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.

From 1878 to 1891 Alger was a member of the Cambridge Democratic Committee, from 1884 to 1891 he was a member of Massachusetts' Democratic party state committee, and he represented Massachusetts' eight Congressional District at the 1888 Democratic National Convention.

This article about a member of the Massachusetts State Senate is a stub.