Alexandre, James Henry Jr. (1883–1956)

1883–1956

Parents: James Henry Alexandre (1848–1912) and Gertrude Jerome (1853–1883).

Spouse: (1) Anne Loomis (1890–1948), married November 29, 1913; (2) Olivia Dulaney Wheeler (1903–2001), married January 22, 1955.

Children: With Anne Loomis: James Henry Alexandre III (1915–1963), DeWitt Loomis Alexandre (1917–1982), and Lawrence Jerome Alexandre (1923–2001).

Kinship: Granduncle of the post–World War II Smith generation.

Early Life

James Henry Alexandre Jr. was born in 1883, the elder child of James Henry Alexandre and Gertrude Jerome. His mother died when he was an infant, and he was brought up largely under the influence of his stepmother, Elizabeth Boyce Lawrence Alexandre, connecting him closely with the Lawrence and Boyce families of Bayside and Staten Island.

Career and Activities

Alexandre worked at Effingham Lawrence & Co., a firm with deep family associations, reflecting the long-standing commercial ties between the Alexandres and the Lawrences. His professional life centered on finance and investment management, typical of his generation within these interrelated New York families.

Residences and Social Life

He owned Valleybrook, an estate in Glen Cove, Long Island, where he and his family were part of the North Shore social community. He was active in coaching and dancing circles, continuing the Alexandre family’s equestrian traditions.

Later Life

After the death of his first wife, Anne Loomis, in 1948, he married Olivia Dulaney Wheeler, a member of an old Maryland family. The couple maintained a quiet social presence during their later years, dividing time between Long Island and New York City.

Death

James Henry Alexandre Jr. died in 1956. He was remembered as a courteous and cultivated man who exemplified the quiet continuity of New York’s established mercantile families through the twentieth century.