Scammell was born in 1747 in the part of Mendon, Massachusetts which eventually became Milford, Massachusetts. His father, Doctor Samuel Leslie Scammell died in 1753 and Alexander and his older brother, Samuel (b. 1739) were placed under the care and guidance of Reverend Amariah Frost. As a young man, Alexander graduated from Harvard College in 1769, and then moved to Plymouth County, MA where he taught school in the towns of Kingston and Plymouthand became a member of the Old Colony Club celebrating the Plymouth landing. In 1772 he moved to Portsmouth, NH where he worked surveying and exploring the lands of the Royal Navy Timber. When not surveying, he kept a school at Berwick, was one of the proprietors of the town of Shapleigh, ME. He also assisted Captain Samuel Holland in making surve