Introduction

Biography

Alexander was the son of Tho­mas Bur­gess, for ma­ny years a judge in Rhode Is­land, and Mary Mac­kle. Both his par­ents were na­tives of Ware­ham, Mas­sa­chu­setts.

He gra­du­at­ed from Brown Uni­ver­si­ty in 1838, and from the Ge­ne­ral Theo­lo­gic­al Se­mi­na­ry in 1841.

He be­came a dea­con at St. John’s, Pro­vi­dence, Rhode Is­land, in No­vem­ber 1842, and was or­dained a priest at Grace Church, Pro­vi­dence, on All Saints’ Day, November 1, 1843.

From that time un­til East­er 1854, he was rec­tor of St. Mark’s, Au­gus­ta, Maine. He then moved to Port­land, Maine, where he was rec­tor of St. Luke’s, 1854–67.

After that, he moved to New York and became rec­tor of St. John’s Brook­lyn, 1867–69.

In December 1869, he moved to Mas­sa­chu­setts to be rec­tor of Christ Church, Spring­field, un­til be­com­ing a bishop. He rep­re­sent­ed the dio­ces­es of Maine, Long Is­land, and Mas­sa­chu­setts.

He was con­se­crat­ed First Bi­shop of Quin­cy in Christ Church, Spring­field, Mas­sa­chu­setts, May 15, 1878.

Upon the or­ga­ni­za­tion of the Pro­vince of Il­li­nois, com­pris­ing the three dio­ces­es of Il­li­nois (lat­er Chi­ca­go), Quin­cy and Spring­field, in the state of Il­li­nois, he was elect­ed first Pri­mus of the pro­vince.

Burgess au­thored print­ed ser­mons, ad­dresses, Sun­day school ques­tion books, ca­rols and hymns, and ed­it­ed the mem­oir of his bro­ther, Bi­shop George Bur­gess of Maine.

He re­ceived an S.T.D. de­gree from Brown Uni­ver­si­ty in 1866, and from Ra­cine Col­lege, Wis­con­sin, in 1862.