Site of Law Office of Kenneth L. Anderson
San Augustine, San Augustine County, Texas
Marker Inscription
San Augustine lawyer and public official who was the last Vice President of the Republic of Texas. Born in Hillsboro, N. C., Sept. 11, 1805. Moved in 1829 to Shelbyville, Tenn., and in 1837 to San Augustine. Here he was collector of customs by appointment of President Mirabeau B. Lamar. Won attention as orator and debater. Associated in law practice with Gen. Thomas J. Rusk, veteran public official and a hero of Texas War for Independence, and J. Pinckney Henderson (later to be the first Governor of State of Texas). Anderson was a member of House of Representatives, Sixth Congress, Nov. 1, 1841-July 23, 1842. In 1843 he served as District Attorney, Fifth District of the Republic, by appointment of President Sam Houston. When Anson Jones was elected President in 1844, K. L. Anderson won election as Vice President, and served in the Republic's second highest office from Dec. 9, 1844, to time of death. Called to business at home, he was en route here from Austin when he fell ill in Grimes County and died at Fanthorp's Inn on July 3, 1845. Burying him with ceremonies appropriate to his high office in the republic, the citizens afterward changed name of their settlement - the county seat of Grimes County - to Anderson to honor his memory. (1968)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Kenneth L. Anderson practiced law in San Augustine alongside such figures as Thomas J. Rusk and J. Pinckney Henderson before rising to become the last Vice President of the Republic of Texas under Anson Jones. Known as an able orator, he served the young republic as customs collector, congressman, and district attorney. He died in 1845 while traveling home from Austin, and the grateful citizens of Grimes County renamed their county seat Anderson in his honor.
Why it matters
Anderson's career traces the brief life of the Republic of Texas in its final years before statehood, embodied in one of the men who governed it.
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Related people
- · Kenneth L. Anderson
- · Thomas J. Rusk
- · J. Pinckney Henderson
- · Anson Jones
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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I. H. Hollis put up this building in 1889 on a site with deep San Augustine roots, where the imposing "Yellow House" of merchant John P. Border had once stood and where K. L. Anderson, the last vice president of the Republic of Texas, had kept an office. The structure notably survived the great fire that swept the town in 1890. Over the years it sheltered a long succession of businesses, including the post office in 1911.
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