HON

HON. JOSIAH M. ANTHONY

Hon. Josiah M. Anthony, farmer of St. Michael Township, a native of Madison County, Mo., born December 5, 1820, is a son of William and Jane (Marshall) Anthony, and grandson of Joseph Anthony. The latter was a Baptist minister and was imprisoned for preaching his doctrine during the Revolutionary War. He died in Virginia, and after his death his widow, with her children, William being among the number, moved to Sumner County, Tenn., about 1800. William was bon in Virginia January 9, 1793, and was a soldier in the War of 1812. He held the rank of major and was in the battle of New Orleans. January 8, 1815, he married in Tennessee, and three years later moved to Madison County, Mo., and located three and a half miles east of the county seat, but the last twenty years of his life were spent on a farm one and one-half miles east of Fredericktown. He died October 17, 1865. He was justice of the court several terms and was a good man. His wife was born June 23, 1799 and died July 4, 1834. Se was the mother of seven sons, Josiah being the second. He obtained a fair English education in the common schools, and commenced business as a cabinetmaker and builder at the age of eighteen. October 22, 1843, he married Miss Sarah Ann Bennett, a native of Cape Girardeau County, Mo., born February 13, 1826 and the daughter of William Bennett. To them were born seven children, viz.: William B., Eunice, Mildred E. (wife of William Matthews, a merchant at Marquand), Elmora (wife of John Pablick), Nancy E. (wife of William Buford, at New Port, Ark.), Jesse and Albert D.. In 1852 Mr. Anthony, in company with about twenty persons, undertook the long and perilous trip across the plains to the State of California in search of wealth. They were four months on the route, and after reaching the State were very successful in mining. In 1854 Mr. Anthony returned to his birthplace and began his career as a farmer, which occupation he has followed up to the present. In 1871 he began the manufacture of lumber and continued this for five years. Mr. Anthony is a Democrat in politics and wields considerable influence in his party. In 1858 he was elected as representative to the Twentieth General Assembly, and his integrity and superior talents soon won for him a position of influence in that body. He was re-elected to the Twenty-eighth General Assembly and was a member of the important committee on deaf and dumb and lunatic asylums, and was also a member of several special committees. The following editorial from his county paper shows the estimation in which Mr. Anthony is held in that county: The people of Madison County have every reason to be proud of the gentleman who represents them in the General Assembly that finished its labors last week. Being a workingman himself, having long since learned the worth of a dollar. Mr. Anthony was careful to cast his vote for no measure unless he thought it to be just to that class of men known as Grangers. And we understand that he stood as the leader of the agricultural element in which he sat. He always kept before him the principles of true Democracy, which he has always advocated and in this as in all other matters he follows the dictates of his own conscience.� It is said and truly too, that by a man's acts we shall know him, and the editorial expresses the sentiment of the county, for Mr. Anthony was not allowed to remain home long. In 1880 he was elected to the Thirty-first General assembly and in 1882 was sent back for a forth time to represent the people of Madison County in the Thirty second General Assembly, thus forcibly illustrating his popularity as an able and efficient public officer. Mr. Anthony is an active member of the Masonic fraternity and has been an influential member or the Christian Church since 1854. He was chosen an elder in 1872. He is always pleasant and agreeable and assumes no manner except that which is natural. He is honorable and straight-forward and his word is as god as his bond.

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