Alger was born to Edwin Alden and Amanda Malvina Alger, née Buswell, in Lowell, Massachusetts.[6][7]
From October 1875 to January 1877 Alger studied law at Harvard Law School and he was admitted to the bar for the County of Middlesex on June 4, 1877.[1] After being admitted to the bar, he began practicing law with his father's firm, Brown & Alger in Boston while living in Cambridge.[6]
^ abcReed, Warren A. (1888), Harvard College Class of 1875 Secretary's Report, No. V., Cambridge, Ma: Harvard College, p. 7
^ abcdefToomey, Daniel P. (1892), Massachusetts of Today: a Memorial of the State, Historical and Biographical, Boston, MA: Columbia Publishing Company, p. 296
^Reed, Warren A. (1888), Harvard College Class of 1875 Secretary's Report, No. V., Cambridge, Ma: Harvard College, p. 8
^ abCambridge City Council (1890), The Revised Ordinances of 1889 of the city of Cambridge, Boston, MA: Cambridge City Council, p. 166
^ abReed, Warren A. (1891), Harvard College Class of 1875 Secretary's Report, No. VI. - 1875-1891, Harvard College, p. 9
^Rand, John Clark (1890). One of a Thousand: A Series of Biographical Sketches of One Thousand Representative Men Resident in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, A.D. 1888-'89. First National Publishing Company. pp. 10–11.