William Cowper Alexander

William Cowper Alexander (May 20, 1806 – August 23, 1874) was an American lawyer, politician, and insurance executive. He served as President of the New Jersey State Senate and as President of the Equitable Life Assurance Society. Early life Alexander was born in 1806 in Prince Edward County, Virginia, the second son of noted Presbyterian theologian Archibald Alexander and his wife Janetta Waddel. His elder brother James Waddel Alexander (1804–1859) would also become a Presbyterian theologian and minister. Another brother, Joseph Addison Alexander (1809–1860), would become a biblical scholar. Alexander's father was president of Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia before being called to serve as minister of the Third Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia in 1807. The family then moved to Princeton, New Jersey when Archibald Alexander was named the first professor of the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1812.