   Dr. Alexander "Sandy" Wilson Acheson, Jr. 1842 - 1934 Alexander
W. Acheson, soldier, mayor, and physician, was born to Judge Alexander
Wilson and Jane Wishart on October 12, 1842, at Washington,
Pennsylvania. Alexander W. Acheson and Sarah M. Cooke married on
June 20, 1864.
In 1861, he enlisted as a private in the Thirteenth Pennsylvania Regiment. He was transferred to the 140th Pennsylvania Regiment the following year. With this unit he rose to the rank of sergeant in 1862 and captain in 1863. As captain he served as aide-de-camp to Gen. Nelson A. Miles. Capt. Acheson was the first U.S. Army officer to mount captured breastworks at the center of the Confederate lines at the battle of Sposylvania, Virginia, in May 1864. During the course of a five-day battle, he received a cheek wound, leaving a scar but survived the injury. He lost a brother at Gettysburg. Returning to his hometown at the end of the war, he was awarded an honorary A.B. degree from the Washington and Jefferson College. He received an M.D. degree (medicine) from the University of Pennsylvania the following year. He established his medical practice in Philadelphia in 1872, but would abandon it during the same year and move to Denison, Texas. Acheson secured an interview with railroad magnate Jay Gould and argued successfully for the building of tracks from Gould's Texas and Pacific Railway through Denison. During the early 1870s, the family home was built. It contained the first electric lights, water service and telephones to be installed in Denison. Dr. Acheson built his Italianate house on an elevated block of land.  1419 West Gandy Street ca 1908
Children
of Alexander W. Acheson Jr. & Sarah Morgan Cooke
Items of Local and General Interest from the columns of the Denison News Week ending January 21, 1880 . . . Alex W. Acheson, age 4 years, the only son of Dr. A.W. Acheson, died Monday of spinal meningitis. The doctor and his estimable wife had the heartfelt sympathy of the entire community. The remains, accompanied by the mother, were taken to Washington, Pennsylvania, where they were laid to rest in the family burying ground. Mrs. W. H. Sanford accompanied Mrs. Acheson as far as Sedalia, Missouri . . . Dr. A. W. Acheson's youngest brother, Dr. Harry M. Acheson of Pittsbury, Pennsylvania, arrive in Denison in March 1885. The two brothers were engaged in the medical profession together. Dr. Acheson pushed for basic improvement in the city's water supply. He was the first to drill for oil in the area and supported several specific industrial ventures, some successful and some otherwise. 
Public offices & positions
Alexander W. Acheson Jr. was a staunch advocate of efforts to make the Red River navigable and to control its flooding. One of his finest hours was in 1905 when the riverboat, Annie P, steamed up the Red River to a landing north of Denison. Dr. Acheson was frequently cited as the father of the Denison Dam. The work he did regarding the Red River played a part in helping the later dam movement. If one advocate must be singled out for the term "father of Denison Dam" that man was undoubtedly George Moulton. Evangelist of Navigation
The Sherman Daily Democrat published a news article "Klansmen Meet Opposition in Denison" in April, 1922. Dr. Alex W. Acheson made a public accusation before the Klansmen filed out of the First Presbyterian Church.  Organizations
A Story illustrating how Dr. Acheson's career was interlaced with the history of Denison: An Associated Press note came to the Herald office that Tex O'Riley, then a medium famous soldier of fortune and writer, was born fifty years ago in Denison. A reporter assigned to dig into the local connection went first, quite instinctively, to Dr. Acheson's office located in the old Security Building. That was in the good doctor's later days, when his sadly cluttered and dust festoone office reflected some of the abandon of his advanced age. Seated at a roll-top desk that was stacked high with papers, books and miscellany in disorganize array, the doctor was asked if he ever heard of a Tex O'Riley. Hardly rising from his chair, Dr. Acheson reached to the top of the desk, fumbled a day book from the heap and blew away a thick veneer of dust with one hefty puff. Leafing through the yellow pages, he stopped at a page. Sure enough, there was the entry recording his visit to the O'Riley home to deliver a baby exactly fifty years earlier. Dr. Acheson was almost 92 years old when he died on September 2, 1934. He still continued to be surprisingly active until the end. His wife, Sarah, had died in January 1899, leaving no will. The 225 West Main Street property was her separate property. Dr. Acheson's final will was written on March 3, 1930. In his will he stated, "I am utterly opposed to extravagant and expensive funerals, which are more for show than anything else, and it is my desire that . . . my funeral be simple and inexpensive, without flowers." His assets were ordered divided into four parts and given to his grandchildren: Alice Acheson Sproule and Jean Sproule, single women of New York City; Alice Sproule Foster of Wolleston, Massachusetts; and Alex Sproule of San Diego, California. Dr. Alexander W. Acheson Jr, Sarah C. Acheson, and Jean W. Achison are buried at Fairview Cemetery, Denison, TX.  Ancestry.com Brian Hart, "ACHESON, ALEXANDER W.," Handbook of Texas Dallas Morning News September 8, 1934 "Who Was Who in Texas" Maguire, Katy's Baby: Abstract of Title, Lot 9, Block 56, Miller's Second Addition, Denison Sherman Daily Democrat, April 2, 1922, pg1 Sherman Daily Democrat, August 13, 1939 "Residence of Dr. Alex W. Acheson. " Robinson, Frank M., comp. Industrial Denison [N.p.] Means-Moore Co., pg14 The Denison Herald, July 25, 1972 The Sunday Gazetteer, March 29, 1885, pg2    Bancroft Transcriptions, 1887 Biography Index Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |
