They sailed on the Whaleship Averick, under Captain Swain, from New Bedford, Massachusetts, November 26, 1831, and arrived at Honolulu, May 17, 1832.

[3] Alexanders and the rest of the fifth company from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions arrived in April 1832 to the Hawaiian Islands.

On July 2, 1833, they then traveled back to establish a Marquesas mission with Richard Armstrong, Benjamin W. Parker with their wives via Tahiti.

Although the American Board was withdrawing support, he continued to assist efforts such as the Kaʻahumanu Church in Wailuku, Hawaii from November 1856 until 1882.

Mary Ann McKinney Alexander moved back to Maui and lived with family, where she died on June 29, 1888.