Alexander Majors was born in 1814 in Kentucky. He came to Missouri with his family at the age of five. Shortly after moving to Missouri, his mother was injured in a fall; she died a year and a half later.

Majors became a Cass County farmer and married Katherine Stallcup. They had five daughters and two sons. Because he felt the farm wasn’t supporting them, he went into the freight trading business in 1848.