Francis Thomas Anderson, Sr. (December 11, 1808 – November 30, 1887) was a 19th-century American lawyer, politician and slaveowner, who served in the Virginia House of Delegates during the American Civil War and later served on the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.
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Early and family life
Born in Botetourt County, Virginia to farmer, soldier and one-term delegate William Anderson (1763-1834) and his wife, the former Anna Thomas (d. 1848), who had married in 1796. Taught first by his mother, Anderson later attended Curtis Alderson's school at Ben Salem in Rockbridge County, Virginia. Later Anderson attended the Fincastle Classical School in the Botetourt county seat for several years before enrolling in Washington College in Lexington, Rockbridge County, from which he graduated at the age of nineteen. He read law under Fleming B. Miller and lawyer, scholar and judge Chancellor Creed Taylor (1791-1873).
He married Mary Ann Alexander (1806-1881) on December 8, 1830 in Rockbridge County. Children included: Anna Aylett Anderson (1833-1911), Mary Evelyn Anderson (1835-1916), Frances "Margaret" Anderson (1836-1925), Josephine Reid Anderson (1838-1912), Katherine Anderson (1840-1840), William Alexander Anderson (1842-1931), Theodore Anderson (1844-1844), Belle Graham Anderson (1847-1927), Francis Thomas Anderson (1848-1911)