century association biographical archive

Earliest Members of the Century Association

View all members

George Alexander

Clergyman

Centurion, 1894–1930

Born 12 October 1843 in West Charlton, New York

Died 12 December 1930 in New York (Manhattan), New York

Buried West Charlton Cemetery, West Charlton, New York

Proposed by Henry van Dyke and Daniel M. Stimson

Elected 3 February 1894 at age fifty

Century Memorial

George Alexander was one of the men whose life-story and relation to the community disproved the frequent assumption that, in these material days, the influence of religion is dead. Dr. Alexander never found it necessary, in his sixty years of pastoral leadership, to alter his conception of such duties with a view to capturing the restless imagination of a new generation. To him the serene and spiritual view of human responsibilities, the preaching of eternal truths rather than present-day expediencies, appeared to be the real need for a community whose mind was growing increasingly confused over the bewildering minor controversies of the day. It was his own character which made his attitude toward life convincing, and which left the feeling that the world was better because he had lived and labored in it.

Alexander Dana Noyes
1931 Century Association Yearbook