Cumberland County, Maine - John Farwell Anderson
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Biography
John Farwell Anderson
Biographical Review
Cumberland County, Maine
Boston
Biographical Review Publishing Company
1896
Page 252-253


John Farwell Anderson, who died in Portland, Christmas Day, 1887, was a man of
remarkable ability and sterling character. He was born July 22, 1823, in
Portland, in the house on Congress Street now numbered 633. He was the son of
the Hon. John Anderson and his wife, Ann Williams Jameson, and through both
father and mother was of Scotch-Irish descent. The following biographical sketch
is abridged from the interesting memoir by the Rev. George M. Bodge, published
in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register for April, 1889.

His first ancestor on the paternal side in this country was John Anderson, a
Scotch Irish immigrant, who married in Watertown, Mass., July 16, 1706, Rebecca
Waight. Their son Abraham, who was born August 18, 1708, was a pioneer of New
Marblehead, now Windham, Me., and cleared and improved a farm near the centre of
the town. This farm is still in the family, and has been enlarged and improved
by each succeeding generation. Abraham Anderson was a man of great influence in
the development of the new town; and after its incorporation he was the first
Representative to the General Court, in 1767-68. He died in 1769.

Abraham, Jr., his successor in the ownership of the homestead, was his youngest
son by his second wife, Mrs. Ann Colin Cloutman, widow of Edward Cloutman, of
Gorham, who was taken by the Indians in 1746, and died in captivity. Abraham,
the younger, possessed much of his father's energy and ability. He married Lucy,
daughter of the Rev. Peter Thacher Smith and granddaughter of the Rev. Thomas
Smith, the first minister of Falmouth, now Portland; and they had seven
children. Their third son, John, who was born July 29, 1792, was the father of
the special subject of this sketch.

John Anderson was graduated from Bowdoin College in the class of 1813, studied
law in the office of Stephen Longfellow in Portland, was admitted to the
Cumberland bar in 1816, and at once entered upon a prosperous practice. He
became actively engaged in politics, and in 1824 was elected representative to
Congress, holding his seat through repeated reelections till 1833. From 1833 to
1836 he was United States District Attorney, and in the latter year was made
Collector of Portland. On the retirement of Mr. Bancroft from the office of
Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Anderson was offered the appointment, but declined.
He was twice Mayor of Portland, and was influential in securing the construction
of the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad. His character and qualifications made
him a leader among men, and his courtesy and manly bearing won him a host of
friends. September 23, 1822, he married Ann Williams Jameson, daughter of
Captain Samuel and Ann (Hitchborne) Jameson, the former of Freeport, Me., the
latter of Boston. Mrs. Anderson, it is said, "was a woman of rare beauty and
intellect, whose brilliant social qualities and wide benevolence added greatly
to her husband's success in life and to the happiness of all who knew her." John
Farwell was their eldest son.

John Farwell Anderson first studied at the old Portland Academy under Principal
Bezaleel Cushman, and, when about nine years of age, was sent with his brother,
Samuel J. (afterward General Anderson), to a private home school at Cape
Elizabeth. Later he again attended school at Portland, and in 1838 and 1839
studied at Gorham Academy. In 1839 Mr. Anderson took up the study of civil
engineering, completing his course at Tyngsboro, Mass., under Captain Green of
the regular army, and in 1843 was appointed assistant engineer on the Commission
of the Northeastern Boundary Survey, established by the Webster and Ashburton
Treaty to trace the boundary line between the American and British possessions.
The scientific corps of the United States was in charge of Colonel James D.
Graham.

Mr. Anderson was appointed first assistant to Mr. Folliot Thornton Lally, whose
headquarters were at Houlton, Me.; and the next year he was assigned to the
party under Alexander W: Longfellow. Their section of the line was to be laid
along Hall's Stream through an unbroken wilderness, and marked with mile posts
of cast iron; and a party of wood choppers had to go forward and cut a range
way. All supplies for the engineering party were carried from Canaan, Vt., on
the backs of men employed for the purpose, called "sackers." Each day the
engineers moved the line along the river, and each night pitched their tent upon
a new spot, sleeping upon beds of boughs. The wild freedom of the woods was in
harmony with the broad free nature of the young man, and doubtless confirmed him
in the pursuit of his arduous calling.

In the year 1846 and in the winter of 1847 Mr. Anderson was employed in the
Washington office of the Commission, and while there he was introduced to the
highest social circles, enjoying the personal friendship of President Polk, who
had been a warm friend of his father while they were in Congress together, and
was cordially received in the inner circle of the household of Mrs. Polk, who
had been an intimate friend of his mother. In March, 1847, he left Washington to
return to his native city, to which he was deeply attached. He was engaged as
assistant civil engineer on the Androscoggin & Kennebec and the Portland &
Kennebec Junction Railroads, in 1850 was appointed assistant engineer of the
York & Cumberland Railroad; and from 1851 to 1853 he was chief engineer and
acting superintendent of that road. In 1852 he was city engineer of Portland.

In August, 1853, his father died, leaving to him the old homestead, one of the
best farms in Cumberland County. Mr. Anderson at once began to improve and
enlarge the farm, of which he made a most beautiful estate; and his neighborly
relations with the farmers of the vicinity, whom he was always ready to help and
encourage, made him much beloved. The influence of his example was soon evident
in the improvement of other farms, especially in the impulse given to stock
breeding by his handsome herd of Devonshire cattle, the finest in New England.
In 1858 he was chosen a member of the State Board of Agriculture for the County
of Cumberland for three years, and the last year was made Vice-President of the
Board; and he was its President in 1864, 1865, and 1866.

In 1867 he was persuaded to leave the farm to take the position of chief
engineer of the Portland & Rochester Railroad; and in 1869 he was appointed
chief engineer of the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad, the building of which gave
for the first time full scope to his powers, his achievements on that line being
the admiration of experts. The ability which he displayed in solving the
difficult problem of the passage through the White Mountains is thus spoken of
by Professor George L. Vose: "I doubt if even his fellow-townsmen fully
appreciate the professional skill shown by Mr. Anderson in the location and
construction of the Ogdensburg Railroad through the Crawford Notch. The work has
marked him as one of the best railroad engineers, not only in this country, but
in the world. The plans and reports of that work have become a regular part of
the course of instruction in the best European technical schools.... There are
many places on the road . . . where an error of a dozen feet in the position of
the line would easily have quadrupled the cost."

In 1873 Mr. Anderson was appointed by the Governor Railroad Commissioner of
Maine, and that office he retained during life. In 1884 President Nickerson of
the California Southern Railroad Company engaged Mr. Anderson as special
engineer to examine the roads and estimate the damage caused by recent floods;
and he was absent on this duty one month, traveling night and day, doing his
work thoroughly and efficiently, and making valuable suggestions for guarding
against future floods. In 1886, as chief engineer, he directed the building of
the Bangor & Piscataquis Railroad to Moosehead Lake.

Mr. Anderson was married to Miss Marcia Bowman Winter, daughter of Captain
Samuel Winter, of Portland, an adopted daughter of Dr. John Merrill, of this
city, on March 30, 1847, and the following children were born of their union:
Anne Hitchborn, who married Charles W. Lord; Marcia Winter, who was twice
married, her first husband being F. J. Edmands, her second E. G. Spring; Isabel
Merrill, who died in infancy; and Frances Perley, who married Charles Thornton
Davis. Mrs. Anderson is a lady of rare culture and amiable disposition.

Mr. Anderson was a strong and lifelong Democrat, but never entered active
politics. He took great pleasure in antiquarian and historical studies, and was
a diligent collector of genealogical data, especially of the old Windham
families, and records and relics of local history. He was a valued member of the
Maine Historical Society, and also of the New England Historic Genealogical
Society. Of the former organization he was the first President, and he was
active in its formation; and with his friend, Mr. S. M. Watson, as editor and
publisher, he was instrumental in establishing the Maine Genealogical Recorder,
to which he contributed much valuable matter.

In closing this sketch, we quote again from Professor Vose: "Always devoted to
his pro profession, tireless in carrying out the details of his work, when the
time came for rest he was the most genial of companions. Fond of a good story
and eminently able to tell one, he has been the life of many an engineering
party around the campfire, and has beguiled many an hour on the stage top by his
unbounded cheerfulness. For myself, I feel that I have lost one whose opinion
upon professional matters has never failed me, and one of my best and oldest
friends." Mr. Anderson's mortal remains lie in the old Anderson Cemetery at
Windham in the family tomb, where rests the dust of three generations of his
ancestors.