Alexander, Harmon

Born: 1804-08-04 Woodford County, Kentucky

Died: 1876-12-13 Palestine, Illinois

Flourished: Palestine, Illinois

Harmon and his brother John C. Alexander moved to Crawford County, Illinois, in 1825 to practice medicine. A practicing physician for over 40 years, Dr. Alexander also purchased a distillery in 1831 where he manufactured linseed and castor oils. Alexander represented Crawford and Jasper counties in the Illinois House of Representatives between 1838 and 1840, serving on the Public Buildings and Grounds Committee. He was appointed register of the Land Office in Crawford County twice: between 1845 and 1849, and between 1853 and 1855. He also served as a county judge on the Second Judicial Circuit and as a delegate for Crawford and Lawrence counties to the State Constitutional Convention in 1862. Strongly influenced by childhood neighbor Henry Clay, Dr. Alexander was an agricultural reformer and in 1861 served as a founding member of the Illinois Agricultural College. He married three times. His first two wives, Eliza Kitchell and Julia Ann Danforth, were daughters of Judge Joseph Kitchell, the leading citizen of the area. His third wife, Jeretta Wilson, was a first cousin of the first two wives. He had five children.

Gravestone, Row 1 W to E, No.3 N to S, Kitchell Cemetery, Palestine, IL; Elliott Anthony, The Constitutional History of Illinois (Chicago: Chicago Legal News Print, 1891),114; George W. Smith, "The Old Illinois State Agricultural College" in Journal of Illinois State Historical Society 5:4 (January 1973), 475-80; William Henry Perrin, ed., History of Crawford and Clark Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1883), 51, 131, 142-43, 295; Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 3; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Crawford County, 28 November 1828, 13 October 1836, 20 May 1856, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL.