Father: Dr. Thomas Williamson Alexander, (1790-1847)
Mother: Martha Walker (1794-1873)
02/26/1847 - Father, James, died in Lawrenceville, Gwinnett Co., GA (buried: Fairview Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Lawrenceville, GA; FindAGrave #102319941)
1849 - M.D. degree, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA (lived in a boarding house; indexed in the 1850 U. S. Census as J. F. Alexander)
11/14/1850 - Practiced medicine, Atlanta, DeKalb Co., GA
03/21/1855 - Married, Georgia Jean Orme (1831-1876)
07/06/1860 - Practiced medicine, Ward 5, Atlanta, Fulton Co., GA (lived with wife, "G G" and one child; indexed in the 1860 U. S. Census as J. F. Alexander)
05/23/1861 - Appointed Surgeon, 7th GA Infantry
05/31/1861 - Surgeon, 7th GA Infantry
07/31/1861 - Surgeon, 7th GA Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Corps, Army of the Shenandoah, Camp Walker, Bull Run, VA
08/31/1861 - Surgeon, 7th GA Infantry,
12/01/1861 - Surgeon, 7th GA Infantry
11/25/1861 - Absent of sick leave
12/27/1861 - Resignation accepted
12/30/1861 - In a letter written from Atlanta, GA, to Dr. Williams, Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac, "I take this method of reporting to you, as I shall not be able to return at the expiration of leave as a consequence of an attack of bronchitis. Respectfully, Jas F Alexander, Surgeon 7th Reg Ga Vol"
05/14/1862 - Examining Surgeon, 55th GA Infantry
1862-1865 - Practiced medicine, Lawrenceville, Gwinnett Co., GA
06/23/1873 - Mother, Martha, died in Georgia (buried: Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, GA; FindAGrave #106710756)
1874 - Practiced medicine, Atlanta, GA
02/28/1876 - Wife, Georgia, died in Atlanta, Fulton Co., GA (buried: Memory Hill Cemetery, Milledgeville, Baldwin Co., GA; FindAGrave #14536990)
06/00/1878 - Married, Ada Reynolds (1848-1925)
00/00/1879 - Son, James Franklin Alexander, Jr., born
06/03/1880 - Practiced medicine, Atlanta, Fulton Co., GA (lived with wife, Ada, and one son; indexed in the 1880 U. S. Census as "Alexander, j f" )
09/02/1884 - "Dr. J. F. Alexander was called in, and when he arrived asked [Louis] Goetting what was the matter. Goetting's mind being perfectly clear, he answered: 'I have taken arsenic.' 'When did you take it?' 'About 2 o'clock last night.' ' How much did you take?' 'A tablespoon.' 'Where did you get it?' 'I brought it with me from Charleston two years ago. I bought it to kill rats with.' Various antidotes were administered, but the poison had been taken too long [ago] for medical skill to destroy its effects." [The Morning News, Savannah, GA, Sept. 3, 1884, p. 1, c. 3.]
1886,1890 - Practiced medicine, 62 Peachtree, Atlanta, GA
1893 - Practiced medicine, 110 Peachtree, Atlanta, GA
1896 - "While serving on the [Atlanta] board of health in 1896, during the yellow fever scare, he opened the doors of Atlanta to the refuges and his contention that the disease would not spread in Atlanta was shown to be correct." [Obituary of James F. Alexander(1901) Journal of the American Medical Association, v. 37, p. 1476. ]
03/20/1897 - Stricken with paralysis
09/24/1897 - "Atlanta, Sept. 24. - Dr. James F. Alexander, president of the board of health, furnishes the following statement at 1 p.m. concerning the yellow fever situation here: 'At one o'clock this afternoon I paid a visit to the yellow fever patient, Miss Carrie Fleming, at 119 Auburn avenue. She is doing well. There are no unfavorable symptoms and I regard it as a very mild case of yellow fever, and from present indications I fear do not fear serious results. So far as danger of spread of the disease is concerned there need be no apprehension among our people as the condition existing here, in my opinion, preclude the possibility of any danger of an outbreak of yellow fever in Atlanta' James F. Alexander, President board of health" [The Brunswick Times, Brunswick, GA, Sept. 25, 1897, p. 1, c. 1.]
09/30/1897 - President, Atlanta [GA] Board of Health
12/08/1897 - "Dr. J. F. Alexander, president of the Atlanta board of health, has suggested that negroes who refuse to be vaccinated shall not be hired. He believes that such a course would soon stamp out smallpox from among the colored people" [The Morning News, Savannah, GA, Dec. 8, 1897, p.4, c. 4.]
06/06/1900 - Practiced medicine,37 Grant Bldg., Atlanta, Fulton Co., GA (lived with wife, Ada, one son and one daughter; indexed in the 1900 U. S. Census as Jas. F. Alexander) [Note: Although Dr. Alexander is listed as a physician in the 1900 U. S. Census and is listed as having a medical office in Atlanta, GA, in the same year, his obituary claims that he retired from active work several years before his death in 1901.]
- Ex- president, Medical Association of Georgia
- Member, Atlanta Society of Medicine
11/14/1901 - Died at his home in Atlanta, Fulton Co., GA, after an illness of about one month (buried: Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, GA; FindAGrave #49440012)
08/25/1925 - Widow, Ada, died in Atlanta, Fulton Co., GA (buried: Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, GA; FindAGrave #58798858)
10/02/1966 - Son, James, died in Atlanta, Fulton Co., GA (buried: Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, GA; FindAGrave # 58798937)

Julia Ather provided input to this biography.

This biographical sketch is from:
Hambrecht, F.T. & Koste, J.L., Biographical
register of physicians who served the
Confederacy in a medical capacity.
06/21/2020. Unpublished database.

The following was added by Julia Ather, the creator of this memorial:

At the time of his death, the oldest practicing physician in Atlanta. Excerpt from the article "Dr. J. F. Alexander Breathes His Last," from the Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, GA, Nov. 15, 1901, p. 7: "Dr. Alexander was 77 years of age and one of the most prominent physicians in the southern states. He was a pioneer citizen of Atlanta, and the years of his life spent here were marked by acts of usefulness. He evinced great interest in the upbuilding of the city and for many years was prominently connected with the municipal health department. He was a member of the board of health and was honored with the presidency of that body for several terms. He was a native of South Carolina, having been born in Greenville district May 28, 1824. His father was Dr. Thomas W. Alexander, who died in 1848. While a youth Dr. Alexander moved with his father to Lawrenceville, Ga., where he received the principal part of his education at a school taught by Rev. James Patterson. He afterwards attended Oglethorpe university for two years. He began the study of medicine in 1846 with Dr. James Gordon and in 1849 graduated at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. In the same year he came to Atlanta and soon became actively identified with the city. In 1861 Dr. Alexander was a delegate from Fulton county to the secession convention, and his vote was the second recorded for the ordinance of secession. Later he entered the Confederate army as surgeon of the Seventh Georgia Infantry. He has held the office of president, vice president, treasurer and censor of the Georgia State Medical Association, and was also a member of the American Medical Association. He was a member of the First Methodist church and had held the office of stewards. Dr. Alexander was twice married. His first wife was Miss Georgia Orme, daughter of Richard Orme, editor and owner of The Southern Recorder, at Milledgeville. She died in 1876. He afterwards married Miss Ada Reynolds, daughter of Hon. Permedas Reynolds, of Covington, Ga. Mrs. J. P. Stevens, the oldest child, is a daughter of his first wife." Dr. Alexander was survived by his wife and three children, Mrs. J. P. Stevens, James F. Alexander, Jr., and Miss Ada Alexander. He was also survived by a brother, Colonel Thomas W. Alexander, of Rome, and sister, Mrs. E. A. Lowry, of Savannah.