William Moncure Alexander (abt. 1852 - 1919)

Born about 1852 in Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States

Died 10 Apr 1919 at about age 67 in Baltimore City, Maryland, United States

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Biography

William Alexander is Notable.

William was laid to rest in Laurel Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland.

Rev William Moncure Alexander was a Baptist minister who established the Sharon Baptist Church in Baltimore in the 1880s. For more than thirty years, his ministerial activity and missionary work reached not only into the lives of the poor and young of Baltimore City, but across the seas to the lands of Africa and the islands of the Caribbean.^[1]

William was born about 1852 in Fredericksburg, Virginia to Moncure and Fannie Alexander. ^[2] His mother remarried to Jared McGuinn prior to about 1860, and William had both Alexander siblings and McGuinn half-siblings.^[3]

William went to Baltimore, Maryland in 1872 where he worked as a steward for the Erricson line of steamships. He married Mary Ellen Smith, of Richmond, Virginia in 1875.^[4]

William graduated from Baptist Wayland Seminary in Washington, DC in 1882 as class valedictorian, and later earned a Doctorate of Divinity from Shaw University. ^[5] After he was ordained and began preaching he was appointed to a post on the missionary board of the African-American Baptists in Maryland. During this time he organized the Sharon Baptist Church in Baltimore, which in now a Baltimore Historic Landmark. The church began with 9 members and grew to over 2000; it is still active today. William was also one of the founders of the Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention, which maintained several missionaries in Africa. ^[2]

William's wife Mary Ellen passed away in 1899 on their 27th wedding anniversary; they did not have any children and he did not remarry.^[6]

In 1910 William was listed in the census with his niece Fannie and her husband Francis Cardoza in Baltimore.^[7]

He passed away in 1919 in Baltimore and was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery.^[8] He was survived by two half-brothers and a niece.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ Maryland State Archives file on Rev Dr William Alexander
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Obituary, The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, Maryland · Saturday, April 12, 1919 p.4 Free View of Clipping
3. ↑ Freedman Bank Records: "U.S., Freedman's Bank Records, 1865-1874"
   The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC; Registers of Signatures of Depositors in Branches of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, 1865-1874; ARC Identifier: 566522; Record Group Number: 101; Record Group: Records of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 1863-2006
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 8755 #82749814 (accessed 22 March 2023)
   Name: Wm Alexander; Relation to Head: Sibling; Description: Roll 27: Richmond, Virginia; Jun 21, 1870-Jun 29, 1874; Household (Name)
   Age
   Relationship: Warner McGuin 9 Self (Head)
   Fannie McGuin Mother
   John Alexander Sibling
   Wm Alexander Sibling
   Robt Sibling
   Joseph Mc Guin Sibling
   Maria Alexander Sibling.
4. ↑ 1880 Census: "1880 United States Federal Census"
   Year: 1880; Census Place: Baltimore, Baltimore (Independent City), Maryland; Roll: 505; Page: 416A; Enumeration District: 211
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 6742 #27351037 (accessed 22 March 2023)
   William Alexander (30), married, Clergyman, head of household in Baltimore, Baltimore (Independent City), Maryland, USA. Born in Virginia.
5. ↑ Maryland State Archives - Rev William M Alexander, Pioneering Missionary
6. ↑ Wife's obituary, The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, Maryland,25 Nov 1899, Sat · Page 12Free View of Clipping
7. ↑ 1910 Census: "1910 United States Federal Census"
   Year: 1910; Census Place: Baltimore Ward 14, Baltimore (Independent City), Maryland; Roll: T624_557; Page: 17B; Enumeration District: 0235; FHL microfilm: 1374570
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 7884 #10357099 (accessed 22 March 2023)
   William H Alexander (55), widowed boarder, Clergyman, in household of Francis Cardoza (28) in Baltimore Ward 14, Baltimore (Independent City), Maryland, USA. Born in Virginia.
8. ↑ Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
   Find A Grave: Memorial #245121203 (accessed 22 March 2023)
   Memorial page for Rev William N. Alexander (1852-10 Apr 1919), citing Laurel Hill Cemetery (Defunct), Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland, USA; Maintained by Sean Paul Murphy (contributor 46824373).