Archibald Stevens Alexander

Col. Archibald Stevens Alexander (August 22, 1880 – August 30, 1912) was a lawyer, Democratic politician, and military aide to Woodrow Wilson from New Jersey. Early life Alexander was born on August 22, 1880. He was the son of Archibald Alexander (1855–1917), a professor of philosophy at Columbia College, and Caroline Bayard (née Stevens) Alexander (1859–1932). His parents divorced when he was young and, later after his death, she remarried to H. Otto Wittpenn, the 28th Mayor of Jersey City, on January 6, 1915. His maternal grandparents were the noted philanthropist Martha Bayard Stevens (a daughter of professor Albert Baldwin Dod) and Edwin Augustus Stevens (son of Col. John Stevens, who developed early versions of screw-propelled steamboat and steam locomotive). Through his grandfather, an engineer and entrepreneur who is considered the founder of Stevens Institute of Technology, he was a direct descendant of Continental Congressman from New Jersey, John Stevens. His paternal grandparents were Henry Martyn Alexander (a lawyer, Trustee of Princeton, and son of Archibald Alexander, the first Principal of Princeton Theological Seminary) and Susan Mary (née Brown) Alexander (daughter of Rev. Matthew Brown). Among his paternal family were grand-uncles, James Waddel Alexander, William Cowper Alexander, and Joseph Addison Alexander. He prepared at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, before attending Princeton University, where he graduated in 1902. He went to New York Law School, graduating in 1904, and was admitted to the bar in New Jersey.