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Alexander M. Dockery

Missouri politician (1845-1926)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ731930
Source-derived summary

Alexander Monroe Dockery (February 11, 1845 – December 26, 1926) was an American physician and politician who served as the 30th governor of Missouri from 1901 to 1905. A Democrat, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 3rd district from 1883 to 1899.

According to one observer, Dockery generally disdained "the progressive-reform impulses that were in ascendancy at the dawn of the new century."

Early life

Alexander Dockery, only child of Willis E. and Sarah Ellen Dockery, was born near Gallatin, Missouri. His father was a Methodist minister and one of the early settlers to the county. The young Dockery attended the local public schools and then studied for a brief time at Macon Academy in (Macon, Missouri) before attending the St. Louis Medical College (now Washington University School of Medicine), graduating on March 2, 1865. Dockery established a medical practice in Linneus, Missouri and attended post-graduate lectures at Bellevue College (New York City) and Jefferson Medical College (Philadelphia) during the winter of 1865–1866. He returned to his practice in Linneus for a time before moving to Chillicothe, Missouri. While in practice in Chillicothe, he met and married Mary Elizabeth Bird in 1869. Dockery served as county physician for Livingston County, Missouri, from 1870 to 1874.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Alexander M. Dockery” as missouri politician (1845-1926). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1845, 1926, 1901, 1905—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1845-02-11. The account is most persuasive where Alexander, Dockery and Missouri can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as missouri politician (1845-1926). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q731930. VIAF identifies the subject as 26902013. The Library of Congress control number is nr00011489. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1845, 1926, 1901 and 1905.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Alexander M. Dockery”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Alexander M. Dockery primary sources, Alexander M. Dockery archive and Alexander research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alexander M. Dockery”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Alexander M. Dockery” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.