History of the beef cattle industry in Illinois . 1827• Alexanderhas been regarded as Americasgreatest cattleman in a commercialsense. In the strict sense of theterm, he was a pastoralist and atrader, not an agriculturalist?His parents were native of Ire-land, who migrated to Virginia in1818, and in 1824 joined the exodusto the Mississippi Valley, settlingin Jefferson County, Ohio, John T«Alexander was the oldest of a family of eleven children. His education was on the farm. He wasendowed with that faculty called cattle sense. At the age offifteen, he was entrusted,by his father, with the enti
History of the beef cattle industry in Illinois . 1827• Alexanderhas been regarded as Americasgreatest cattleman in a commercialsense. In the strict sense of theterm, he was a pastoralist and atrader, not an agriculturalist?His parents were native of Ire-land, who migrated to Virginia in1818, and in 1824 joined the exodusto the Mississippi Valley, settlingin Jefferson County, Ohio, John T«Alexander was the oldest of a family of eleven children. His education was on the farm. He wasendowed with that faculty called cattle sense. At the age offifteen, he was entrusted,by his father, with the entire chargeof a drove of cattle sent to Philadelphia. He sold them toadvantage, collected the money, and took it safely home. At theage of seventeen, he was purchasing cattle in Illinois to re-plenish his fathers Ohio pastures. It is related that his !• The Breeders Gazette, July 16, 1913, His son, John T. Alexander, of Alexander, Ward & Co., commis-sion men of Chicago, has been prominent in the cattleinterests during the last 40 36, search took him dowrx into Sangamon county, where he was so struckwith its natural advantages,from a cattle standpoint, that hedetermined to migrate, ^In 1840, the Alexanders settled in Morgan county, then acattle range boixnded only by the horizon, Mr. Alexander accunni-lated a herd of steers, pastured them on the public domain, andfor half a decade prospered in a moderate way. As the countrybecame settled, it soon became evident that he must own land orget out of the cattle business as far as that locality was con-cerned. In 1848, he purchased 3,000 acres of land at pricesranging from 87 cents to $3,00 per acre. This land was adjoiningthe half section that he had originally homesteaded. In 1855,he acquired another 1,000 acres at | per acre. This indi-cated how rapidly the price of land was advancing. In 1857, hebought 700 acres more at $ per acre, and in 1859, he acquired1500 acres of the Strawn estate at | per acre. In
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecttheses, bookyear1915
