William E. P. Anderson

WILLIAM E. P. ANDERSON.

A successful and influential member of the Macoupin county bar is William E. P. Anderson, who has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Carlinville for forty years. He was born at Shaws Point township, this county, on the 31st of May, 1850, being a son of Erasmus S. and Mary E. (Hogan) Anderson, natives of Kentucky. The Anderson family have been residents in America since 1744, when they located in Virginia to the interests of which colony they were ever loyal and stanch, valiantly participating in the war of the Revolution. The paternal grandfather, Colonel James Campbell Anderson, was a native of Virginia, but was one of the pioneer settlers of Kentucky. The material grand father, Isaac Hogan, was a native of the Blue Grass state.

Left an orphan at the age of fifteen months, William E. P. Anderson was reared by his uncle, Crittenden H. C. Anderson, who was also his guardian. His boyhood and youth were spent in the country, his elementary education being obtained in the district schools. He attended the public school of Carlinville, both Blackburn and Illinois Wesleyan Universities; also a private school at Philadelphia. Having decided to adopt the profession of law for his vocation, in 1870 he entered the office of John Mayo Palmer, where he assiduously applied himself to his studies preparatory to his examination for admission to the bar. In 1871 he went into the office of the Honorable W. R. Welch, who subsequently became a judge of the circuit court, where he continued his studies until admitted to the bar on the 31st of August, 1871. He remained in Mr. Welch’s office until June of the following year when he opened an office of his own in the building where he is still located. Mr. Anderson has been very successful in his practice and has quite extensive realty interests, owning a couple of fine farms near Carlin ville.

Bloomington, Illinois, was the scene of the marriage of Mr. Anderson on the 23d of October, 1873, to Miss Nellie Douglas Hamilton, a daughter of John and Rebecca (Pritchard) Hamilton, natives of Ohio. The Hamiltons are one of the old American families, having located here during colonial days, many of their members having participated in the Revolution. To Mr. and Mrs. Anderson were born three children, namely: William Hamilton, a resident of Baltimore. Maryland, who married Miss Clarice Otwell and has two children, Frederick

Otwell and Elinor; Crittenden H. C., of Prairie Home, Texas, who married Miss Nellie Patchen and has two children, Walter E. P. and Crittenden Id. C., Jr.; and Walter Stratton, a lieutenant in the United States navy, who married Miss Virginia Ewing.

Mrs. Anderson holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, while fraternally Mr. Anderson is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, his local affiliation being with Carlinville Lodge, No. 107, I. O. O. F., in which he has filled all of the chairs. He served ten years as its representative in the Grand Lodge and is at present, and has been for the past seven years, a member of the judiciary and appeals committee of the Grand Lodge of Illinois. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, being a member of Orient Lodge, No. 95, K. of P., having filled all of the chairs in this latter order, served two years as its representative in the Grand Lodge also. His connection with organizations of a more purely social nature is confined to his membership in the Sangamon Club of Springfield and the Rinaker Fishing & Pleasure Club. His political prerogatives Mr. Anderson exercises in support of the men and measures of the democratic party. He has always taken quite a prominent part in all municipal affairs, his first official connection with the local government being in the capacity of city attorney in 1874 and 1875. Two years later he was elected to the board of supervisors of which he was a member at the time of the courthouse litigation, when the proposition to compromise the debt was accepted by bondholders and creditors. In 1887 Mr. Anderson was appointed master in chancery by Judge Welch, to which office he was reappointed by Judge Philips, Fouke, Creighton and Shirley, covering a period of twelve years in this connection. He has more than a local reputation both professionally and politically, and in 1884 represented his congressional district on the Democratic state central committee. Educational matters have always enlisted the personal interest of Mr. Anderson and for ten years he was a most efficient member of the board of education, during one year of that time acting as president of the board. He was one of the organizers of the Carlinville Building Association, of which he has always been a director and stockholder, recognizing the great value of such an organization to the community. Mr. Anderson is one of the representative citizens of Carlinville in the progress and development of which he has been a prominent factor, ever having given his assistance and co-operation in promoting every movement that would in any way advance the best interests of the community at large.

As printed in History of Macoupin County, Illinois : biographical and pictorial (1911). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.