McGill Libraries
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Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Martin, Alexander, 1822-1893
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1822-1893
History
Rev. Alexander Martin was born on January 24, 1822, in Nairn, Scotland.
He was a Methodist clergyman and educator. In 1836, his family moved to Jefferson County, Ohio. In 1846, Martin became principal of Kingwood Academy in Preston County, West Virginia, and later taught at and served as principal of Clarksburg’s Northwestern Virginia Academy. He was also a Methodist pastor in Charleston, Moundsville, and Wheeling. During the Civil War, he became the West Virginia president of the Christian Commission, a social services agency that relieved some of the war’s hardships. In 1863, he played a key role in getting the West Virginia Legislature to pass public school legislation. In 1867, he became the first president of the Agricultural College of West Virginia, which became West Virginia University in 1868.
In 1853, he married Caroline C. Hursey (1831–1908). He died on December 16, 1893, in Greencastle, Indiana.