Anderson, W. E. P.
HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
DESCRIPTIVE OF ITS SCENERY,
AND
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF SOME OF ITS PROMINENT MEN AND PIONEERS.
Published by Brink, McDonough & Co., Philadelphia
1879
Page 121
W. E. P. ANDERSON is a native of Macoupin county, Illinois. He was born May 31st, 1850. His father, Erasmus S.
Anderson, was born in Christian county, Kentucky. He emigrated to Illinois in 1834, and settled in
this county, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising. Both parents died from cholera in August,
1851. The subject of our sketch was the only child in the family. After the death of his parents he was
taken into the family of his uncle, C. H. C. Anderson, with whom he remained until his twenty-third
year. He attended the common schools until his seventeenth year, when he entered Wesleyan
University at Bloomington, Illinois, where he remained two years, after which he spent one year in a
private and select school in Philadelphia. After his return from Philadelphia he entered the law office
of Judge William R. Welch, of Carlinville, and read law. He had previously read law in the office of
John Mayo Palmer, after his return from the university at Bloomington, but abandoned it for a time in
order to receive a more thorough education. He was admitted to practice at the August term of the
Circuit Court in 1871. He commenced the practice alone, and continued until 1877, when he formed
a law partnership with A. H. Bell, which still continues. On the 23d of October, 1873, he was united
in marriage to Miss Nellie D. Hamilton. She is a native of McLean county, Illinois. This union has
been blessed by the birth of two children, both boys. In politics Mr. Anderson is a Democrat. In
1874 and 1875 he was elected to the office of city attorney of Carlinville, and in 1877 was elected
assistant supervisor of the township. In both offices he discharged his duties in a manner that gave
entire satisfaction to his constitutents. As an attorney he is safe and reliable. He is a close student,
and consequently is well posted.
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