ALEXANDER, WILLIAM D.
No other country can point to a great army of self-made men, the United States standing alone in the pre-eminence of having an array of citizens, who, without adventitious aid or accident of birth, attain to wealth or distinction in public affairs. This is the glory of the country, that every one has an opportunity to make and prove himself a man, if he has it in him.
William D. Alexander, of Houston, one of the successful cotton factors of the South, and a high authority on cotton, wool and hides, is a product of Randolph county, North Carolina, where he was born on the 15th of August, 1827, a son of Abner and Mary Alexander the former of whom attained to the advanced age of ninety years and the latter to fifty years. A family of seven children blessed this worthy couple, five of whom are living at the present time: William D., Nancy, Jane, John Wesley, and Mollie. When three years of age William D. Alexander was taken by his parents to the vicinity of Louisville, Kentucky, and thence, after a short residence to Owen county, Indiana, where he was reared and educated, becoming thoroughly familiar with the duties of agricultural life on his father's farm. Although he was compelled to work hard in his youth, he thereby learned lessons of industry and perseverance, which proved the stepping stones to success in after life. At the age of seventeen years he started out for himself, and for about two years thereafter clerked in a store in Gosport, Indiana, after which, in company with his father, he opened a general mercantile establishment at that point under the firm name of Alexander & Son, which was successfully carried on from 1847 to 1858. Mr. Alexander then spent a few months in Washington, District of Columbia, after which he removed to Galveston, Texas, in the early winter of 1859, and a month later to Sabine Pass, where he opened a real-estate office and general mercantile store, and was doing a profitable business when the war came on. On the opening of hostilities he at once went to Beaumont, Texas, and until Lee's surrender was in the Quartermaster's Department at that place, rendering valuable service to the cause of the Confederacy. Shortly after the close of the war he came to Houston, and began buying cotton, and owing to the numerous fluctuations of the cotton market he made several fortunes and lost them. For the past three years he has been engaged in the purchase and sale of cotton and hides for John Finnigan & Company, who value his services highly, for during the long term of years that his attention has been given to this line of business he has gained a thorough knowledge of it and is a recognized authority on cotton, wool and hides.
He is a man of unblemished reputation, honest, and at all times to be relied upon, and his friends are numbered by the score. About 1845 he wedded Miss Eliza J. Sherley, of Indiana, a daughter of John L. Sherley, and to their union six children have been given: Alice A, wife of G. A. Gibbons; Edgar, Josephine, wife of J. A. McKnab, and Lelia M., wife of Edward Katwan, being the only ones living. Mr. Alexander and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.
(Source: Biographical History of the Cities of Houston and Galveston (1895)
Contributor: Sherry (47010546)
No other country can point to a great army of self-made men, the United States standing alone in the pre-eminence of having an array of citizens, who, without adventitious aid or accident of birth, attain to wealth or distinction in public affairs. This is the glory of the country, that every one has an opportunity to make and prove himself a man, if he has it in him.
William D. Alexander, of Houston, one of the successful cotton factors of the South, and a high authority on cotton, wool and hides, is a product of Randolph county, North Carolina, where he was born on the 15th of August, 1827, a son of Abner and Mary Alexander the former of whom attained to the advanced age of ninety years and the latter to fifty years. A family of seven children blessed this worthy couple, five of whom are living at the present time: William D., Nancy, Jane, John Wesley, and Mollie. When three years of age William D. Alexander was taken by his parents to the vicinity of Louisville, Kentucky, and thence, after a short residence to Owen county, Indiana, where he was reared and educated, becoming thoroughly familiar with the duties of agricultural life on his father's farm. Although he was compelled to work hard in his youth, he thereby learned lessons of industry and perseverance, which proved the stepping stones to success in after life. At the age of seventeen years he started out for himself, and for about two years thereafter clerked in a store in Gosport, Indiana, after which, in company with his father, he opened a general mercantile establishment at that point under the firm name of Alexander & Son, which was successfully carried on from 1847 to 1858. Mr. Alexander then spent a few months in Washington, District of Columbia, after which he removed to Galveston, Texas, in the early winter of 1859, and a month later to Sabine Pass, where he opened a real-estate office and general mercantile store, and was doing a profitable business when the war came on. On the opening of hostilities he at once went to Beaumont, Texas, and until Lee's surrender was in the Quartermaster's Department at that place, rendering valuable service to the cause of the Confederacy. Shortly after the close of the war he came to Houston, and began buying cotton, and owing to the numerous fluctuations of the cotton market he made several fortunes and lost them. For the past three years he has been engaged in the purchase and sale of cotton and hides for John Finnigan & Company, who value his services highly, for during the long term of years that his attention has been given to this line of business he has gained a thorough knowledge of it and is a recognized authority on cotton, wool and hides.
He is a man of unblemished reputation, honest, and at all times to be relied upon, and his friends are numbered by the score. About 1845 he wedded Miss Eliza J. Sherley, of Indiana, a daughter of John L. Sherley, and to their union six children have been given: Alice A, wife of G. A. Gibbons; Edgar, Josephine, wife of J. A. McKnab, and Lelia M., wife of Edward Katwan, being the only ones living. Mr. Alexander and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.
(Source: Biographical History of the Cities of Houston and Galveston (1895)
Contributor: Sherry (47010546)
ALEXANDER, WILLIAM D.
No other country can point to a great army of self-made men, the United States standing alone in the pre-eminence of having an array of citizens, who, without adventitious aid or accident of birth, attain to wealth or distinction in public affairs. This is the glory of the country, that every one has an opportunity to make and prove himself a man, if he has it in him.
William D. Alexander, of Houston, one of the successful cotton factors of the South, and a high authority on cotton, wool and hides, is a product of Randolph county, North Carolina, where he was born on the 15th of August, 1827, a son of Abner and Mary Alexander the former of whom attained to the advanced age of ninety years and the latter to fifty years. A family of seven children blessed this worthy couple, five of whom are living at the present time: William D., Nancy, Jane, John Wesley, and Mollie. When three years of age William D. Alexander was taken by his parents to the vicinity of Louisville, Kentucky, and thence, after a short residence to Owen county, Indiana, where he was reared and educated, becoming thoroughly familiar with the duties of agricultural life on his father's farm. Although he was compelled to work hard in his youth, he thereby learned lessons of industry and perseverance, which proved the stepping stones to success in after life. At the age of seventeen years he started out for himself, and for about two years thereafter clerked in a store in Gosport, Indiana, after which, in company with his father, he opened a general mercantile establishment at that point under the firm name of Alexander & Son, which was successfully carried on from 1847 to 1858. Mr. Alexander then spent a few months in Washington, District of Columbia, after which he removed to Galveston, Texas, in the early winter of 1859, and a month later to Sabine Pass, where he opened a real-estate office and general mercantile store, and was doing a profitable business when the war came on. On the opening of hostilities he at once went to Beaumont, Texas, and until Lee's surrender was in the Quartermaster's Department at that place, rendering valuable service to the cause of the Confederacy. Shortly after the close of the war he came to Houston, and began buying cotton, and owing to the numerous fluctuations of the cotton market he made several fortunes and lost them. For the past three years he has been engaged in the purchase and sale of cotton and hides for John Finnigan & Company, who value his services highly, for during the long term of years that his attention has been given to this line of business he has gained a thorough knowledge of it and is a recognized authority on cotton, wool and hides.
He is a man of unblemished reputation, honest, and at all times to be relied upon, and his friends are numbered by the score. About 1845 he wedded Miss Eliza J. Sherley, of Indiana, a daughter of John L. Sherley, and to their union six children have been given: Alice A, wife of G. A. Gibbons; Edgar, Josephine, wife of J. A. McKnab, and Lelia M., wife of Edward Katwan, being the only ones living. Mr. Alexander and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.
(Source: Biographical History of the Cities of Houston and Galveston (1895)
Contributor: Sherry (47010546)
No other country can point to a great army of self-made men, the United States standing alone in the pre-eminence of having an array of citizens, who, without adventitious aid or accident of birth, attain to wealth or distinction in public affairs. This is the glory of the country, that every one has an opportunity to make and prove himself a man, if he has it in him.
William D. Alexander, of Houston, one of the successful cotton factors of the South, and a high authority on cotton, wool and hides, is a product of Randolph county, North Carolina, where he was born on the 15th of August, 1827, a son of Abner and Mary Alexander the former of whom attained to the advanced age of ninety years and the latter to fifty years. A family of seven children blessed this worthy couple, five of whom are living at the present time: William D., Nancy, Jane, John Wesley, and Mollie. When three years of age William D. Alexander was taken by his parents to the vicinity of Louisville, Kentucky, and thence, after a short residence to Owen county, Indiana, where he was reared and educated, becoming thoroughly familiar with the duties of agricultural life on his father's farm. Although he was compelled to work hard in his youth, he thereby learned lessons of industry and perseverance, which proved the stepping stones to success in after life. At the age of seventeen years he started out for himself, and for about two years thereafter clerked in a store in Gosport, Indiana, after which, in company with his father, he opened a general mercantile establishment at that point under the firm name of Alexander & Son, which was successfully carried on from 1847 to 1858. Mr. Alexander then spent a few months in Washington, District of Columbia, after which he removed to Galveston, Texas, in the early winter of 1859, and a month later to Sabine Pass, where he opened a real-estate office and general mercantile store, and was doing a profitable business when the war came on. On the opening of hostilities he at once went to Beaumont, Texas, and until Lee's surrender was in the Quartermaster's Department at that place, rendering valuable service to the cause of the Confederacy. Shortly after the close of the war he came to Houston, and began buying cotton, and owing to the numerous fluctuations of the cotton market he made several fortunes and lost them. For the past three years he has been engaged in the purchase and sale of cotton and hides for John Finnigan & Company, who value his services highly, for during the long term of years that his attention has been given to this line of business he has gained a thorough knowledge of it and is a recognized authority on cotton, wool and hides.
He is a man of unblemished reputation, honest, and at all times to be relied upon, and his friends are numbered by the score. About 1845 he wedded Miss Eliza J. Sherley, of Indiana, a daughter of John L. Sherley, and to their union six children have been given: Alice A, wife of G. A. Gibbons; Edgar, Josephine, wife of J. A. McKnab, and Lelia M., wife of Edward Katwan, being the only ones living. Mr. Alexander and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.
(Source: Biographical History of the Cities of Houston and Galveston (1895)
Contributor: Sherry (47010546)
Gravesite Details
NO MARKER FOR THIS GRAVE; cemetery records show a burial date of Dec 7, 1897.
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