James W. Anderson

JAMES W. ANDERSON.

Mr. Anderson was born in Augusta county, Virginia, on the 6th of November, 1827. being the second in order of birth of the eight children of John and Fannie (Clark) Anderson, the former of whom was born in the same county of the Old Dominion state, on the 12th of December. 1788. while the latter was born in Clarke county. Virginia, on the 4th of August. 1804. John Anderson was a son of James and Isabella (King) Anderson, the former of whom was born in the picturesque Shenandoah valley of Virginia, in 1749, while his wife was a native of Pennsylvania, where she was born in 1758. James Anderson was a son of James. Sr., who married a Miss McLanehan. He was born in Ireland, being of Scotch-Irish lineage, and came to America in his youth, his parents having removed from Scotland to the north of Ireland in 1665. Upon coming to America he located in Pennsylvania, where his marriage occurred, and thence he went on an exploring expedition through the Shenandoah valley, having organized a company for this purpose and having started from Philadelphia about the year 1725. After making due investigation he returned to his home in Pennsylvania, whence he later removed with his family to the Shenandoah valley, being one of the first settlers in that beautiful section of the Old Dominion. During the early days there he was an active participant in many sanguinary conflicts with the Indians and there he passed the remainder of his honorable and useful life. His son James, grandfather of our subject, served with marked distinction as a soldier in the Continental line during the war of the Revolution. His wife. Isabella ( King) Anderson, was a daughter of John and Isabella (Christian) King, of Scotch-Irish stock. Fannie (Clark) Anderson, mother of the subject of this review, was a daughter of Joseph and Mary ( Reynolds) Clark, both natives of Maryland and the latter being a daughter of John Reynolds. Her maternal grandfather. John Reynolds, was captain of the first company organized in Washington county, Maryland, at the inception of the war of the Revolution and held this office in the Sixth Regiment of Maryland Volunteers. He was killed by Indians on the Ohio river in 1799. His father, John i62 CENTENNIAL

Reynolds, a son of a Scotchman, emigrated to America in 1714, and was the original progenitor of the family in the New World. He was a Presbyterian of the stern and unbending Scutch type and his wife was a member of the established church of England, she having been born in Ireland, of Welsh ancestry. They were married in Ireland in the year 1681, and came to the United States in 17 14, locating in Pennsylvania.

John and Fannie (Clark) Anderson became the parents of eight children, namely: Mary H., deceased; James W.. the subject of this sketch; George D., a resident of Augusta county, Virginia; Jane C. the widow of Henry Coynerand now residing in Augusta county, Virginia; Isabella A., deceased; John J., of whom specific mention is made elsewhere in this work; Xorval W, who was a valiant soldier in the war of the Rebellion, in which he sacrificed his life in defense of the Union, having been killed in the battle of Stone River in 1863; and Sarah M.. the widow of Captain George H. Killian, who served on the staff of Stonewall Jackson. The parents of this family passed their entire lives in Virginia, where the father devoted his life to farming.

James W. Anderson was reared and educated in Virginia, where be secured such advantages as were afforded in the common schools, so fortifying himself as to become eligible for pedagogic work, having been a successful teacher for some time in his youthful days. He devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits in his native state until he had attained the age of twenty-nine years, when, in 1856, he came to Champaign county, Ohio, and took up his permanent above in Urbana, where he established himself in the drug business, in which he continued for the lung period of forty years, being one of the pioneer business men of the city at the time of his retirement, in 1896, and having attained a competency through his able and discriminating efforts. A man of marked intellectuality and unswerving integrity in all the relations of life, he has commanded the unbounded confidence and esteem of the community in which he has passed so many years of his life, and here, in well earned retirement from active business, he rests secure in the regard of old and tried friends. Though he has never sought the honors of political office he has not been unmindful of his civic duties and has given his support to the Republican party since 1861, and prior to that time was a Whig. He and his wife are zealous adherents of the Methodist Episcopal church and are members of the First M. E. church of Urbana. with whose work they have been identified for many years.

On the 19th of December, 1872. Mr. Anderson was united in marriage to Miss Caroline Baldwin, the daughter of Judge Samuel Vance and Catherine (YanMeter) Baldwin. Our subject and his wife have no children.

Samuel V. Baldwin, lather of Mrs. Anderson, was born in Hampshire county. Virginia, being a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Wilson) Baldwin, the latter of whom was a granddaughter of Captain Wilson, who distinguished himself in connection with the Indian wars both prior and subsequent to the war of the Revolution. Samuel V. Baldwin was a lad of ten years at the time when his parents removed from the Old Dominion to Clark county, Ohio, where they were numbered among the early pioneers. Here he was reared to maturity, having such educational advantages as were afforded in the primitive schools of the locality and period and effectively supplementing this by a most devoted and careful self-application and study. He studied law and ably fitted himself for the practice of his profession. He came to Urbana about the year 1835, becoming one of the distinguished members of the early bar of the county, where he was held in the highest esteem. He held preferment as prosecuting attorney of Champaign county and for eleven years was incumbent of the office of probate judge of the county, being the first probate judge of the county after the office was created. His administration was one of signal ability and honor, and his death occurred just after his re-election. His political support was originally given to the Whig party, but he became a loyal adherent of the Republican party at the time of its organization and was thereafter an uncompromising supporter of its principles and policies. Judge Baldwin entered into eternal rest in 1861, at the age of fifty-five years, his widow surviving until 1881. when she passed away, at the age of seventy-one years. Of their eight children seven attained maturity and four are living at the present time.

As printed in A centennial biographical history of Champaign county, Ohio .. (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.