William DeWitt Alexander

William DeWitt Alexander
With his family in the 1880s
Born	(1833-04-02)April 2, 1833 Honolulu, Hawaii
Died	February 21, 1913(1913-02-21) (aged 79)
Occupation	Educator, Surveyor
Spouse(s)	Abigail Charlotte Baldwin
Children	Agnes Baldwin Alexander + 4 others
Parent(s)	William Alexander Mary McKinney

William DeWitt Alexander (April 2, 1833 – February 21, 1913) was an educator, author and linguist in the Kingdom of Hawaii and Republic of Hawaii. He then constructed maps for the Territory of Hawaii.

Alexander was born in Honolulu April 2, 1833. His father was missionary William Patterson Alexander and mother Mary Ann McKinney. He was named after William Radcliffe DeWitt (1792–1867) a Presbyterian pastor of his mother, who convinced her and her brother Edmund McKinney to become missionaries. He graduated from Punahou School in 1849, and traveled to New England to enroll at Yale. He received a BA degree from Yale in 1855 as Salutatorian, a Master of Arts in 1858, and was a member of Skull and Bones. He returned to Hawaii and joined the faculty of Punahou School as a professor of Greek and history. He married Abigail Charlotte Baldwin (1833–1913), daughter of missionary Dwight Baldwin in 1861. He became the fourth president of Punahou (then called Oahu College) in the summer of 1864, replacing Cyrus T. Mills. Mills and his wife Susan Tolman Mills then founded Mills College. During this time Alexander published books on Hawaiian history and the Hawaiian language. His younger brother Samuel Thomas Alexander founded Alexander & Baldwin with his wife's brother Henry Perrine Baldwin. The swimming pool and athletic field at the school are named for Alexander family members. In spring 1871 Alexander became Royal Surveyor-General, and Edward Payson Church replaced him as president of Punahou. On November 6, 1874 he was appointed to the Board of education, and then in 1896 Commissioner of Public Instruction. He served on the Privy Council of State, the advisory council for King Kalākaua and his successor Queen Liliuokalani. After Hawaii was annexed into the United States in 1898, Alexander was surveyor of the Territory of Hawaii. He assisted the U.S. National Geodetic Survey mapping the islands. He was a founding member of the Hawaiian Historical Society (during its second incarnation in 1893) and served as its first corresponding secretary. He wrote many articles for its journal.