Alexander Macomb, Sr.
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Alexander Macomb, Sr. was a prosperous merchant with Loyalist sympathies during the American Revolution. Macomb was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1748 and died in Georgetown, District of Columbia, USA in 1831. His merchant father John had immigrated from Ireland to New York about 1742, and removed to Albany, NY in 1745. His sons William and Alexander were sent to Detroit to establish a fur trading house. On 4 May 1773, Alexander married Mary Catherine Navarre, daughter of Robert Navarre, the sub délégé Detroit under the French. By 1776, the brothers purchased Grosse Ile.
In Detroit, Michigan, during the Revolution, along with his brother, William Macomb, he traded with British and Native Americans, giving them supplies in exchange for furs.
After the war, Macomb moved to New York City and became a land speculator and shipping magnate, purchasing tracts of land in Georgia, Kentucky, and North Carolina. In 1788, he built a magnificent home, which in 1790 was leased to become the president's home, occupied by George Washington.
In 1791, Alexander Macomb purchased the largest tract yet, from the State of New York, 3,670,715 acres (14,855 km²), since known as "Macomb's Purchase." The tract included much of northern New York, along the St. Lawrence River and eastern Lake Ontario, including the Thousand Islands, at about twelve cents an acre. The purchase was divided into ten large townships. From this purchase are derived the deeds for all the lands that are now included in Lewis, Jefferson, St. Lawrence, and Franklin Counties, as well as portions of Herkimer and Oswego Counties.
The enterprise was a failure; sales of land did not keep pace with the due dates for payments, and Macomb was taken to debtor's prison during the Panic of 1792, over $300,000 in debt. He never regained his fortune.
Six of his sons served during the War of 1812. His son Alexander Macomb, Jr., was a hero at the Battle of Plattsburgh and later was commander in chief of the United States Army.
