Alexander Little Page Green

Alexander Little Page Green was born in 1806 or 1807 in Sevier County, Tennessee.{{cite web|title=A.L.P. Green 1806 - 1874|url=http://www.tnportraits.org/green-alp.htm|website=Tennessee Portrait Project|publisher=National Society of Colonial Dames of America in Tennessee|accessdate=April 19, 2018|archive-date=January 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105151612/http://www.tnportraits.org/green-alp.htm|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|title=Gone to His Rest.The Venerable A.L.P. Green, D.D., After Great Afflictions, Sinks into the Sleep of Death. Biographical Sketch of One of the Most Eminent Ministers in the Southern Methodist Church.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/83331985/?terms=%22A.%2BL.%2BP.%2BGreen%22|accessdate=April 19, 2018|work=Clarksville Chronicle (reprinted from the Nashville Banner)|location=Clarksville, Tennessee|date=July 25, 1874|page=1|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }} His father was George Green and his mother, Judith Spillman. He grew up in Alabama.

Green earned a D.D. in 1836 and an LL.D. in 1857.

Green joined the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in Tennessee in 1824, at the age of seventeen. He was ordained as a deacon in 1826 and an elder in 1828 by Bishop Joshua Soule. He was elected to the Methodist General conference in 1831 and re-elected until he died. He was also a member of the Louisville Convention. He was in favor of lay representation in the church.

Green was a Methodist preacher for 50 years and a presiding elder for 36 years. He served as the first minister of the Nashville Station Church after it was renamed McKendree United Methodist Church in 1832 Nashville, Tennessee,{{cite news|last1=Davis|first1=Louise|title=Early Silversmiths Left Marks on City. Names of Elliston, Calhoun Figure Big in Nashville History|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/111745328/?terms=%22william%2BR.%2BElliston%22|accessdate=April 14, 2018|work=The Tennessean|date=August 14, 1983|pages=93–94|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }} established in 1787. He was succeeded by Rev. John Berry McFerrin. During the course of his ministry, Green carried medical pills and powders for sick patients, even though he did not have a doctor's license.Walter Brownlow Posey, The development of Methodism in the old Southwest, 1783-1824, Porcupine Press, 1933, p. 40 [https://books.google.com/books?id=EMIvAQAAIAAJ&q=%22A.L.P.+Green%22+nashville]

Green was one of the commissioners overseeing the lawsuit between the Southern and Northern Methodist Churches. He was the founder of the Southern Methodist Publishing House, and the chairman of the Methodist Book Committee.{{cite news|title=Obituary. Death of Rev. Dr. Green at Nashville|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/178970621/?terms=%22A.%2BL.%2BP.%2BGreen%22|accessdate=April 19, 2018|work=Star Tribune|location=Minneapolis, Minnesota|date=July 17, 1874|page=3|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }} He was instrumental in establishing the Southern Methodist Publishing House at Nashville.

Green owned at least one slave named Philis, who died in 1853.{{cite web|title=INDEX III SLAVES BURIED BETWEEN 1846-1865|url=http://www.thenashvillecitycemetery.org/aa-III.htm|website=Nashville City Cemetery|accessdate=December 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222105415/http://www.thenashvillecitycemetery.org/aa-III.htm|archive-date=December 22, 2017|url-status=dead}} During the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865, he supported the Confederate States of America.Mississippi Quarterly, Starkville, Mississippi: College of Arts and Sciences of Mississippi State University, Volume 24, Issues 1-4, p. 119 [https://books.google.com/books?id=gZsKAAAAIAAJ&q=%22A.L.P.+Green%22+nashville] In September 1861, the Nashville Daily Patriot published an article suggesting Green had been appointed as Brigadier General of the Confederate States Army, though they added, "We trust it is nothing more than a rumor."{{cite news|title=By Telegraph from Virginia|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/86539158/?terms=%22A.%2BL.%2BP.%2BGreen%22%2Bconfederate|accessdate=April 19, 2018|work=Daily Nashville Patriot|date=September 24, 1861|page=2|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |quote=It was currently reported in this city yesterday that Rev. A.L.P. Green, D.D., has received the appointment of Brigadier General in the army of the Confederate States. We trust it is nothing more than a rumor. We hardly think the church could dispense with his eminent ability as a religious teacher. And if it could, we are persuaded that there are a great many persons in the South, and in this State who would be infinitely more efficient in the field that Dr. Green could hope to be.}}

Green was one of the founders of Vanderbilt University in Nashville in 1873. 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.Nashville Monthly Record of Medical and Physical Science, 1859, p. 511 [https://books.google.com/books?id=WSoCAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22A.L.P.+Green%22+nashville&pg=PA511] From 1872 to 1875, he served as treasurer of its board of trust. He was also a trustee of the Nashville Female Academy (also known as the Old Academy),{{cite news|title=The Old Academy.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/121955893/?terms=%22A.%2BL.%2BP.%2BGreen%22|accessdate=April 19, 2018|work=Republican Banner|location=Nashville, Tennessee|date=January 9, 1874|page=4|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }} and the Tennessee Blind School.[https://books.google.com/books?id=uu8CAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22A.L.P.+Green%22+nashville&pg=PA48 Nashville Business Directory, 1860, p. 48]

Green was recognized as an "authority" on fishing,{{cite news|title="What I Know About Fishing"|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/121955291/?terms=%22A.%2BL.%2BP.%2BGreen%22|accessdate=April 19, 2018|work=Republican Banner|location=Nashville, Tennessee|date=January 7, 1874|page=4|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }} and he gave a lecture about it at the Tulip Street Methodist Church in 1874.{{cite news|title=What I Know About Fishing. Dr. Green's Lecture At Tulip Street Church Last Night.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/121956189/?terms=%22A.%2BL.%2BP.%2BGreen%22|accessdate=April 19, 2018|work=Republican Banner|location=Nashville, Tennessee|date=January 10, 1874|page=4|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }} He began writing a book about fishing before his death.

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.{{cite web|title=William Hiter Elliston (1819-1852).|url=http://www.tnportraits.org/29814-elliston.htm|website=Tennessee Portrait Project|publisher=National Society of Colonial Dames of America in Tennessee|accessdate=April 19, 2018|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304192233/http://www.tnportraits.org/29814-elliston.htm|url-status=dead}} They had two sons and two daughters:

• Captain Frank Waters Green, who served in the CSA during the Civil War.{{cite news|title=Captain Frank W. Green. Highly Esteemed and Prominent Citizen Passes Away. Useful Career Is Ended. Descendant of Distinguished Tennessee Family--Served the Confederacy During Civil War, and Had Been Wholesale Merchant.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/119011882/?terms=%22Frank%2BWaters%2BGreen%22|accessdate=April 19, 2018|work=The Nashville American|date=February 22, 1904|page=5|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}
• William Martin Green, who became a Methodist minister.{{cite news|title=Soldier of Cross Passes.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/178446492/?terms=%22William%2BMartin%2BGreen%22|accessdate=April 19, 2018|work=Nashville Tennessean|date=February 17, 1926|page=4|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}
• Laura Green, who married businessman Thomas Duncan Fite.{{cite news|title=Summons Comes to Col. T. D. Green. One of Best Known Men in Nashville Is Dead. Factor in City's Growth.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/118944673/?terms=%22Thomas%2BD.%2BFite%22|accessdate=April 19, 2018|work=The Nashville American|date=June 5, 1907|page=5|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}
• Mary Anna Green Hunter, who married Confederate Captain Robert P. Hunter, followed by Methodist minister Robert A. Young.{{cite news|title=Mrs Mary Kirkpatrick|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/148635470/?terms=%22Mary%2Bgreen%2BHunter%22|accessdate=April 19, 2018|work=The Nashville Tennessean|date=February 15, 1942|page=40|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |quote=She was the daughter of Captain Robert P. Hunter of the Confederate army. Her foster father, R. A. Young, was the founder of the West End Methodist Church, of which Mrs Kirkpatrick had been a member since childhood.}}

Green suffered from tetter for many years. He died on July 15, 1874, in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 76. He was buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, where there is a monument in his honor.James A. Hoobler, Sarah Hunter Marks, Nashville:: From the Collection of Carl and Otto Giers, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2000, p. 90 [https://books.google.com/books?id=cD_96hiqBJMC&dq=%22A.L.P.+Green%22+nashville&pg=PA90]

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.

• {{cite book|last1=Green|first1=William M.|editor-last1=Summers|editor-first1=Thomas O.|title=Life and papers of A.L.P. Green, D.D|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeandpapersal00greegoog|date=1877|publisher=Southern Methodist Publishing House|location=Nashville, Tennessee|oclc=656900150}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/98487940 Dr Alexander Little Green] on Find a Grave

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Category:1806 births

Category:1875 deaths

Category:People from Sevier County, Tennessee

Category:Religious leaders from Nashville, Tennessee

Category:American Methodist clergy

Category:Vanderbilt University people

Category:Southern Methodists

Category:American slave owners

Category:19th-century Methodists

Category:19th-century American clergy