Early Life

Lewis Miller Alexander was a businessman and paper manufacturer born near Osage, Iowa. After working at various occupations, he moved to Healdsburg, California, where he was a general merchant and helped to organize the Santa Rosa National Bank. In California he became acquainted with Wisconsin lumberman John Edwards Jr. and married Edwards' daughter in 1890.

Career

He then moved to Port Edwards, Wisconsin, where he was one of the incorporaters of the John Edwards Manufacturing Company. In 1891, following the death of Edwards, he became president of the company. Faced with dwindling lumber resources, he turned to wood pulp and the manufacture of paper. In 1893, he helped organize the Nekoosa Paper Company and built a paper mill at Nekoosa with T. E. Nash, Frank Garrison and others. In 1896 the same group built the John Edwards Paper Mill at Port Edwards.

Alexander also became interested in the Centralia Pulp and Water Power Co. and was president of the firm in 1905. He was an important figure and an officeholder in the Nash Lumber Company, established in 1902, and the Port Edwards Fibre Company, established in 1906. In 1908 Alexander formed the Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Company with T. E. Nash and others, which eventually became one of the largest paper manufacturers in the area. He served as vice-president of this firm until 1911, when he became president and general manager. In 1927 he turned over management of the firm to his son, John E. Alexander, but remained president and treasurer until his death.

Accomplishments

He helped organize the Wood County National Bank, founded the Nekoosa State Bank, and had widespread business holdings in Wisconsin and other states. Active in philanthropy, he built schools at Port Edwards and Nekoosa, donated large sums of money to Lawrence College and served as president of the school's board of trustees for many years. 

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]