Memorial Record of Western Kentucky, Lewis Publishing Company, 1904,
pp 656-664 (portrait in document) [Lyon]

     HON. CHARLES ANDERSON.  The life history of few men of the
nation have touched along so many lines of usefulness as that of
Governor Charles Anderson, and yet there have been few men who have
sought to figure in as limited extent in the public eye as did he. 
His service was never promoted by the hope of public reward or
honors, but was the outpouring of a kindly spirit, deeply interested
in mankind and the highest development of the race.  Material
improvement, intellectual and aesthetic culture and moral progress
all felt the stimulus of his efforts.  His nation received his loyal
support during the darkest hours of its history, and there stands
to-day [sic] in Kentucky one of its most beautiful towns as a
monument to its founder, Governor Charles Anderson.
     Governor Anderson was born at Soldier's Retreat--his father's
homestead,--in Jefferson county, Kentucky, on the 1st of June, 1814. 
This house, erected by his father, stood on land allotted to him by
the state of Virginia in recognition of his services as a colonel in
the Continental army in the war of the Revolution.
     The ancestral history of the family is traced back to Robert
Anderson, who was born in Scotland and was of pure Scotch descent. 
He and his brother David came to America in 1665 and settled in the
colony of Virginia at New Kent Court House.  His son was Robert
Anderson, second, of St. Peter's Parish, and his grandson was
Robert, third, who purchased an estate which was known as
"Goldmines," and thus he came to be called "Robin of Goldmines."  He
wedded Elizabeth Clough, a maiden of the Virginia colony.  Among
their children was Richard Clough Anderson, the father of the
Governor.  He was born at the family home, Goldmines, in Hanover
county, January 12, 1750 (O.S.), and was commissioned a captain of
the Virginia militia in his early manhood.  He served with
distinction in the Revolutionary war, rising to the rank of colonel,
and for his services was granted by the Virginia house of burgesses
a tract of land in Kentucky, where he afterward established his
home, calling his estate Soldier's Retreat, a home such as gained
for the state her reputation for hospitality.  It was here that the
noted Revolutionary patriot passed away, October 16, 1826.  As
surveyor general of the state he established offices in Louisville,
and from the year 1783 or 1784 he made his home continuously in this
state.  He was twice married, his first union being with Miss
Elizabeth Clark, a sister of General George Rogers Clark and General
Lewis Clark.  Of this marriage four children were born.  The eldest
of these was Richard Clough Anderson, Jr., who was elected to
congress in 1817, at the same time with Henry Clay.  He was our
first minister to the United States of Colombia, and died en route
from Bogota to Panama to attend the first Pan-American-Panama Canal
Congress in 1826.  For his second wife Colonel Anderson chose Miss
Sarah Marshall, an own cousin of his first wife and of Chief Justice
Marshall.  They became the parents of thirteen children, of whom
Governor Anderson was the youngest son that reached adult age.
     Governor Anderson began his education under the direction of a
private tutor, and by the time he was six years of age had made
considerable progress in Latin.  He was only twelve years of age at
the time of his father's death.  When a youth of fifteen he became a
student in the Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, where he was
graduated with the class of 1833, being then nineteen years of age. 
Desiring to make the practice of law his life work, he was the first
of a thousand students who studied law in the office of Judge Pirtle, of
Louisville.  He also read law in Cincinnati, and then entered upon the
practice of his profession in Dayton, Ohio, where he soon afterward
entered into partnership with Judge Joseph Crane.  Later he removed to
Cincinnati, where he formed a partnership with Mr. Rufus King, and in
both cities he enjoyed a large and lucrative
patronage.  He was always a deep thinker, a profound reasoner and
logical in argument, and he won success in his chosen calling.  His
broad mind, keen sensibilities and strong sympathy, however, caused
him to give considerable time and attention to the study of various
questions relative to the political, social and economic conditions
of the country and to its intellectual progress.  He was known as
one of the early political leaders of Ohio and served in the state
senate in 1843-4, leaving the impress of his individuality and
patriotic spirit upon the legislation enacted during that period.
    There is no one man to whom Ohio owes more for the establishment
of her school system upon a firm and progressive basis.  When
opposition was sharp and bitter, his efforts in its defense were
never relaxed, and his energy and eloquence in its behalf were
potent efforts for good, producing results that are still enjoyed by
the entire school population of the state.  This alone would entitle
him to distinction and the gratitude of his race, and yet he
performed many other works equally commendable and that render him
one of the benefactors of mankind.  He it was who suggested the
establishment of the first home in America for the volunteers of the
Civil war, that at Dayton, Ohio, and as the result of his idea and
his labors in this regard, there are now scattered throughout the
country these homes of the brave boys in blue who stood as the
defenders of the Union cause.
     Governor Anderson was a man of keen insight, with marked
recognition of possibilities, and he looked beyond the exigencies of
the moment to the possibilities of the future.  He saw what
railroad-building would mean to the country, and while in the Ohio
senate he became the originator of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton
Railroad, and after his removal to Kentucky, he was one of the three
men most influential in the building of the Elizabethtown & Paducah
Railroad, now the Louisville division of the Illinois Central
Railroad.
     After residing in Cincinnati from 1845 until 1858, Governor
Anderson removed to the south.  He left Ohio because of ill health,
and ere [sic] he said goodby to his fellow citizens, his brethren in
the legal fraternity held a banquet in his honor.
     Going to San Antonio, Texas, he secured a large body of land
near that city and there engaged in the breeding of horses and
cattle, in which business he was engaged at the time of the outbreak
of the Civil war.  He had watched with interest the progress of
events in the south, and never attempted to disguise his love of
country or his loyal devotion to the Union cause.  In fact, when
secession was advocated and encouraged by the people of Texas, he
valiantly defended the Union cause and made a number of speeches in
defense of his opinions that so incensed southern sentiment that he
was arrested and imprisoned.  However, from the camp in which he was
imprisoned, by reason of some outside aid and the inattention of his
guards, he escaped, fled to Mexico, whence his family had preceded
him, and thence sailed to New York.  Immediately afterward he went
to Dayton, Ohio, where he was tendered an appointment as colonel of
the Ninety-third Regiment of Ohio Volunteers.  This he accepted, and
with his regiment, fully recruited, armed and equipped, left Dayton
for Kentucky, August 20, 1862.  He was in command of his regiment at
Stone River, the first important engagement in which he
participated, and on the 21st of February, 1863, he was wounded, his
injuries unfitting him for further field service and thus forcing
him to resign.  He was a man of unflinching courage in the face of
danger, and his known bravery inspired his men to deeds of valor.  He won
the love of his soldiers, whom he never needlessly exposed to
danger, but when duty called never failed to lead them into the
thickest of the fight.  On leaving the army Colonel Anderson
rejoined his family in Dayton, and soon afterward, at the
solicitation of the Republican party, he accepted the nomination for
lieutenant governor of Ohio and was elected in 1863.  Upon the death
of Governor Brough he succeeded to the office of governor, and
filled out the unexpired term with marked capability, safely guiding
the ship of state through troubled waters.
     After his retirement from office Governor Anderson returned to
his native state, becoming a resident of Eddyville in 1866.  He
purchased a large tract of land near the town and superintended
important and extensive agricultural interests.  About 1874 he laid
out the town of Kuttawa, and in 1877 he took up his abode there.
     While in college Governor Anderson had formed the acquaintance
of Miss Eliza J. Brown, and in 1835 they were married.  They became
the parents of six children, of whom three survive, the only
surviving son being Colonel Latham Anderson.  The daughters are Miss
Kitty and Mrs. Belle Skinner, the latter of Waynesville, North
Carolina, and the former still living at the family home in Kuttawa. 
The mother was born in Dayton, Ohio, October 20, 1816, and died in
Kuttawa, November 19, 1901.  She was a daughter of Henry and
Catherine (Patterson) Brown.  Her father was a native of Virginia
and went to Kentucky as private secretary to Governor Preston.
     In his political affiliations Governor Anderson was first a
Whig and afterward a Republican, and in his religious connections he
was a Presbyterian.  His labors, however, benefited people of all
races, nationalities, creeds and beliefs.  He was a man of broadest
sympathy and humanitarian principles, and his activity seems to have
touched upon almost every department of labor that has benefited
mankind.  He always continued his efforts in behalf of education,
and he became active in prison reform associations.  He was also a
zealous factor in southern commercial conventions, greatly desiring
the business development and material upbuilding [sic] of the south,
which he loved so well.  He was a man of intense artistic
temperament, evinced in the love of all forms of art, and, being a
passionate lover of nature, the practice of landscape gardening was
his favorite pursuit.  This was manifest not only in the external
decorations of his own home, and he was also instrumental in the
founding of park cemeteries and public parks.  It may be justly be
claimed that he was the originator of the park-cemetery idea, for
which America bears the palm among all nations, for in 1845 he
suggested and outlined the plan for Woodland cemetery, near Dayton,
Ohio.  He has left a monument to his genius in landscape
architecture, of the naturally lovely surroundings, and in the
system of parks, including Cemetery Park, with which he has
munificently endowed the town.  Living in the midst of ideally
beautiful surroundings, Governor Anderson spent the evening of a
happy, useful and honorable life, passing away on the 2nd of
September, 1895, in the eighty-second year of his age.
"His life was gentle and the elements
So mixed in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, ‘This was a man."

Anderson Clough Clark Clay Marshall Pirtle Crane King Brough Brown
Skinner Patterson Preston
=
Jefferson-KY Hanover-VA Scotland OH TX NY NC

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