De Alva Stanwood Alexander (July 17, 1846 – January 30, 1925) was an American journalist, lawyer, historian, and member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

, serving seven terms from 1897 to 1911 as a representative of New York state.

Early years

Alexander was born in

Richmond, Maine Richmond is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,522 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area, situated at the head of Merrymeetin ...

, on July 17, 1846, the son of Stanwood and Priscilla (Brown) Alexander, grandson of Campbell and Margaret (Stanwood) Alexander, and a descendant on his mother's side of George Brown, who came from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

in 1635. He attended the common schools and moved with his mother to Ohio in 1859. He serving as

Private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

from 1862 until the end the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. After the war, he attended Edward Little Institute at Auburn, Maine, to prepare for college, and then attended

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

at Brunswick, Maine, and graduated in 1870. He served many years as a member and president of the Bowdoin College board of overseers.

Career

When Alexander moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1870, he was one of the editors and proprietors of the Daily Gazette from 1871 to 1874, and a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Philadelphia in 1872. He married Alice Colby on September 21, 1871. Alexander then moved to

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, in 1874, where he was a correspondent for the ''Cincinnati Gazette''. He was secretary of the Indiana Republican State committee from 1874 to 1878. While he was in Indianapolis, Alexander met and formed a friendship with U.S. Senator Benjamin Harrison. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in Indiana in 1877, and went into private practice in partnership with the Hon. Stanton J. Peele until 1881, when he was appointed Fifth Auditor of the Treasury Department, serving until 1885. He was commander of the Department of the Potomac, Grand Army of the Republic, for one term. He then removed to

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, in 1885, and formed a law partnership with the Hon. James A. Roberts. After Harrison was elected

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

in 1888, he appointed Alexander as United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York in May 1889, a position Alexander held until his resignation in December 1893. He married Anne Gerlach Bliss on December 28, 1893, and resumed his law practice. In 1896, Alexander was elected as a Republican to the

55th Congress The 55th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1897, to M ...

as a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

for New York's thirty-third district, where he served seven terms. In his last term (sixty-first Congress) he was Chairman of House Committee on Rivers and Harbors. After serving from March 4, 1897 to March 3, 1911. He was defeated by

Charles Bennett Smith Charles Bennett Smith (September 14, 1870 – May 21, 1939) was an American newspaperman and politician who served four terms as a U.S. Representative from New York from 1911 to 1919. Biography Born in Sardinia, New York, Smith attended the d ...

when he ran for re-election in 1910 — Smith won by one vote. While still serving in Congress, Alexander began work on ''Political History of the State of New York'', a four-volume work finally completed in 1923. It focused on prominent political leaders such as

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

Thomas C. Platt Thomas Collier Platt (July 15, 1833 – March 6, 1910), also known as Tom Platt

, and

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

. He also wrote ''History and Procedure of the House of Representatives'' (1916). Alexander died on January 30, 1925, in

; and was buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetery there.

References

;Citations ;Sources * *

External links

* * * American National Biography, vol. 1, p. 263. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, De Alva S United States Attorneys for the Northern District of New York American newspaper reporters and correspondents 19th-century American historians 19th-century American male writers Union Army soldiers Bowdoin College alumni 1846 births 1925 deaths People of Ohio in the American Civil War People from Richmond, Maine Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) American male non-fiction writers Members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)