Freestone County, Texas
Biographies




Biography of Judge Asa Green Anderson 
   (4 Feb 1817-13 Feb 1900, buried Carter Family cemetery)
   
Book - Memorial and Biographical History of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, 
Limestone, Freestone and Leon Counties, Texas.  Lewis Publishing Company, 
Chicago, 1893.  p. 407-409.

"
    Judge A. G. Anderson, county judge of Freestone county, was a son of James 
and Elizabeth (Noland) Anderson. The father was a native of Kentucky, but spent
the most of his life in Mississippi, dying in Hinds county, that State, in 1849.
He was a man of diversified pursuits and varied accomplishments, being planter,
carpenter, blacksmith, shoemaker, and although never following it possessing a
good knowledge of the profession of medicine. The mother of our subject was the 
daughter of William Noland, and was a native of Mississippi. His parents were
married in Rankin county, in that State.
    After the death of Mr. Anderson, Mrs. Anderson came to this State and settled
in Freestone county with her children, and there she died in 1855. The children
of this union were: Mary, who became the wife of William Colton [actually Cotten]; 
Sarah Ann, who was married to Jesse Holcomb; John Q.; Susan, who was married to 
Jesse Weaver; James I.; Fannie, who was married to Isaac Steen; Asa G. and his 
twin brother Jesse C. were the seventh birth in the family; Zachariah J.; Emma 
E., who was married to R.F. Chandler; and William. Of the sons, all except the 
youngest, William, were in the late war, and all were wounded except J.C. and 
John Q. John was in the frontier service; Asa G. and Zachariah J. were in Company 
G, Seventh Texas regiment, and James and Jesse C. were in Company H, Randall's 
regiment.
    Asa G. Anderson, of whom this sketch is written, was born in Raymond, Hinds
county, Mississippi, March 20, 1838. He was reared in that vicinity and lived
there until he came with his mother to Texas. He was aged eleven when his father
died, and three years later, in 1852, his mother took her large family of eleven
children, and moved to Texasm settling in Freestone county. His educational 
advantages were thus limited, but he received the best within reach. In 1857 he
apprenticed himself to H. P. Davis to learn the cabinet-maker trade, continuing
until he had mastered it and was ready to enter it as a pursuit when the Civil
war broke out. He then abandonded all thought of anything except entering the 
Confederate service, which he did in October 1861, enlisting in Company G, Seventh
Texas Regiment, and saw his first service at Fort Donelson, in February, 1862. 
There both he and his brother Zachariah were captured and taken to Camp Douglas,
Chicago, where they were held until the fall of 1863, when they were exchanged at 
Vicksburh, each having had a spell of sickness in the meantime.
   After exchange, our subject went to Raymond and there was in an engagement with
his regiment against Grant, and at that place he was wounded and his brother
Zachariah was shot in six different places. Shortly after this our subject 
obtained a furlough and returned home, but remained only a short time and then
rejoined his command at Dalton, Georgia, and was in the remainder of the Atlanta
campaign, and was severely wounded before Atlanta, July 22, 1864, on account of
which he was compelled to quit the service. This last wound was in the left 
shoulder and from it he lost five inches of the bone of his left arm. For a time
he was at Griffin, Georgia, and then went to Jackson, Mississippi, and appeared
before the examining board, obtained his retired papers and then spent several 
months in Mississippi among relatives, being unable on account of his wound to
return to his home in Texas. He endured great pain during this time, having to
submit to a second operation, when the balance of the arm bone was taken out to
the elbow, -- in all eleven inches. However, he finally recovered sufficiently by
the spring of 1866 to return home to Texas, and did so in April of that year.
     The friends of our subject at Fairfield had previously written to him and
had obtained his consent to the use of his name as a candidate for County Clerk
of Freestone county, and on his return he entered actively into the race for that
office. On his formally announcing himself for the position, the three candidates
who were out for the office at that time withdrew and gave him a clear field. He
was elected without opposition and held the office until the removal under
reconstruction measures. When the Federal authorities were displaced, the offices
of county and district clerk were consolidated under the new constitution, and
our subject was elected to the new office, defeating Judge N. L. Womack, a
Democratm and Sam Morehead, a bitter Republican, and he was elected to the same
office four years without opposition; but, the constitution being chnaged and the 
two offices again separated, he did not hold it but two years, making R. F. Chanler
[Chandler]. who lost his leg in the Confederate army, his deputy four years; and
the second term, while the two offices were united, he hade T. W. Sims his deputy,
who lost his arm in the Confederate army, making six years that he held the office 
while the two were united. Then the offices were again separated and he was elected
District Clerk, holding that office for two years. In the meantime he read law,
and at the expiration of his term of office as District Clerk he was licensed to
practice. He was shortly afterward elected Justice of the Peace, which office he
held two years, and was then elected County Attorney, there being no District
Attorney at that time, and he held the office for two years. During this time he
sent thirty-three men to the penitentiary on charges of felony, besides securing 
conviction in many cases where the charges were of less gravity. In all this time
he never had but two indictments quashed.
    Judge Anderson declined to run for County Attorney again, but later became a
candiate for County Judge, and sustained two defeats while a candidate for this 
office, but was elected upon his putting his name before the people for the third
time, in 1890, and is now holding that office.  He has made a good officer, giving
good satisfaction. Among the notable acts of his administration has been the 
building of the new courthouse. He was an advocate of the measure and engineered
the business through, and now Freestone has one of the neatest and most compact
little courthouses in the State for the money, $23,120.40 being its cost.
    Since entering upon the law the Judge has confined himself to his law practice
as a profession, and to his official duties while holding office. Our subject was
married May 11, 1859, to Miss Fannie Noland, a daughter of H. H. Noland, an old
citizen of Fairfield, his wife being a native of Mississippi, but reared 
principally in Freestone county in this State. He has three children: Arthur Lee,
Ina Louton, the wife of  W. B. Moses, and Willie Davis.
    Since he reached years of maturity, the Judge has been a Democrat. As long as
there was a lodge in Fairfield, he was an Odd Fellow, and now is a member of the
Knights of Honor. He and all of his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, and he is a man much respected through the county which he has so 
faithfully served for so many years.
  "