Hugh J. Anderson

Hugh Johnston Anderson (May 10, 1801 – May 31, 1881) was an American politician. He was a member of the United States Congress from Maine and served as the 20th governor of Maine.

Early life Hugh J. Anderson was born in Wiscasset (in modern-day Maine, then a part of Massachusetts) on May 10, 1801. He attended the local schools, moved to Belfast, Maine in 1815, and was employed as a clerk in his uncle's mercantile business.

Political career In 1827 Anderson was elected clerk of courts for Waldo County. A Democrat, Anderson was elected to the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1837 to March 3, 1841. He was not a candidate for reelection to the Twenty-seventh Congress in 1840. From 1844 to 1847 Anderson was the Governor of Maine. He was a candidate for U.S. Senator in 1847 but subsequently withdrew and moved to Washington D.C., where he served as commissioner of customs in the United States Treasury Department 1853-1858; appointed head of the commission to reorganize and adjust the affairs of the United States Mint at San Francisco, Calif., in 1857; returned to Washington 1859. Sixth Auditor of the Treasury 1866-1869; retired from public life in 1880 and returned to Portland, Maine where he died May 31, 1881.

Family His father, John Anderson, was a native of County Down, Ireland; and his grandfather, also John Anderson was a prominent and influential member of the Scottish Protestant colony in that part of Ireland. His father immigrated to Maine 1793.

Anderson married Martha J. Drummer of Belfast, Maine, in 1832.

The couple had six children:

John F. Anderson, officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, attained the rank of brigadier general by brevet. Hannah Anderson (no records of marriage found). William H. Anderson Joseph Anderson Horace Anderson (Age 10 in the 1850 census of Belfast, Maine.) Thomas Anderson

Two of his sons died before him, and his wife followed him several months after his death. Interment in Grove Cemetery, Belfast, Maine.