Representative Citizens of Ohio; Memorial-Biographical (1917)--Hon. Carl C. Anderson

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Hon. Carl C. Anderson
pages 115-119

HE count[ed] time by heart throbs, not by figures on the dial." In reviewing the notable events of the life of Hon. C. C. Anderson, and taking cognizance of the high honors the State had paid him, also the many close friends who mourn his untimely end, it would seem that the span of his life had not been of sufficient duration to make possible these things. It seems that Fate had ordered that his life be a full one, even though it were written that he was not destined to remain among us for a long life. The tragic death of this brilliant young man was an irretrievable loss to the nation, which called him to serve as Congressman, and to those who were his constituents and close friends, there will be an empty corner in their hearts which will never be filled. A young man of fine appearance and physique, teeming with health and abounding in enthusiasm over the coming election, with a magnetic personality and a friendliness felt by all who came in touch with him, this was Carl C. Anderson at the time of his death, which was due to an automobile accident.
Carl C[arey] Anderson was born at Bluffton, Allen County, Ohio, December 2, 1877. He was the son of John J. and Mary L. (Barringer) Anderson. His father was agent at Bluffton for the Lake Erie and Western Railroad. While Carl Anderson was a very young child, his father was transferred to Fremont, where he was agent for the Lake Erie and Western Railroad for twenty-one years.
Carl C. Anderson received his education in the public schools of Fremont. After his education had been completed, he entered the offices of the Lake Erie and Western Railroad as a clerk. Here he remained for some time, learning the details of the office and bringing his naturally analytical mind to bear on the problems of his work. His record attracted the attention of the Lake Shore Railroad, and he was offered and accepted a position with this road, but after a time returned to the Lake Erie and Western Railroad offices, where he was made cashier, and later was made agent.
The close confinement of railroad work had irked Carl C. Anderson, who was fond of outdoor life, and he accepted an offer from the A. H. Jackson Manufacturing Company to become their salesman. After an admirable record with this company for a period of five years, during which he had enhanced the business of the company many fold and had realized a considerable sum of money for himself, Carl C. Anderson decided to engage himself in the manufacture of underwear. With him to decide was to act, and he opened a factory at Fostoria. The success of this venture was such as to encourage him to build a factory at Findlay for the further expansion of the enterprise. Previous to this he had built a brick block at his early home of Fremont.
Soon after the establishment of his business in Fostoria, Carl C. Anderson married Miss Nellie Ford, daughter of William H. Ford. Four children were born to this union, three of whom are living: Carl F., born June 9, 1908; Ford Richard, born June 6, 1910, and paul Siebert, born August 31, 1912. Mrs. Carl C. Anderson resides with her children in Fremont.
The early business training of Carl C. Anderson proved to be an excellent groundwork for that more important position to which he was destined to be called. The years spent as the representative of the A. H. Jackson Company left their result in a savoir faire so necessary to a man in a prominent social and political position. The later responsibilities of managing his own business completed the training for the position. During these years which might almost be likened to a preparatory course for the seat he was to fill so admirably, Carl C. Anderson was cementing numerous friendships and endearing himself to a large circle of people throughout the State, and particularly to the constituents of the Thirteenth Congressional District. The people of Fostoria evinced their regard for him by electing him as their mayor in 1905, and twice re-electing him at the termination of his term of office. In 1908, he was elected to Congress on the Democratic ticket, defeating Honorable G. E. Mouser by a majority of 4,742 votes. Congressman Carl C. Anderson had the distinction of being the youngest member of Congress at the time of his election.
Congressman Carl C. Anderson entered at once on his duties as soon as he was appointed a seat on the floor of Congress, working incessantly for the recognition of the needs of his district. He was an indefatigable worker and was eminently successful in gaining recognition of his demands. Never has the Thirteenth District been so well represented as during the terms of the late Carl C. Anderson. he was a member of the Congressional Committee which championed the fight occasioned by the Sherwood Pension Bill, calling for the increase of pensions of the Civil War veterans, and which was so hotly contested on the floor of Congress before it was finally passed and ready for the signature of the President. He was largely instrumental, personally, for the signal success of the passage of this bill, and the love and regard of these worth old soldiers, for whom he had fought verbal battles, was evidenced by their presence at his funeral, many coming form far-distant States to show their love and respect for their true friend, Carl C. Anderson. One of these old soldiers, William J. Moore, expressed the feelings of many in the following stanza:

"A friend to all who knew him,
A friend, good, stanch, and true,
He will always be remembered
By the 'boys' who wore the blue.
He had a smile for every one,
A pleasnat word for all,
May we meet again in heaven,
When we hear the bugle call."

The feeling that the old soldiers held for their exponent, Carl C. Anderson, was further expressed in the first issue of the Sandusky-Star-Journal published after his death. This paper is published for and by the old soldiers of the ohio State Soldiers' Home at Sandusky. The article said, in part: "When the news of the untimely death of Honorable Carl C. Anderson, our honoured representative in Congress, was told to the veterans Wednesday morning, there was universal sorrow, and often the expression was heard, 'He was a friend of ours.' And he was. His loss will be felt especially in the Thirteenth Congressional District of Ohio, where he was so well known to all the people, but he will be mourned by all the old soldiers all over the United States, for he was their friend all the time and never tired of helping them in all ways consistent with honest purpose and action. Whenever an old soldier thought he needed advice or counsel, his first thought was to ask Carl Anderson, and Carl never failed to respond. A friend at all times and in all places, is it any wonder, then, that the veterans should mourn him and be moved by common impulse to express their respect and sympathy with the family by attending the funeral, or at least to send a large delegation to represent the Ohio State Home, where every soldier knew him personally and honored him for his brave and patriotic course in Congress."

Congressman Carl C. Anderson was untiring in his efforts to justify the faith that had been placed in him by his constituents. Many of those who were responsible for his election the first term he served in Congress, were doubtful as to the advisability of entrusting so much responsibility to so young a man, but their fears were soon dispelled, and his second term was as assured fact. The third term would undoubtedly have followed had not death intervened. His iron will and determination to succeed served him well in lieu of the maturity which is believed to be inseparable from a position of trust and responsibility. He brought to his new duties the enthusiasm and zeal of a boy and the integrity of a gentleman.

Congressman Carl C. Anderson was given an ovation at St. Cloud, Florida, on the twenty-fifth of January, 1912, where he had gone with a party of friends from Washington, intending to stay but a few hours. He was asked to address the old soldiers and citizens at the G. A. R. Hall in St. Cloud that evening, and he promised to comply. At the short notice possible, he did not anticipate a very large attendance, but when the old soldiers heard that it was "their Congressman" that was to speak, they turned out with their friends in such numbers that long before the hours set for the speech, the seating capacity of the hall was filled to overflowing, and the adjacent neighborhood was black with people. It was with difficulty that Congressman Anderson and his party entered the hall. At the sight of Congressman Anderson on the rostrum, deafening applause shook the very rafters of the building, and it was only after a considerable period that it was possible for him to be heard. This demonstration was typical of his reception wherever he went.

Carl C. Anderson was a stanch believer in fraternal life and was himself a member of practically every organization in the town, Fostoria. "The Saturday Evening Post" contained an article in one of its issues on Carl C. Anderson, and spoke of this characteristic, stating that it was to be expected that he would organize a new lodge for the pleasure of joining it. All the fraternities with which he was affiliated drew up resolutions on his death, copies of which were sent to his widow, Mrs. Carl C. Anderson.

Carl C. Anderson met his death in an automobile accident, Tuesday, October 1, while returning from New Riegel, where he and several of his friends and co-workers had gone on campaigning business relative to the coming election, in which Carl C. Anderson was up for re-election to Congress for the third term. Several of the others were seriously injured, but death had laid his cold finger on Carl Anderson's brow when he was removed from under the overturned automobile. Taken in the full flower of his manhood and on the eve of still further political successes, wrenched from the arms of his loving wife and his dear little ones, whom he loved as few fathers love their children, leaving an aged father and mother to mourn the loss of this, their pride and joy, and to have death come in such a tragic manner makes this an especially pitiable instance of the inscrutable ways of fate. Not only those who knew Carl Anderson were shocked, but the whole nation was shocked at the tragic taking off of this well-known and universally-liked member of the Congress of these United States. It is a mater of conjecture to what heights Carl C. Anderson would have risen in his country's service had not death intervened, his popularity and reputation for integrity and his single minded devotion to his constituents and their interests being analogous to other cases in our history where the highest possible honor in the power of the people to bestow, has been conferred. Carl Anderson had traveled but a little way, and had realized great success, even so, and the future would need be bright to match the achievements of his youth.

The funeral held for Carl C. Anderson was one of the most impressive and touching ever held in Fremont. The body lay in state in the Asire Chapel in Fostoria, and thousands passed the bier, demonstrating an almost personal grief as they gazed on the well-known features of their beloved Carl Anderson for the last time on earth. All the buildings of Fostoria were draped in black and all flags were at half-mast in respect for the dead statesman. Services were held at the family home in Fostoria and the funeral cortege then moved to Fremont, where interment was made in beautiful Oakwood Cemetery, after the body had again lain in state to permit those unable to go to Fostoria, to view it. Probably the most pitiable feature of the funeral, outside of the grief of the immediate family, was that evinced by the gray-haired veterans who came on every train to pay their last respect to Carl Anderson, their friend. Veterans of a war fought ere this, their beloved champion, was born; these men who had faced the cannons' roar and the carnage of war, unflinching and unafraid, wiped tears from their eyes frankly and unashamed in this tearing of their hear-strings in bidding farewell to their youthful comrade.

The funeral of Carl C. Anderson was held on October 4, 1912, under the auspices of the Knights Templars, Commandery No. 62, Fostoria, Dr. G. L. Hoege, prelate of the Commandery, officiating. Every fraternal order of which Congressman Anderson was a member, both in Fremont and Fostoria, was represented at the funeral.

The services were conducted by Eminent Commander Milan A. Mowery and Prelate Dr. George L. Hoege, of the Knights Templars, and the beautiful ritualistic service was used. This impressive and solemn service was followed by that of Dr. Clement G. Martin, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, who, departing from the usual custom relating to such occasions, recited the following beautiful eulogy, anonymously penned on the death of Carl C. Anderson.

"Dead in the dawn of his noble young manhood;

Dead in his beauty, with life's harness on;

Dead to the work which so oft he had dreamed of;

Dead with the daylight of boyhood scarce gone;

Dead with his hand hardly yet on the lever;

Dead to ambition, to fortune, and fame;

Dead to what promised a life of great purpose'

Dead to affections to sacred to name.

Dead to the hopes which upon him were centered;

Dead to the hearts now aching instead;

Dead to the sympathy claimed by the sorrowing;

Dead to the tears which above him are shed;

Dead unto all of earth's beauty and fragrance;

Dead unto all the endearments of home.

"O God of the burdened, tenderly cherish

The hearts of they earth-children sorrowing here;

Some griefs seem too great for human endurance,

Some woes are too deep for the solacing tear.

O Angel of Death, with grief-freighted pinions,

Why to so precious a life must you come?

'Saved in the dawn of his noble, young manhood;

Saved from the care which cometh with strife;

Saved from the failures which might have discouraged;

Saved from the by-ways and pitfalls of life.

Saved from the burdens which weary the shoulders;

Saved from the wrinkles which furrow the brow;

Saved into infinite powers of fulfillment;

Perfection complete, rest eternal, from now.'"

All that was mortal of Carl C. Anderson was laid to rest in Oakwood Cemetery, but he will live in the hearts of those who loved him, long after the dust has returned to dust, and it will be many a year ere another Carl Anderson shall rise up to serve his country in the same wise as did this noble spirit, who is serving a higher tribunal with the same devotion and integrity. It is perhaps fitting that our brightest and best be selected fro special service in the realms of light.

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