Oil on canvas, 30 x 25 in., 1898, by Poindexter P. Carter
Location: Hearing Room A
Born December 11, 1808, in Botetourt County, Virginia.
Died November 30, 1887, in Lexington, Virginia.
Elected by the General Assembly on March 23, 1870 to a 12-year term beginning January 1, 1871, and began his service early, on April 12, 1870. Declined to run for election to a second term.
Education:
Washington College, B.A., 1827
Read law with Fleming B. Miller and Allen Taylor
Professional career:
Private practice of law in Botetourt County, Virginia, 1830-1856.
Operator at Cloverdale Furnace (part of Tredegar Ironworks) in Rockbridge, Virginia, 1856-1868.
Virginia state delegate, 1861-1863.
Private practice of law in Lexington, Virginia, 1869-1870.
Rector, Washington and Lee University, 1879-1887.
Further reading/Research collections
Sources:
Elected, 91 Va., xx; began his service on April 12, 1870, The Hornbook of Virginia History, “Judges of the Supreme Court of Virginia,” (2013, December 11), in Encyclopedia Virginia, retrieved on September 15, 2014; declined to run for reelection in 1882, Journal of the House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1881-1882 Session, 229-231, cited in Samuel N. Pincus, “The Virginia Supreme Court, Blacks, and the Law, 1870-1902″ (Ph.D. Diss., University of Virginia, 1978), 42; birth, death, education, and career, Brent Tarter, “Francis Thomas Anderson (1808-1887),” in Kneebone and Bearrs, Dictionary of Virginia Biography (Richmond, Va.: Library of Virginia, 1998), v. 1, 133; earned a B.A., Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Washington and Lee University, 1749-1888, Washington and Lee University Special Collections; portrait, Library of Virginia catalog.