Rev Archibald Alexander

 

This is Reverend Archibald Alexander (April 17, 1772 – October 22, 1851). He was the grandson of the Archibald Alexander who was the first sheriff of Augusta County, Virginia.  He attended what is now Washington & Lee University and became a minister at the age of 21.  He also served as president of Hampden-Sydney College. When the Princeton Theological Seminary was established in 1812, Archibald Alexander was appointed its first professor. There is an Alexander building on campus that was named for him.

He married Janetta Waddell, the daughter of another minister, James Waddell.  Their branch of the family largely stayed in the New Jersey & New York area.  He is my first cousin five times removed.

In honor of Veterans Day, here is Life magazine 16 April 1945. This issue included a story called "The Forgotten Front." The pictures were taken by Margaret Bourke-White, one of Life's famous documentary photographers, and featured the US war effort in Italy. 

The reason I am particularly fond of this issue and own several copies of this specific magazine, is that my Dad is in one of the pictures.  See the page below.  He is in the photo on the top left.  I have included an enlarged version of it, too. 

 

 

Dad is on the left--the handsome guy with his fist on his chin.  Dad said that Bourke-White had finished her story and then her film was destroyed. So she came into their unit to take more photo.  And that's how his picture ended up in Life.