Alexander Gelatly served as the Register for Chowan County before refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the State of North Carolina, choosing to leave the state instead. In the summer of 1777 he carried a letter to Governor Richard Caswell on behalf of himself and six other loyalists requesting permission to leave North Carolina. Any evidence of Caswell issuing such a permission has not been located, but given Gelatly's absence from further state records, it seems likely that Caswell granted their request and that Gelatly left the state.