Joseph Lowery Alexander's journey that ended in Burke County, North Carolina, appears to have begun around Shippensburg in the colony of Pennsylvania. We will look at the possibility of the father of Joseph Lowery being one of three men: Joseph Alexander, William Alexander, and Thomas Alexander.
Joseph Lowery's father is often said to be another Joseph Alexaner, and, while I have found no data to support such a conclusion, the possibility cannot be dismissed because the Cecil County Maryland Alexanders likely had one or more Josephs of an age to father him. They were certainly close to Pennsylvania, and Joseph Lowery could have easily traveled west as a young adult, settled down in Cumberland County, PA, and married there. That he named a son Joseph provides some support for there being a Joseph in his recent ancestry.
A 1779 tax schedule for Hopewell, Pennsylvania, lists William Alexander and Thomas Alexander. I interpret the first column as being the number of acres the person owns. The second column has the person's name and the number of taxable animals owned, and the third column has the value of each category and the total value. Hopewell is a village in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, and, according to Wikipedia, was created from Cumberland County in 1771.
The will of Thomas Alexander makes it clear that he is the same Thomas Alexander listed in the Hopewell tax document, and I believe that William in the tax document is Thomas's son William who became a beneficiary and executor of his will. The will names Thomas's wife Mary as a benficiary, and, in addition to William, other children receiving bequests were daughters, Amy, Elizabeth, and Margaret, and son Joseph. David, no surname mentioned, may be a son or son-in-law. For us, this proves only that Thomas and Mary had a son named Joseph who was of the right generation to be Joseph Lowery.
The legal papers alluding to the will found by Karen Youngblood refer to land in Hopewell, PA, and mention Amy, Elizabeth, and Margaret, who is attesting to the fact of having received her inheritance and that she renounces any claim on bequests to her sisters. Joseph Alexander, who is almost certainly Joseph Lowery if Margaret was his sister, signed the paper as a witness. All of these documents support but do not prove that Thomas and Mary were Joseph Lowery's parents.
William, although a possible parent, was almost certainly too young to be Joseph Lowery's father.