William Alexander Harris was a U.S. Representative from Virginia, father of William A. Harris.
Background
William Patterson Alexander was born in Paris, Kentucky on July 25, 1805. His father was James Alexander (1770–1821) and mother was Mary Rose Depuy (1765–1841). On October 25, 1831 he married Mary Ann McKinney who was born January 5, 1810 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Education
Born near Warrenton, Virginia, Harris completed an academic course which included the study of law.
Career
His family continued to influence the history of Hawaii. He was ordained October 13, 1831. They sailed on the Whaleship Averick, under Captain Swain, from New Bedford, Massachusetts, November 26, 1831, and arrived at Honolulu, May 17, 1832.
Alexanders and the rest of the fifth company from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions arrived in April 1832 to the Hawaiian Islands. They were sent on a scouting mission to the Marquesas Islands (at the time called "Washington Islands") with Reuben Tinker and Samuel Whitney. However, they abandoned the Marquesas to European missionaries and arrived back in Honolulu on May 12, 1834.
The Alexanders were assigned to the mission at Waiʻoli 1834 until 1843. Looking for a drier climate, they were transferred to Lahainaluna School in 1843. He preferred to live at cooler, higher elevations, and often camped at what would become ʻUlupalakua Ranch.
Although the American Board was withdrawing support, he continued to assist efforts such as the Kaʻahumanu Church in Wailuku, Hawaii from November 1856 until 1882. He died August 13, 1884 in Oakland, California and was buried in the Mountain View Cemetery. The Alexanders had 9 children:
William DeWitt Alexander (1833–1913) married Abigail Charlotte Baldwin (1833–1913) in 1861.
James McKinney Alexander was born January 29, 1835. He graduated from Williams College and Princeton Theological Seminary and died in 1911. Henry Martyn Alexander (1839–1910) married Eliza Yates Wight and then Ina B. Weist.
Mary Jane Alexander (1840–1913) of which not much is known. Ann Elizabeth Alexander (1843–1940) married Charles Henry Dickey. Ellen Charlotte Alexander (1852–1924) married Giulio Ferreri and moved to Italy.
Mary Ann McKinney Alexander moved back to Maui and lived with family, where she died on June 29, 1888. A street was named for him in Honolulu at 21°18′4″N 157°49′47″W.