Alexander, Jediah F.

Born: 1827-01-04 Bond County, Illinois

Died: 1876-08-26 Greenville, Illinois

Flourished: Greenville, Illinois

Jediah F. Alexander, a printer and lawyer, moved to Greenville, Illinois, in 1848 where he began publishing a Free Soil paper. The following year, he became a partner in the Greenville Journal and sole-owner by 1850. Alexander married Priscilla W. Eaton in September 1849 and the couple had six children. He won election as county treasurer and assessor in 1853. Alexander remained in that office for two years, after which he established a law practice. Previously an independent, he joined the Republican Party in 1856 and began the Greenville Advocate two years later. Alexander won election as clerk of the Illinois House of Representatives in 1861, and Abraham Lincoln appointed him revenue collector for his district in 1862. Alexander left his legal practice and the Greenville Advocate in 1863.

The United States Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-Made Men: Illinois Volume (Chicago: American Biographical, 1876), 774-75; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Greenville, Bond County, IL, 383; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, St. Clair County, 5 September 1849, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Ninth Census of the United States (1870), Greenville, Bond County, IL, 29; Gravestone, Montrose Cemetery, Greenville, IL.