DR. LOT EDWARD ALEXANDER has practiced medicine and has performed the varied responsibilities and duties of good citizenship at Pendleton, since 1879, and is one of the best known citizens of Madison County. His name is spoken with respect on the north and east sides of the County, but it is with his home community of Pendleton that he has been most closely identified.
Dr. Alexander is descended from old ,American stock, originally of Scotch ancestry on both father’s and mother’s side. The family was founded in America by Hugh Alexander, who emigrated from Scotland in 1736 and settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Farming was his occupation and that he was a man of more than ordinary standing and influence in his community is evidenced by the fact that he was chosen a delegate from Cumberland County, to which he subsequently removed to the conference of deputies called in Carpenter Hall at Philadelphia on July 15, 1776, It was at that meeting that the first free constitution of Pennsylvania was adopted, Hugh Alexander was married in 1854, to Martha Edmiston, who was also of Scotch descent, The great-grand- father Alexander, of Dr. Alexander was in the Commissary Department in Washington’s army during the Revolution, and for his faithful services to the cause of the colony was given fifteen hundred acres of land, which he subsequently located in North Thumberland County, Pennsylvania. Another fact concerning the ancestors might be added. Dr. Alexander’s maternal great-grandfather Brown, when a child, was stolen temporarily from his home by the famous Mingo chief Logan, and kept two days, during which time Logan made and placed on the child’s feet a pair of moccasins, and after paying these evidences of his regard and showing the best possible entertainment returned the child unharmed to his parents.
Dr. Alexander’s father was Cyrus Alexander, who was born in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, September 30, 1807, and followed farming at his regular vocation. He had a common school education, was a Presbyterian in religion, and a stanch Republican throughout his adult life, His death occurred September 7, 1889, Cyrus married Mary Brown, who was born also in Mifflin County, February 20, 1814, and died August 12, 1894.
Dr. L. E. Alexander was born in Pennsylvania, and his literary education was acquired at Washington and Jefferson College in the city of Washington in western Pennsylvania, On March 12, 1874, he was graduated M. D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and thereafter spent one year in the Western Pennsylvania Hospital at Pittsburg, in 1875 was engaged in the Philadelphia Dispensary, and in 1886 entered the medical department of the United States Navy, He served as assistant surgeon in the United States Navy, and was for six months in the quarantine service on the west coast of Florida, Later he was assigned to duty on the receiving ship Potomac at the Port of Philadelphia, Dr. Alexander moved west and located in Indiana, in 1877, first in Fayette County, and in 1879 established his home and residence at Pendleton, where he has lived and practiced medicine for almost thirty-five years.
Dr. Alexander served one year as president of the Madison County Medical Society, and has membership in the Indiana State, the Mississippi Valley, and the American Medical Association, He has always been a Republican, and for the past fifteen years has served as a trustee of the Pendleton Consolidated School District, Reared in a Presbyterian family; he was affiliated with that church for some time, but now is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Pendleton, Fraternally the doctor belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On November 5, 1879, Dr. Alexander married Miss Carrie Boyd Hughes, at Cambridge City, Indiana. She received her education in the schools of Cambridge City, and is a daughter of Evan and Samantha Hughes, her father having been of Pennsylvania Dutch Stock.