His parent or guardian in the matriculation books is “Sam. Anthony of Pattonsburg, Virginia,” possibly the Samuel B. Anthony of Botetourt County listed in the 1840 U.S. Census. William attended the University of Virginia in sessions 23-25 (1846-1849) and became a lawyer. I suspect this Anthony family to be connected to the Anthonys of Campbell County, Virginia.
In the 1850 census, William H. Anthony is living with 63-year-old Jordan Anthony (1790-1868) in Buchanan, Botetourt Co., VA. In that census, Jordan is described as a bank cashier and William as a lawyer. Jordan Anthony was also a trustee and vestryman of Trinity Episcopal Church of Buchanan, VA, when they purchased a lot for a new church building in 1846. (Stoner)
William Anthony married Mary Virginia Wilson (b. ca. 1833) on 18 Nov. 1850 in Botetourt Co. In the 1860 census, they were living in Fincastle, Botetourt Co., with their children: Jordan, Sallie T., Mary F. , and Deborah C. Anthony. In the 1870 census, Julia Gilmer Anthony appears. William H. Anthony served as Commonwealth’s Attorney for Botetourt County from 1856 until his death. He was also a stockholder of the James River and Kanawha Company.
Anthony was alive on 6 Dec. 1860 to be mentioned in the newspaper. He was an elector from Virginia for the Presidential election of 1860, but, with a small group of other men, refused to take his seat. (“Local matters.”) S. Bassett French says he “died in Botetourt Co. 1860,” but gives no exact date or cause. Stoner states Anthony died shortly before April 8, 1861.
[N.b. — Birth date from University of Virginia Matriculation Books.]
References:
- Ancestry.com. 1840-1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.
- Ancestry.com. Virginia, Marriages, 1740-1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999.
- Lanman, Charles. Biographical annals of the civil government of the United States during its first century. Washington, DC, 1876, p.534.
- “Local matters.” The Daily Dispatch (Richmond, VA), Volume 18, Number 135, 6 December 1860, p.1.
- “Proceedings of the stockholders of the James River and Kanawha Company, at their twentieth annual meeting in October 1854,” in Doc. 17. Annual reports of internal improvement companies to the Board of Public Works, year ending September 30, 1854. Richmond, VA, 1855-56, p. 335-339.
- Stoner, Robert Douthat. A seed-bed of the Republic; a study of the pioneers of the Upper (Southern) Valley of Virginia. Roanoke, VA, 1962, p. 347, 466.
- University of Virginia Matriculation Books, 1825-1904, Accession #RG-14/4/2.041, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
- “Virginia, Births and Christenings, 1853-1917,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VRRM-S5M : accessed 30 Aug 2013), William Henry Anthony in entry for Julia Gilmer Anthony, 04 Aug 1861.
- “Virginia, Deaths and Burials, 1853-1912,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X5RK-NL8 : accessed 30 Aug 2012), Jordan Anthony, 1790.
- “Virginia, Deaths and Burials, 1853-1912,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X5TT-FV3 : accessed 05 Sep 2012), Wm. H. Anthony in entry for Sallie A. Randolph, 1856.
- “Virginia, Marriages, 1785-1940,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XRDH-Y2W : accessed 30 Aug 2013), William H. Anthony and Mary Virginia Wilson, 18 Nov 1850.
- “Virginia, Marriages, 1785-1940,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XRQC-88L : accessed 30 Aug 2013), M. V. Anthony in entry for James E. Mason and Mary F. Anthony, 10 Dec 1884.
- “William H. Anthony,” in S. Bassett French Biographical Sketches. card 171. Library of Virginia. http://image.lva.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/drawer?retrieve_image=BF&offset=%2B6&page=171&reel=1&round=down
Students of the University of Virginia, 1825-1874 