Joseph McHenry Alexander, was born in Hickston, Texas, 22 March 1895, to Wiley J. Alexander and his wife Maggie L. James Alexander. Following service as a corporal in the 165th Depot Brigade in WWI (Fold3.com), Alexander married Josephine V. L. Ford in 1921. Alexander completed his undergraduate degree at Prairie View Normal & Industrial College (now Prairie View A & M University) and had become a Professor of Animal Husbandry, teaching in the Agriculture Department there, by 1926. At that time, five of the seven professors in the Agriculture Department were Iowa State graduates, including R. B. Atwood, E. B. Evans, J. L. Lockett, L.A. Potts, and Alexander. To enhance his credentials, Alexander completed an M.S. in Dairy Husbandry at Iowa State College in 1930. He was still a Professor at Prairie View when he died of a coronary occlusion at the age of 46 on 18 August 1941. He is buried in the Mount Eden Cemetery, Hickston, Texas. No information on Alexander’s residence/s in Ames has come to light.
Photo credit: Prairie View State Normal & Industrial College. The Prairie, 1926. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.pvamu.edu/yearbooks/33