WHITE CO, AR - THOMAS SMITH ANDERSON - Bio


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SOURCE:  Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern 
Arkansas. Chicago:Goodspeed Publishers, 1890.
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Thomas Smith Anderson, a prosperous merchant and cotton dealer, of El
Paso, Ark., was born in Madison County, Tenn., August 2, 1832, and is a
son of Samuel Lindsay Anderson, who is of Scotch-Irish descent and was
born in the "Palmetto State." His ancestors, as well as his wife's
(Eliza Braden), came to this country while it was still subject to the
British crown and fought in the Revolutionary War. The paternal
grandparents were married in Newberry District, S. C., and removed to
Tennessee between 1800 and 1812, their son, Samuel L., being born in
1800, and died May 22, 1884, his wife dying in Tennessee in 1847. A
great uncle, Joshua Anderson, was under the jurisdiction of Gen. Jackson
during the War of 1812, and took part in the battle of New Orleans. In
1858 our subject came to Arkansas and located in Pulaski County (now
Faulkner), where, in company with his brother, James A. Anderson, he
purchased 420 acres of land, and at the time of his brother's death, in
June, 1885, had cleared about 100 acres. In July, 1861, Thomas S.
Anderson enlisted in Company B, Tenth Arkansas Infantry, Confederate
States army, and served as second sergeant until the fall of 1862, when
he was promoted to brevet second lieutenant, remaining such until the
summer of 1865. He was at the battle of Shiloh in charge of the
commissary department of his regiment. He was captured at Port Hudson,
La., and was a prisoner of war for twenty-one months, being confined at
Johnson's Island, Lake Erie, Point Lookout (Md.), and then transferred
to Fort Delaware, about forty miles from Philadelphia. He was exchanged
at Richmond, Va., and started to rejoin his command at Marshall, Tex.,
but in his attempt to regain his regiment he was compelled to endure
many hardships, and, owing to exposure, he contracted rheumatism, but
finally managed to reach Shreveport, that garrison being under command
of Gen. Kirby Smith, and with him surrendered. He arrived at home the
middle of June, and again, in company with his brother, who had also
been in the Confederate army, took up farming. On May 12, 1868, he was
united in marriage to Miss Margaret Ann Laws, of Haywood County, Tenn,
origin, and a daughter of J. P. and Minerva (Leathers) Laws, who were
born in North Carolina. In 1878 Mr. Anderson purchased a stock of
general merchandise and opened a store at El Paso, where he has
successfully conducted business ever since, and, in connection with
this, keeps a line of such furniture as is demanded in his community. He
is also an extensive dealer in cotton, and his annual sales for this
commodity amount to $10,000 to $12,000. Mr. Anderson votes with the
Democratic party, and while a resident of Faulkner County, and since the
war, he has served as justice of the peace. He is a Mason, having been
initiated into that society in 1859; was secretary of El Paso Lodge for
several years, but has been demitted to Velonia Lodge, being its Master
one year. He and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South.