{{short description|19th-century politician and lawyer from Virginia}} {{For|his son, the soldier and educator|Alexander Q. Holladay}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Alexander Holladay | image = | alt = | caption = | order = | state = Virginia | district = 4th | term = March 4, 1849 – – March 3, 1853 | predecessor =Richard L. T. Beale | successor = Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. | office1 = Member of the Virginia House of Delegates | term_start1 = 1845 | term_end1 = 2847 | alongside1 = | predecessor1 = | successor1 = | birth_name = Alexander Richmond Holladay | birth_date = {{birth date|1811|9|18}} | birth_place = Spotsylvania County, Virginia, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1877|1|29|1811|9|18}} | death_place = Richmond, Virginia, U.S. | resting_place = Prospect Hill Cemetery | party = Democratic | spouse = {{marriage|Patsy Quarles Poindexter|1837}} | children = Alexander | education = University of Virginia | alma_mater = | occupation = {{hlist|Politician|lawyer}} | signature = }} '''Alexander Richmond Holladay''' (September 18, 1811 – January 29, 1877) was a 19th-century politician and lawyer from Virginia.
==Early life and background== Born on the Prospect Hill plantation, Belmont, in Spotsylvania County (now in Mineral, Virginia), Holladay was the son of Waller Holladay (1776–1860). He had a twin brother, Henry Addison Holladay, and they also had other brothers, Lewis Littlepage Holladay (born 1803), Albert Lewis Holladay (1805–1856), John Zachary Holladay (1806–1842) and Waller Lewis Holladay (1809–1873). Their sister Anne Elizabeth Holladay (1808–1853) married Dr W. Q. Poindexter, a nephew of George Poindexter, Governor of Mississippi. The Holladays were also related to the diplomat and general Lewis Littlepage, who was Littlepage's half-uncle (that is, his father's half-brother).<ref>B. F. Johnson, ''Makers of America'' (1916), [https://books.google.com/books?id=fdoDAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Alexander+Richmond+Holladay%22 p. 223] online</ref>
Alexander Holladay attended public schools as a child and received special training under John Lewis at the Llangollen School, Bel Air, in Spotsylvania County, then attended the University of Virginia, where he studied law.
On September 7, 1837, Holladay married Patsy Quarles Poindexter, a daughter of Judge William Green Poindexter. Their son Alexander Quarles Holladay was born on May 8, 1839.<ref>A.M. Holladay, ''The Holladay family'' (1983), p.</ref>
==Career and death== Holladay was admitted to the bar, commencing practice in Spotsylvania, Orange and Louisa Counties, Virginia. From 1845 to 1847 he was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and held several local offices before being elected a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives in 1848, serving from 1849 to 1853. There, Holladay was chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Navy from 1849 to 1851. He declined reelection in 1852 and moved to Richmond, Virginia in 1853 where he commenced practicing law. Holladay was president of the Virginia Board of Public Works from 1857 to 1861 before his death in Richmond on January 29, 1877. He was interred in the family cemetery called "Prospect Hill" in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{CongBio|H000714}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=Virginia | district=8 | before=Richard L.T. Beale | after= Charles J. Faulkner | years=March 4, 1849 – March 4, 1853 }} {{s-end}} {{CongBio|H000714}} {{VirginiaRepresentatives08}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holladay, Alexander}} Category:1811 births Category:1877 deaths Category:People from Spotsylvania County, Virginia Category:Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates Category:University of Virginia School of Law alumni Category:Politicians from Richmond, Virginia Category:Democratic Party United States representatives from Virginia Category:Lawyers from Richmond, Virginia Category:19th-century American lawyers Category:19th-century United States representatives Category:19th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly