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Archibald Stevens Alexander

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Archibald S. Alexander
Member of the New Jersey Assembly
In office
1907–1907
In office
1905–1905
Personal details
Born
Archibald Stevens Alexander

(1880-08-22)August 22, 1880
Hoboken, New Jersey
DiedAugust 30, 1912(1912-08-30) (aged 32)
Manhattan, New York
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Helen Tracy Barney
​
​
(m. 1905⁠–⁠1912)​
Relations
ChildrenArchibald S. Alexander
EducationSt. Paul's School
Alma materPrinceton University
New York Law School

Col. Archibald Stevens Alexander (August 22, 1880 – August 30, 1912) was a lawyer, Democratic politician, and military aide to Woodrow Wilson from New Jersey.

Early life

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Alexander was born on August 22, 1880. He was the son of Archibald Alexander (1855–1917), a professor of philosophy at Columbia College,[1] and Caroline Bayard (née Stevens) Alexander (1859–1932). His parents divorced when he was young and, later after his death, she remarried to H. Otto Wittpenn, the 28th Mayor of Jersey City, on January 6, 1915.[a]

His maternal grandparents were the noted philanthropist Martha Bayard Stevens (a daughter of professor Albert Baldwin Dod) and Edwin Augustus Stevens (son of Col. John Stevens, who developed early versions of screw-propelled steamboat and steam locomotive). Through his grandfather, an engineer and entrepreneur who is considered the founder of Stevens Institute of Technology, he was a direct descendant of Continental Congressman from New Jersey, John Stevens.[4] His paternal grandparents were Henry Martyn Alexander (a lawyer, Trustee of Princeton, and son of Archibald Alexander, the first Principal of Princeton Theological Seminary) and Susan Mary (née Brown) Alexander (daughter of Rev. Matthew Brown).[3] Among his paternal family were grand-uncles, James Waddel Alexander, William Cowper Alexander, and Joseph Addison Alexander.[5]

He prepared at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, before attending Princeton University, where he graduated in 1902. He went to New York Law School, graduating in 1904, and was admitted to the bar in New Jersey.[6]

Career

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After law school, Alexander became a member of law firm of Besson, Alexander & Stevens law firm. He served as a member of the New Jersey Assembly in 1905, was defeated in 1906, and served again in 1907.[6]

Beginning in 1911, Alexander served on the Governor Woodrow Wilson's military staff as a colonel.[7] In July 1912, Alexander and three others, including David S. Crater (Secretary of State of New Jersey), and two members of the Democratic National Committee, left their handbags in Gov. Wilson's library and Alexander had to sneak in through a window to retrieve them after the family went to sleep and locked the windows. Gov. Wilson, in his pajamas, caught him while retrieving the bags and the story was widely reported at the time.[8]

At the time of his death, Col. Alexander was campaigning to become the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Congress from New Jersey's 11th congressional district which then included Hoboken.[9] The seat he was running for was won by fellow Democrat John J. Eagan.[10]

Personal life

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In 1905, Alexander was married to Helen Tracy Barney (1882–1922) at St. Bartholomew's Church in New York City. She was the daughter of Lily (née Whitney) Barney (daughter of Brig.-Gen. James Scollay Whitney, president of the Metropolitan Steamship Company) and Charles T. Barney, the former president of the Knickerbocker Trust Company.[11] Among her extended family were maternal uncle William Collins Whitney and paternal grandfather Ashbel H. Barney, an early president of Wells Fargo & Company. Before his early death, they lived at Castle Point and were the parents of:

After an illness of two weeks, Alexander died of typhoid fever on August 30, 1912, aged 32, at St. Luke's Hospital in New York City.[13][6][15] After a funeral held at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Hoboken,[b] and attended by Governor Wilson (who was then the Democratic candidate for President), Mayor Wittpenn, and Mayor Cooke, he was buried at Saint Bernards Cemetery in Bernardsville in Somerset County.[16] After his death, his widow remarried to Frederic Newell Watriss,[17] with whom she had another son, James Barney Watriss (who became a horse breeder and aviator).[18]

References

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Notes
  1. ^ His mother, Caroline, waited 20 years after the divorce to marry H. Otto Wittpenn, who was 11 years younger than her. She reportedly waited to ensure that her first husband, who had been missing since the divorce, was no longer living when they married.[2] His father, however, died in Geneva, Switzerland in 1917.[3]
  2. ^ The Church of the Holy Innocents was built in 1871 by his grandparents, in remembrance of their daughter late Julia (Archibald's aunt), who died in Rome at age seven from typhoid fever.
Sources
  1. ^ Alexander, Archibald (1886). Some Problems of Philosophy. C. Scribner's Sons. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  2. ^ "Late Col. E.A. Stevens's Eldest Daughter to Marry Naval Officer of Port Today. Divorced Husband Missing. But Bride-to-be, High Church Episcopalian, Waited 20 Years to Satisfy Herself of His Death.". The New York Times. January 6, 1915. Mrs. Caroline B. Alexander, the eldest daughter of the late Col. Edwin A. Stevens, who was for many years the head of the old Stevens family of Castle Point. Hoboken, will be married today in the Holy Innocents Episcopal Church in Hoboken to H. Otto Wittpenn, Naval Officer of the Port of New York and three times Mayor of Jersey City.
  3. ^ a b Shook, John R. (2005). Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers. A&C Black. ISBN 978-1-84371-037-0. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  4. ^ Mark M. Boatner III, Encyclopedia of the American Revolution, p. 271. New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1966
  5. ^ "Guide to the Archibald Alexander Papers". www.history.pcusa.org. Presbyterian Historical Society. 5 May 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  6. ^ a b c "COL. ALEXANDER IS TYPHOID VICTIM". Asbury Park Press. 31 August 1912. p. 1. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  7. ^ Biographical information for Archibald S. Alexander from The Political Graveyard, accessed 3 July 2008
  8. ^ Times, Special to The New York (6 July 1912). "BROKE INTO WILSON'S HOME.; Governor In Pajamas Found His Aid Retrieving Visitors' Baggage". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  9. ^ "COL. A. S. ALEXANDER DIES. Democratic Candidate for Congress Stricken After Campaigning". The New York Times. 31 August 1912. p. 7. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  10. ^ "COL. A. S. ALEXANDER, ILL, OUT OF CONGRESS RACE". Trenton Evening Times. 30 August 1912. p. 2. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  11. ^ Robert F. Bruner and Sean D. Carr, The Panic of 1907. Lessons Learned from the Market's Perfect Storm, passim. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2007. ISBN 978-0-470-15263-8
  12. ^ Cook, Joan (6 September 1979). "Archibald Alexander, 72". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  13. ^ "ALEXANDER, FORMER ASSEMBLYMAN, DIES FROM THE TYPHOID". Trenton True American. August 31, 1912.
  14. ^ "Coachman Falls Dead". The Courier-News. 16 August 1912. p. 3. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  15. ^ Two weeks before his death, Alexander's coachman, Thomas Purcell, dropped dead from "heart disease".[14]
  16. ^ Tites, Special to The New York (2 September 1912). "WILSON MOURNS ALEXANDER | Democratic Candidate Attends Funeral Services With Mrs. Wilson". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  17. ^ "MRS. ALEXANDER'S WEDDING A SURPRISE; Daughter of Mrs. Chas. T. Barney Marries Frederick N. Watriss, Lawyer, at Her Home. BRIDEGROOM JUST DIVORCED Member of Many Clubs and Twelve Years the Senior of His Bride, Widow of Col. A. S. Alexander". The New York Times. 11 April 1917. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  18. ^ "James Barney Watriss, 76, horse breeder, aviator". The Baltimore Sun. June 6, 1998. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
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