Alexander Little Page Green
Alexander Little Page Green | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 26, 1806 Sevier County, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | July 15, 1874 |
| Resting place | Mount Olivet Cemetery |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Preacher |
| Spouse | Mary Ann Elliston |
| Children | Frank Waters Green William Martin Green Mary Anna Green Hunter |
| Parent(s) | George Green Judith Spillman |
| Relatives | Robert A. Young (son-in-law) |
Alexander Little Page Green (a.k.a. "A.L.P. Green") (1806-1874) was an American Methodist preacher, slaveowner, and co-founder of Vanderbilt University.
Early life
Alexander Little Page Green was born on June 26, 1806 in Sevier County, Tennessee.[1][2][3] His father was George Green and his mother, Judith Spillman.[1] He grew up in Alabama.[1]
Career
Green joined the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in Tennessee in 1824, at the age of seventeen.[1] He became an ordained deacon in 1826 and an elder in 1828.[1] He was elected to the General conference in 1831 and re-elected until he died.[1] He was also one of the commissioners overseeing the lawsuit between the Southern and Northern Methodist Churches.[1] He served as the first minister of McKendree United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, until John Berry McFerrin (1807-1887) took over.[1] He also founded the Southern Methodist Publishing House.[1]
Green was also one of the founders of Vanderbilt University in Nashville.[2][4] Indeed, as early as 1859, he was the President of the Board of Trustees of the Central University, its precursor before it received a donation from Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794–1877).[5] Later, from 1872 to 1875, he served as Treasurer of its Board of Trust.[2] He also sat on the Board of Trustees of the Tennessee Blind School.[3][6] Additionally, throughout his ministry, he carried medical pills and powders for sick patients, even though he did not have a doctor's license.[7]
Green was a slaveowner.[8] During the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865, he supported the Confederate States Army.[9]
Personal life
Green married Mary Ann Elliston (1817-1881), the sister of William Hiter Elliston (1819-1852), who served in the Mexican–American War of 1846-1848.[1][10] They had two sons and one daughter:
- Captain Frank Waters Green (1836-1904).[11]
- William Martin Green (1838-1926).[12]
- Mary Anna Green Hunter (1841-1918).[13]
Death and legacy
Green died on July 15, 1874 in Davidson County, Tennessee.[1] He was buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, where there is a monument in his honor.[1][14]
His portrait hangs in the Board of Trust lounge of Kirkland Hall, the administrative building of Vanderbilt University.[2] Moreover, the Alex Green Elementary School, located in Whites Creek, Tennessee North of Nashville, is named in his honor.[3][4] His granddaughter, Julia McClung Green (1873-1961), was an educator; the Julia Green Elementary School in Nashville is named in her honor.[4]
Secondary source
- William M. Green (ed.), Thomas Osgood Summers (ed.), Life and Papers of A.L.P. Green, Southern Methodist publishing house, 1877.[15]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l FindAGrave
- ^ a b c d Tennessee Portrait Project
- ^ a b c Alex Green Elementary School
- ^ a b c Julia Green Elementary School
- ^ Nashville Monthly Record of Medical and Physical Science, 1859, p. 511 [1]
- ^ Nashville Business Directory, 1860, p. 48
- ^ Walter Brownlow Posey, The development of Methodism in the old Southwest, 1783-1824, Porcupine Press, 1933, p. 40 [2]
- ^ Nashville City Cemetery
- ^ Mississippi Quarterly, Starville, Mississippi: College of Arts and Sciences of Mississippi State University, Volume 24, Issues 1-4, p. 119 [3]
- ^ Tennessee Portrait Project: William Hiter Elliston
- ^ FindAGrave: Captain Frank Waters Green
- ^ FindAGrave: William Martin Green
- ^ FindAGrave: Mary Anna Green Hunter
- ^ James A. Hoobler, Sarah Hunter Marks, Nashville:: From the Collection of Carl and Otto Giers, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2000, p. 90 [4]
- ^ HathiTrust