Hon. B. F. ALEXANDER, a native of Rutherford County, Tenn., was born January 20, 1849, and is the son of Madison H. and Catherine (Suttle) ALEXANDER, natives respectively, of Tennessee and Virginia. The father, who is a well known and prosperous farmer, still resides in this county. The mother, who died in this county November 28, 1877, was reared in the immediate neighborhood of Thomas JEFFERSON, and often spoke of that illustrious statesman in warmest terms of praise. Our subject graduated at Union University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., in 1870, and a year later took the degree at the law school of Cumberland University. He then practiced his profession for several years at Murfreesboro, editing the Murfreesboro Monitor in the meantime. In 1878 he was chosen over four competitors to represent Rutherford and Bedford Counties in the House of Representatives, where he served in a faithful and highly efficient manner. In 1880 he was nominated by acclamation by the Democrats of Rutherford County to represent his senatorial district in the Forty-second General Assembly, and although his party was divided he was elected by a handsome majority. In 1881 he was elected temporary speaker of the senate. He was made chairman of three different committees and was appointed a member of a committee sent to New York to compromise with holders of Tennessee bonds, but declined on the ground that a sovereign State ought to settle her local concerns without dictation from her creditors. Mr. ALEXANDER always advocated the rights and worked in the interest of the laborer and producer of the country, and the people of his district manifested their approval by electing him without opposition to a seat in the Forty-third General Assembly, and although he had declared himself not a candidate for the position he was elected speaker after a few hours’ balloting. Mr. ALEXANDER is a Democrat of the old Jefferson type, a man of affable and generous nature, and was reared in the Methodist faith, to which he still inclines. He is unmarried and engaged in agriculture, which is his favorite pursuit.
Source: History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson (Goodspeed, 1886).
