Freestone County, Texas
Biographies 



Biography of Thomas Jefferson Alexander, (Mayor of Teague, Texas)
   (Feb. 20, 1864-Jan. 27, 1925, buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Teague, TX.)


A History of Texas and Texans, Volume V
By Francis White Johnson, Ernest William Winkler
Published 1914
The American Historical Society

[pages 2251-2252]

THOMAS JEFFERSON ALEXANDER.

Foremost among the business men of Teague, Texas, is Thomas Jefferson Alexander, 
president of the First State Bank of the city and Mayor of Teague as well.  He
has been a resident of Texas since 1871, when he came to the state from Warren
county, Tennessee, where he was born on February 20, 1864.

Mr. Alexander is a son of John C. Alexander, who died in Houston, Texas, in 
1886, at the age of sixty-three years.  He was a farmer in Texas, but in 
Tennessee he spent his days in the mercantile business.  Born in Warren
county, that state, John C. Alexander served as a Confederate soldier from
that region when the war broke out, and he saw much service from first to last.
When he came to Texas in 1871 he settled in Houston county, and there ended his
days.  He was a member of the Christian church all of his life, and was a 
Democrat, though not active at any time in politics.  He married Miss Viola 
Wood, a daughter of Benjamin F. Wood of Alabama, who came to Texas in an early
day.  Mr. Wood was a Mexican war soldier in the days of the Texas Republic, and
late in life went back to Alabama, where he died.  He located land in Texas in 
return for his services to the government, but he let it and other lands, 
which he purchased, go by default, so that he never owned property in this 
state.  The first child of John C. Alexander's first marriage was Thomas 
Jefferson Alexander.  The next were John, now of Okeemah, Oklahoma, and Frank,
of Cherokee county, Texas.  They were the children of Martha (Wood) Alexander,
she being a first cousin of Viola Wood, who became the second wife of Mr. 
Alexander.  The children of his second marriage were Josie, who married Samuel
Denby and resides in Tennessee; Bettie, the wife of George Smith, now a resident
of Houston county; James B., also of Houston county; and Florence, who married
Hard Cash, of Fannin county, this state.

Thomas Alexander grew up in Houston county farm on which the family located on
coming to the state, and he had his schooling more as the result of observation
and experience than by actual contact with books in his younger days.  He 
continued at home until he married, and after that event his father came to 
live with him, and there remained the rest of his life.  Mr. Alexander started
out as a farmer without capital.  He was only a boy when he married, and for a 
time he lived on his father-in-law's farm, soon buying a small piece of land
on credit.  It was raw land, but he applied himself to the business of clearing
it, and when he had forty acres under the plow he sold it, reinvesting the
proceeds on the Neches river.  He lived on the place six years, paying for the
place in that time, and when he sold it at the end of the period he was able to
build a cotton gin out of the proceeds.

Mr. Alexander moved to Weches and set up a small dry goods establishment.  He 
had a six hundred dollar stock when he began, but the venture proved successful,
and when six years later he moved to Alto, he had a stock of six thousand 
dollars, all his own.  In Alto he took a partner with a similar cash capital, 
and that the little firm prospered is evident from the fact when after two 
years the partner died, Mr. Alexander settled with his widow for $12,000 cash.
Not long after he sold out the business and moved to Teague, settling here in
February, 1908, and he continued in successful mercantile operations until
1911, when he retired from the management in favor of his sons, who operate the 
concern as the Alexander-Milburn Company.  The firm has a stock of from $25,000
to $30,000 and it does a purely retail business in general merchandise.

When Mr. Alexander quit the store he became president of the First State 
Bank of Teague, and he is the director of the bank.

Politically, Mr. Alexander is a Democrat, and his first political activity 
came to him in Teague when he ran for the office of mayor of the city and was
elected, in April, 1912.  His administration has thus far been noted for its
improvement of the streets, and the betterment of the water works system of
the town, with the promotion of the use of gas from the Mexia gas fields.  Also,
the establishment of the city grade and much of the concrete walk work has been 
done during his regime.  He has been identified strongly with the "good roads"
movement, now a feature of every up-to-date official's activities, and his
support of the movement has been marked and helpful.  Altogether, he is 
regarded as one of the most progressive mayors the city has yet had, and as a 
citizen who is concerned in the civic welfare of the community, from a purely
unselfish viewpoint.  Mr. Alexander is a Mason of the Blue Lodge and Chapter,
and he is further fraternally identified by his membership in the Knights of
Pythias and the Woodmen of the World.  With his family, he has membership in 
the Christian church.

Mr. Alexander was married in Houston county, on December 12, 1883, to Miss Eva
Mitchell, a daughter of David Mitchell and Tennie (Garrett) Mitchell, who came
from Tennessee and settled in Nacogdoches county, this state.  Mrs. Alexander
was one of their three children - the other being W. T. and R. W. Mitchell.
W. T. Mitchell died in Brown county, leaving a family, and R. W. lives in 
Lubbock, Texas.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander are Hugh G. of Teague, married to 
Valerie Stafford, and the father of a son, Hugh, Jr.; Earnest, of Teague,
who married Ida Fowler and has a daughter, Elizabeth; Evelyn is the youngest
child of the family and is unmarried.