezra Alexander (born 1739 in Cecil County, Maryland) served in several Revolutionary War campaigns, taking part in the battles of Ramsaur's Mill and Hanging Rock. Ezra, of Irish descent, was a signatory on the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence on May 20, 1775. This document is claimed by many historians to be an antecedent to the Declaration of Independence adopted in 1776.
Ezra Alexander's wife was Mary Taylor Polk (born about 1744), said to be directly related to President James K. Polk. Sam Polk, father of James, was a witness on Ezra's last Will and Testament. Both Ezra and Mary Alexander are buried in the Polk family cemetery in Pineville, North Carolina.
On Samuel Overton's paternal side, his grandfather John Overton, Jr. (born 1764 in Moore County, North Carolina) fought in the Revolutionary war as an enlisted man and was granted 275 acres of land in North Carolina as partial compensation for his thirty-six months of active duty. John Overton, Sr. was a substantial landowner in Moore County, N.C. in the mid 18th century, prior to the Revolutionary War.
Mrs. Grace Peebles, deceased, formerly of Columbia, Tennessee traced the Overton/Alexander heritage back to early English times and included in her pedigree no less than six sureties to the Magna Charta, executed at Runnymede in 1215 A.D. between English barons and King John.
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