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Below is a family biography included in History of Page County, Iowa published by Iowa Historical Company in 1880.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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ALEXANDER, WM. M., county auditor; born October 18, 1837, in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, where he received a common school education. In 1855 he came to Iowa with his parents and located in Jackson county. In 1860 he returned to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and took a regular course in Duff’s commercial college, where he graduated the same year. He then returned west and located in Harrison county, this state, where he engaged in teaching. In 1861 he came to this place and enlisted in company F, First Nebraska infantry, and served two and a half years, when they were equipped as a cavalry regiment. In 1863 the regiment was veteranized, and served until the close of the war. He was discharged July 1, 1865. He enlisted as a private, and was promoted to fifth sergeant, then to first sergeant, and afterward to first lieutenant, in November, 1865, and was detailed as post-adjutant at Omaha, which position he held to the close of the war. He was in the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Cape Girardeau, Village Creek, and all the skirmishes and engagements in which his regiment participated. He received a slight wound in the left arm at Fort Donelson. The next day after his discharge from the service he went into the house of O. P. Hurbert & Bro., of Omaha, as bookkeeper, with whom he remained a few months, and then returned to Clarinda and clerked in Mr. Burrows’ dry goods house. He was afterward bookkeeper for the woolen factory, then bookkeeper for the Page County bank, where he remained until 1869. In the fall of 1868 he was elected to the office of auditor, the first ever elected in the county, which position he has ever since occupied. He has been frequently re-elected without opposition, and has the state-wide reputation of being one of the very best county auditors in the state. His efficiency is only surpassed by his obliging and genial disposition, and to show the esteem in which he is held by the citizens of the county, it is only necessary to say that when before the people for their suffrage his majority is usually the largest on the ticket. He was united in marriage July 22, 1867, to Miss Flora A. Enam, a native of Springfield, Ohio. They have five children: William C., James S., Hadley A., Lillian and Frank B.

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This family biography is one of 558 biographies included in The History of Page County, Iowa published in 1880.  For the complete description, click here: Page County, Iowa History and Genealogy

View additional Page County, Iowa family biographies: Page County, Iowa Biographies

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