Alexander T. McGill

Alexander Taggart McGill Jr. (October 20, 1843 – April 21, 1900) was an American jurist and Democratic party politician from New Jersey. He served as chancellor of the New Jersey court of chancery from 1887 to 1900 and was the Democratic nominee for Governor of New Jersey in 1895.

Biography McGill was born in Allegheny City (now part of Pittsburgh), Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Rev. Alexander Taggart McGill and Eleanor Acheson McCulloch. When he was eight, his father was elected to a chair in the Princeton Theological Seminary and the family moved to New Jersey.

McGill moved to Jersey City, New Jersey, where he would remain the rest of his life. From 1870 to 1876, he practiced in partnership with New Jersey Attorney General Robert Gilchrist, Jr. He was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1874 and again in 1875. On June 10, 1875, he married Caroline Stockton Olmsted at Princeton, New Jersey.

In 1895, he became the Democratic nominee for Governor of New Jersey. He refused to campaign, however, attending only to his duties as chancellor. He was defeated by the Republican candidate John W. Griggs by a margin of 26,900 votes.

McGill continued to serve as chancellor until his death. He died at his Jersey City home in 1900 at the age of 56. McGill was interred at Princeton Cemetery.