Samuel Davies Alexander

Background

Samuel Davies Alexander was born on May 3, 1819 in Princeton, new Jersey, United States. he was the fifth son of Archibald and Janetta (Waddel) Alexander.

Education

Alexander was prepared for college chiefly by his two older brothers, James and Joseph Addison Alexander. He graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1838. He then spent two years as a resident graduate in Princeton, assisting Professor Henry; three years as a civil engineer; and one year in studying law. Having determined to devote his life to the ministry, he now took the regular course in Princeton Seminary (1844-1847).

Career

Alexander was ordained by the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia on November 16, 1847. He served at Richmond Church of Philadelphia till 1849, and later accepted the position of assistant secretary of the Board of Education of the Presbyterian Church.

In the year 1851 he began a five years' pastorate of the church at Freehold, New Jersey.

In 1856 he accepted a call to the Fifteenth Street Church of New York City, later known as the Phillips Church. His service here, the main work of his life, continued to 1889, when he became pastor emeritus. He continued to reside in New York until, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, he succumbed to an attack of pneumonia.

Besides contributing the last four chapters to his father's work on the History of Colonization on the Western Coast of Africa (1846), and numerous articles in the Princeton Review, he was the author of the following works: Life Sketches from Scottish History (1855); History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Condensed from the Standard Work of Reid and Killen (1860); and some other works.

Achievements

• As stated clerk of the Presbytery of New York, Alexander commanded the respect and admiration of his fellow presbyters by reason of his knowledge of Presbyterian law, his accuracy and thoroughness in keeping the records, and his self-sacrificing spirit. His work The Presbytery of New York 1738 to 1888, even yet a valuable work of reference.

Works

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• book

  • Princeton College (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Princeton College Revolutionary war, so man...)

  • Catalogue of the Writings of the Alexander Family (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Catalogue of the Writings of the Alexander F...)

Personality

Alexander was faithful and beloved as a pastor; he had unusual resources of scholarship with which to sustain his ministry in a metropolitan pulpit. Alexander possessed capacity for painstaking, scholarly research but lacked originality and had an imperfect grasp of the principles underlying historical facts. His writings were devoid of literary charm.

Connections

Alexander was unmarried.

Father:

Archibald Alexander

Mother:

Janetta (Waddel) Alexander

Brother:

Henry Martyn Alexander

Brother:

William Cowper Alexander

Brother:

Joseph Addison Alexander

Brother:

James Waddell Alexander

References

• Princeton Theological Seminary Biographical Catalogue, 1909