THOMAS MITCHELL ANDERSON. Under the mountain’s foot, in the valley of Bean’s creek, stands the farm cottage that marks the homestead of Thomas M. Anderson of this review. It is conspicuously prominent and commanding from the station and village of Sebree, in Jack county, and shelters ‘neath its hospitable roof the sources of power in thecreation of a home whose influence has permeated the community around about and in the improvement of a farm which marks the height of progress and advancement along the waters of the silent creek. Two hundred and fourteen acres of the Hancock Survey came into possession of Mr. Anderson when he came into the county in 1882, and it became the play-ground of his activities and to its borders cling new acquisitions of territory which mark his substantial progress as a stock farmer and testify to his achievements during the score of years that approximately limit his residence within the county. Upwards of six hundred acres are embraced within the area of his rural dominions and the stock and grain raised under supervision and direction of its owner have been sources of wealth and power in the accumulation of his knightly estate.
Tarrant county, Texas, was the home of Mr. Anderson from 1852 until his advent to Jack county. Abraham Anderson, his father, established the family there, maintained it as a farmer, came to Jack county with our subject and died there in 1890, possessed of an estate which constitutes the home of his maiden daughter. Casey county, Kentucky, was the first American home of this family, for it was there that John Anderson, a Scotchman and the grandfather of our subject, settled and reared the following family: John, Abraham, James, William, Nancy, who died unmarried, and Polly, who married Ben Snigget. Abraham Anderson married Catherine, a daughter of Dandridge Tucker, a farmer, in 1837, and brought up his children in the paths of rectitude in his native and in his adopted state. He was born in 1812 and his wife was born in 1819 and died near Vineyard in 1903. The children of their household were: Dandridge, who was killed while in the Confederate service in the battle of Chickamauga; William, who died also in the southern army; Thomas M., of this mention; Nancy, of Jack county, wife of Frank Gilmore; Paulina, who occupies the parental homestead; Bettie, of Terrell, Texas; and Donnie,wife of J. H. Leach, of Fort Worth.
Casey county, Kentucky, was the birthplace of Thomas M. Anderson, and January 7, 1844, marks the natal day. The frontier county schools of Tarrant county sufficed for his mental training in youth and the farm of his father was the scene of his youthful and early activities. The second year of the war he enlisted in Company F, Nineteenth Texas Cavalry, Burford’s regiment, Parson’s Brigade of the Trans-Mississippi Department. He fought in the battle of Helena, Gape Girardo and Jackson, and was with General Price’s army during a portion of his service. Toward the close of the war his command returned to Texas and he was disbanded near Hempstead when the end finally came.
The harvest field caught Mr. Anderson first when he resumed civil life, and when this was over he bought an ox team on a credit and became a freighter from Jefferson, Pine Mills and Houston to inland points toward the frontier in Texas. Having gotten a foothold he began handling cattle and looking in the direction of agriculture three miles north of Fort Worth. His success there placed him in a position of independence, so to speak, when he should begin his career in his new home in Jack county.
May 8, 1871, Thomas M. Anderson and Mary Paschall were united in marriage in Tarrant county. Mrs. Anderson was the daughter of Stan Paschall, who came to Texas from Tennessee and settled in Van Zandt county, where Mrs. Anderson was born in 1853. Mr. Paschall married Miss Martha Dube, and their children were: Jack, of Wise county; Mrs. Anderson; Dennis, of Wise county, and Bettie, who married Joseph Clark and died without issue. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson’s children were: Dolly, wife of Lee Caldwell, with issue, Ethel, Thomas, Claud and Mary Lille; Abraham, who is on the old home, married Bulah McDonald, and has children, Eula, John and Abraham; Fannie, who married Thomas Cannon and has a son, Clarence; Lillie, wife of James Cannon, of Tarrant county, with children, Willie, Ralph and Georgie Anna, and William F., who is on the home farm and married to Georgie Stanley and is the father of Thomas Wilburn.
In local political matters Mr. Anderson has never failed to show his sympathy with the movement for honest and competent public officials and has frequented primaries and representative conventions for placing in nomination Democratic candidates and has helped to contest the political ground about his own precinct with the opposition party for success at the polls. He is a gentleman of independence of action of thought and freedom of speech, and with a nature in harmony with the bright side of life. He sympathizes with and helps the weak, lends encouragement to and proffers wholesome advice to the short-sighted and wayward and promotes the interests of peace and goodwill every day of his life. He is not a stickler for strict orthodoxy in spiritual matters, believing rather in the accomplishment of good results in this life with indifference as to our fate in the future world. His community and his county hold him in high regard and “Uncle Tom” Anderson is the central figure of the Vineyard settlement.
Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. II, pp. 49-50.