Hugh J. Anderson
(1801-1881) was a U.S. Representative born in Wiscasset on May 10, 1801 where he attended the local schools. He moved to Belfast in 1815 and was employed as a clerk in the mercantile establishment of his uncle. Clerk of the Waldo County courts 1824-1836, Anderson studied law.
Hugh Johnston Anderson was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1837-March 3, 1841), but was not a candidate for reelection to the Twenty-seventh Congress in 1840.
Anderson served as Governor of Maine 1844-1847 and was a candidate for United States Senator in 1847 but subsequently withdrew.
In 1849, he presided over a banquet in Belfast held just before the vessel Suliot set sail for the gold fields of California, carrying the first Mainers to make that trip by sea. In 1864, the Suliot was captured by Confederate raiders during the Civil War.
The former governor moved to Washington, D.C. and served as commissioner of customs in the United States Treasury Department 1853-1858, during which term he was appointed head of the commission to reorganize and adjust the affairs of the United States Mint at San Francisco in 1857.
Sixth Auditor of the Treasury 1866-1869, he retired from public life in 1880 and settled in Portland, Oregon where he died May 31, 1881, with interment in Grove Cemetery, Belfast, Maine.
Additional resources
*Biographical Encyclopedia of Maine of the 19th Century. Boston: Metropolitan Publishing and Engraving Company, 1885, pp. 109-114.
Chase, Henry. Representative Men of Maine.
Hugh J. Anderson image from Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_J._Anderson, accessed February 18, 2019. [Public domain]
*Eastern Argus, Portland, June 1, 1881
*Williamson, Joseph. History of the City of Belfast. Portland: Loring, Short and Harmon, 1877, pp. 203-204.
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*Cited in Friends of the Blaine House at http://blainehouse.org/governors (accessed April 26, 2011)
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress 1774-Present: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress 1774-Present: http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp