Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/69

Rh ALEXANDER, George, Canadian senator, b. in Banffshire, Scotland, 21 May, 1814. He was educated at Aberdeen iniiversity, emigrated to Canada, became president of the provincial agri- cultural association of Upper Canada in 1857, and -continued a member of the board of arts and manu- factures until 1867. He represented Core divis- ion in the legislative council of Canada from 1858 until the union of the provinces, and was called to the senate 30 May, 1873. He is a conservative.

ALEXANDER, James, lawyer, b. in Scotland about 1690 ; d. in New York, 2 April, 1756. His American career began in 1715, when he was obliged to leave England on account of his active partisanship with the pretender in his vain attempt to seize the English crown. He became the first official recorder of the town of Perth Amboy, N. J., in 1718, but, having served as an officer of engineers in Scotland, he was appointed surveyor-general of New York and New Jersey. In his intervals of leisure he studied law and became eminent at the colonial bar. He was a constant contributor, with Chief Justice Morris, to the "New York Weekly Journal," established in 1733. In 1735 he was temporarily disbarred because he served as counsel for Peter Zenger, a popular printer of that day, who was accused of sedition, but he was reinstated on a change of administration two years later. He held many public offices, served for several years in the colonial legislature and council, and was attorney-general in 1721-'23, and secretary of the province of New York. He acquired large wealth, and was among the staunchest of the pre-revolutionary friends of civil liberty. In company with Franklin and others, he founded the American philosophical society. His son William was the "Lord Stirling" of revolutionary fame. In 1756 a ministerial project threatening the rights of the colony was proposed, and, when it came up for consideration at Albany, Sec. Alexander undertook the journey from New York to oppose the measure, although he was suffering from severe illness. His death resulted from the fatigue and exposure then incident to the trip.

ALEXANDER, John Henry, scientist, b. in Annapolis, Md., 26 June, 1812; d. in Baltimore, Md., 2 March, 1867. He was graduated at St. John's college in 1826, and studied law, but turned his attention to science. His first work was in engineering, and having submitted to the legislature a plan tor the survey of Maryland, in connection with the geological survey, he became in 1834 the topographical engineer of his state. As such he was engaged until 1841, and during the intervening years he regularly prepared the annual reports. The opening of various iron and coal deposits was promoted "by these reports, and by his efforts capital was enlisted in the working of the mines. As an authority on standards of weight and measure, his opinion was highly regarded, and he was associated in much of the work conducted under the direction of the coast survey during the superintendency of Hassler and Bache. In 1857 he was sent to England by the national government as delegate to the British commission on decimal coinage. His views on this subject were highly appreciated in this country, and he was about to be appointed director of the mint in Philadelphia when he died. He served on various government commissions, and his numerous re- ports are of great value. At various times he was professor of physics in St. James's college, Md., in the university of Pennsylvania, and in the university of Maryland. He was a member of many scientific societies, among them the American philosophical society of Philadelphia and the American association for the advancement of science, and he was one of the incorporators of the national academy of sciences. His published papers appeared principally in the "American Journal of Science and Arts." He edited three editions of Simms's "Treatise on Mathematical Instruments used in Surveying, Levelling, and Astronomy" (Baltimore, 1835, 1839, and 1848), and also Simms's "Treatise on Levelling" (1838). Among his larger works are "History of the Metallurgy of Iron," Parts 1 and 2 (1840-42), and "Universal Dictionary of Weights and Measures, Ancient and Modern" (1850). He also wrote several collections of religious verse, of which "Introits" (Philadelphia, 1844) and "Catena Dominica" (1854) were published. Several works in manuscript remained unpublished at the time of his death, of which the most important was "A Dictionary of English Surnames" (12 vols., 8vo). See "Biographical Memoir of John H. Alexander," by J. E. Hilgard, in vol. i of the "Biographical Memoirs" of the national academy of sciences; also "Life of J. H. Alexander," byWilliam Pinkney (1867).

ALEXANDER, Nathaniel, physician, b. in Mecklenburg, N. C. in 1756; d. in Salisbury, 8 March, 1808. In 1776 he was graduated at Princeton. After studying medicine he entered the army and served through the latter part of the revolutionary war. At its close he began the practice of his profession in the high hills of Santee, whence he removed to Mecklenburg. He was for several years a member of the state legislature, was a member of congress in 1803-'5, and was elected by the legislature governor of North Carolina in 1805.

ALEXANDER, Stephen, astronomer, b. in Schenectady, N. Y., 1 Sept., 1806 ; d. in Princeton, N. J., 25 June, 1883. He was graduated at Union in 1824 and at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1832, was a tutor at Princeton in 1833, and became adjunct professor of mathematics in 1834, and professor of astronomy in 1840. From 1845 to 1854 he occupied the chair of mathematics, and after- ward that of astronomy and mechanics until he retired in 1878. He has written a great number of scientific papers, some of which have been translated into other languages. He was chief of the expedition that went to the coast of Labrador to observe the solar eclipse of 18 July, 1860, and was the leader also of that sent to the west to observe the eclipse of August, 1869. His principal writings are "Physical Phenomena attendant upon Solar Eclipses," read before the American philosophical society in 1843; a paper on the "Fundamental Principles of Mathematics," read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1848 ; another on the "Origin of the Forms and the Present Condition of some of the Clusters of Stars and several of the Nebulæ," read before the American Association in 1850; others on the "Form and Equatorial Diameter of the Asteroid Planets" and "Harmonies in the Arrangement of the Solar System which seem to be Confirmatory of the Nebular Hypothesis of Laplace," presented to the National Academy of Science; a "Statement and Exposition of Certain Harmonies of the Solar System," which was published by the Smithsonian Institute in 1875.

ALEXANDER, Thomas, earl of Selkirk, b. in 1774 ; d. in Pan, France, 6 April, 1820. He was the founder of the Red river settlement, and wrote a volume on "Emigration." containing a statement respecting that attempt at colonization of the western territory of Canada (London, 1817).

ALEXANDER, Sir William, earl of Stirling, b. in 1580; d. in London, 12 Sept., 1640. When a