Further reading:
Charles B. Dew, Ironmaker to the Confederacy: Joseph R. Anderson and the Tredegar Iron Works (1999). Biography of Francis Anderson’s younger brother Joseph; includes biographical information about Judge Anderson’s parents, his upbringing in Botetourt County, and his involvement in the iron industry in the Shenandoah Valley.
Brent Tarter, “Francis Thomas Anderson (1808-1887),” Dictionary of Virginia Biography (1998).
Brent Tarter, A Saga of the New South: Race, Law, and Public Debt in Virginia (2016). Anderson was a member of the majority in the landmark 1872 decision Antoni v. Wright, the first important court case in the prolonged litigation of the debt controversy in Virginia after the Civil War.
Research collections:
Duke University (David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
Durham, N.C.
Francis Thomas Anderson Papers, 1828 (1850-1858) 1915; 443 items.
Business papers pertaining to mining operations and Francis Thomas Anderson’s Cloverdale Furnace, part of the Tredegar Iron Works; miscellaneous letters and papers concerning the sale of slaves, collection of debts, rental of property, teaching, and school tuition.
University of Virginia (Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library)
Charlottesville, Va.
Anderson Family Papers, 1771-1952; 7 boxes.
Correspondence of Francis T. Anderson, 1829-1865; legal and financial papers; loyalty oath, 1865; and 3 daybooks (ledgers), 1857-1861. Finding aid available.
Washington and Lee University (Leyburn Library)
Lexington, Va.
Anderson Family Papers, 1755-1958.
Largely the correspondence of Francis T. Anderson, his brother William Alexander Anderson, and Mary Anne Alexander Anderson, and the legal and business correspondence of Francis T. Anderson; includes a few photographs.