Nationality American Parents Judith Spillman Name Alexander Page | Spouse(s) Mary Ann Elliston Occupation Preacher | |
Born June 26, 1806 Sevier County, Tennessee, U.S. Religion Methodist Episcopal Church, South Children Frank Waters Green
William Martin Green
Mary Anna Green Hunter Relatives Robert A. Young (son-in-law) Died July 15, 1874, Davidson County, Tennessee, United States | ||
Resting place Mount Olivet Cemetery | ||
Alexander Little Page Green (a.k.a. "A.L.P. Green") (1806-1874) was an American Methodist preacher, slaveholder, and co-founder of Vanderbilt University.
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Early life
Alexander Little Page Green was born on June 26, 1806 in Sevier County, Tennessee. His father was George Green and his mother, Judith Spillman. He grew up in Alabama.
Career
Green joined the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in Tennessee in 1824, at the age of seventeen. He became an ordained deacon in 1826 and an elder in 1828. He was elected to the General conference in 1831 and re-elected until he died. He was also one of the commissioners overseeing the lawsuit between the Southern and Northern Methodist Churches. He served as the first minister of McKendree United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, until John Berry McFerrin (1807-1887) took over. He also founded the Southern Methodist Publishing House.
Green was also one of the founders of Vanderbilt University in Nashville. 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). Later, from 1872 to 1875, he served as Treasurer of its Board of Trust. He also sat on the Board of Trustees of the Tennessee Blind School. Additionally, throughout his ministry, he carried medical pills and powders for sick patients, even though he did not have a doctor's license.
Green was a slaveholder. During the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865, he supported the Confederate States Army.
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. They had two sons and one daughter:
Death and legacy
Green died on July 15, 1874 in Davidson County, Tennessee. He was buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, where there is a monument in his honor.
His portrait hangs in the Board of Trust lounge of Kirkland Hall, the administrative building of Vanderbilt University. Moreover, the Alex Green Elementary School, located in Whites Creek, Tennessee North of Nashville, is named in his honor. His granddaughter, Julia McClung Green (1873-1961), was an educator; the Julia Green Elementary School in Nashville is named in her honor.