Alvin Saunders

(1817-1899) lived in Omaha. Businessman, politician, as territorial governor of Nebraska from 1861 to 1867, he was appointed by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, and his reappointment signed on April 14, 1865 was probably Lincoln’s last official act; initially advocated a transcontinental railway, then delivered the address at groundbreaking ceremonies in Omaha, and urged the territorial legislature to ask Congress to pass a homestead law; during term as U.S. Senator from Nebraska (1877-1883) he promoted Indian affairs and development of inland waterways; helped pioneer several state institutions. Consult Thomas W. Tipton, Forty Years of Nebraska at Home and in Congress, Vol 9 (Nebraska State Historical Society, 1902) 61-73, 305-313 and Dictionary of American Biography, Vol 16 (1935) 380-381 and Who Was Who in America, Rev Ed ,Vol H (1967) 535-536.

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