Bakewell, Rev. Alexander Gordon

Submitted by Mike Miller

Bakewell, Rev. Alexander Gordon.--Residence, 1619 South Rampart street, New Orleans, La--Was born at Louisville, Ky., Dec. 16, 1822; son of Thomas Woodhouse and Elizabeth Rankin (Page) Bakewell, both of whom were born in England, and came to the United States about the beginning of the nineteenth century. The paternal and maternal grandparents, William Bakewell and Benjamin Page, established the first glassmaking plant in the United States, at Pittsburg, Pa.., in 1808, and this property remained in the family until quite recently. An ancestor, whose name also was William Bakewell, was one of the founders of the science of geology. He lived in England. Another of the family ancestors occupied the office of Lord Mayor of London, and it was he who, upon a memorable occasion, supplied means to Charles II. Members of the Bakewell family were in banking business in London during many generations. In 1808 Thomas Woodhouse Bakewell, the father, moved to New Orleans and there established himself in mercantile business, which he continued until the beginning of the war of 1812, when he moved to Louisville, Ky. While living in the latter city he built the first steamboat to ply between Louisville and New Orleans. Later he moved to Covington, Ky., and from there to Cincinnati, where his death occurred. His profession was that of a shipbuilder and foundryman. Alexander Gordon Bakewell was educated at Elizabeth college, Island of Guernsey. In early life he was engaged in mercantile pursuits, having received a commercial education in the house of Francisco de Lizardi, at New Orleans, with which business he became associated in 1839, upon his return from college. At the beginning of the Civil war he enlisted as orderly sergeant and lay reader in Company Five, Washington artillery, and on March 6, 1862, went to the front. He took part in the battle of Shiloh, and in all the engagements from Dalton down to Atlanta. After having been honorably discharged from the Confederate service, he re-entered the army of the Confederacy as chaplain, with a commission from the Confederate States Government, and was assigned to duty in the Seventh and Twenty-Eight Mississippi battalions at Snyder's Bluff, near Vicksburg. In this connection he served throughout the siege of Vicksburg, and after the surrender of the army there was paroled. After exchange he served with his command as above stated to the close of the war and was paroled at the surrender of the army of the Tennessee, at Gainesville, Ala., May 12 1865. He then returned to New Orleans, where he has since lived, with the exception of 15 years passed in the parishes of East and West Feliciana, La. He was ordained as Deacon in the Protestant Episcopal church by Bishop Wilmer, of Alabama, May 13, 1864, and ordained as Priest by the same bishop, May 7, 1865. Upon his return to New Orleans after the war, he took charge of Mt. Olivet church, Algiers, where he remained during several years. Following this he was rector of the church at Clinton, La., during three years, and thereafter Rector of Grace church, St. Francisville, La., until 1884, when he took charge of Trinity chapel, New Orleans, where he has since remained, being at this time incumbent of that charge. Rev. Bakewell is affiliated with the democratic party. He is a Master Mason and chaplain of Alpha Home Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons. Also, he is chaplain-general of the United Confederate veterans, Louisiana division. In 1847 W. A. Gordon Bakewell was married to Miss Sophie Cuvellier, daughter of Charles and Virginia (Coigner) Cuvellier of New Orleans, La., and three children have been born to their union, namely: Theore H., Emma, and Annie Bakewell, the first and last-named of whom are now deceased.

Source: Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 34-35. Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical
Association.