Contributions of the Class of 1891: Alexander Jameson

For most of the members of the Class of 1891, after completing their studies at Brigham Young Academy they took up teaching posts in Utah or neighboring states. These teachers made important contributions to the local educational programs in their communities, included Eugene S. Hart (Idaho), George J. Ramsey (Morgan, Utah), Alva N. Murdock (Charlestown, Utah), Archibald Bevan (Tooele, Utah), Eliza Swenson (Pleasant Grove, Utah), Mary Swenson (Pleasant Grove, Utah), Effie Bullock (Pleasant Grove, Utah), and Alonzo Wall (Castle Dale, Utah). Notable among these was Alexander Jameson, the founder of the Emery Stake Academy.

Jameson was the oldest member of the Class of 1891, graduating at the age of 32. He had come to the Academy with his wife, Millecent, and oldest four children in 1889, and completed the course of study in two years. Before even completing his studies he was asked by Karl G. Maeser in early 1890 to establish a Church academy in Castle Dale, Utah for the Emery Stake. During his time in Emery County he served as school principal, as well as a member of his local bishopric and as stake patriarch.

In 1900 he was again called by the Church to relocate to Sonora, Mexico to expand the Mormon settlements in that country. However, during the Mexican Revolution, Jameson and others from the Mormon colonies were forced to return to the United States. He and his family returned briefly to Castle Dale, before settling in LaSal, Utah. There he served on the San Juan County School Board for a number of years.

While little documentation is available on Jameson, he and other teachers graduating in the Class of 1891 fulfilled the goal of the Academy’s teacher education program to provide trained, Mormon instructors for Mormon communities in the West.