William Alexander: Life and Legacy of a Texas Judge (1814–1872)
By: Mark Odintz
Published: 1976
Updated: July 30, 2020
William Alexander, lawyer and judge, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on September 10, 1814. His family immigrated to Jackson County, New York, in 1822, when Alexander was eight. He graduated from Yale Law School and moved to Tuskegee, Alabama, where he practiced in the supreme court of that state after receiving his license on January 11, 1850. Alexander moved to Galveston, Texas, in 1850. In 1851 John Byler Mallard persuaded him to move to Palestine, Anderson County, to form a law partnership with Mallard and John H. Reagan, and on February 1, 1851, Alexander received his license to practice before the Supreme Court of Texas. He married Mallard's widow, Susan Scott Mallard, on March 8, 1857; they had two children. He served as a trustee for Palestine Female Academy in 1858 and was chief justice of Anderson County from 1860 to 1865. He was a Mason and a Presbyterian. Alexander died in Palestine on January 11, 1872.
Bibliography:
C. K. Chamberlain, "East Texas," East Texas Historical Journal 4 (October 1966). Marker Files, Texas Historical Commission, Austin (William Alexander, Mallard-Alexander House).
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Mark Odintz, “Alexander, William,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed May 19, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/alexander-william-1.
TID:
FAL12
- 1976
- July 30, 2020
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