The Macon News (Macon, GA) - 27 Feb 1920
Veteran County Official Succumbs after Twenty-Six Day Illness
Had Held Office 46 Years
Fought in Civil War and Returned to Macon During Reconstruction.
Robert J. Anderson, Bibb county's veteran tax receiver, succumbed to an illness of twenty-six days yesterday morning at 10 o'clock at his home, 210 West End Avenue. He was stricken with apoplexy on February 15. Mr. Anderson would have been in his office of tax receiver of the county for forty-six years, had he lived through the coming June. He was a native of South Carolina, having been born at Abbeville on January 12, 1841. With his mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. William Anderson, he and his brothers and sisters moved to Bibb county when Mr. Anderson was twelve years of age. They settled on a farm at Cross Keys. When Georgia troops went to Virginia to defend the Confederacy, Mr. Anderson was among the first to leave. He was wounded three times, at the Second Battle of Manassas Junction, and again at Seven Pines. He went with Lee's ill fated army on the invasion of Pennsylvania and lost his right arm at Gettysburg. Returning to Georgia after Gettysburg, Mr. Anderson became a military conductor on the old Macon and Brunswick railway, settling at Long Street in Pulaski county. It was while there that he met and married Miss Julia Coley. Shortly after, he returned to Macon. In 1874 he offered as a candidate for tax receiver and was elected by a big majority. Only two or three times since then has he had opposition, and each time has been given a handsome majority. During the last several years, no one has opposed him. As tax receiver, Mr. Anderson has seen tax valuations in the county go from $8,000,000 to $38,000,000, as reported in the last digest. It had been a source of pride to him, he remarked to a reporter for The Telegraph, when he furnished the last tax digest figures, to watch the remarkable growth of Macon and Bibb County. Mr. Anderson had been assisted in his office for the last several years by his daughter, Miss Julia Anderson. Surviving Captain Anderson are his wife, Mrs. Julia C. Anderson, four daughters, Mrs. R. M. Smith, of Albany; and Misses Julia, Nona, and Louise Anderson, of Macon; four sons, John, Frank and Will Anderson, of Macon; and C. B. Anderson of Columbus; eight grandchildren; two brothers, William Anderson of Milledgeville; Shields Anderson, of Abbeville, S. C.; one sister, Mrs. Lulu Stiles of Waycross; and a nephew, A. J. Coley of Macon. Funeral services will be held from the residence this afternoon at 3 o'clock, with interment in Rose Hill Cemetery. Revs. R. E. Douglas and H. M. Fugate will officiate.
-------
US, Civil War Soldiers Records and Profiles 1861-1865
Robert Jackson Anderson
Enl/muster date: 5-17-1861
Muster Place: Georgia
Muster Co/Rgmt: A, 20th Inf
Rank change to: 3rd Corporal
Imprisonment place: Gettysburg
Severe wound to arm, amputated
Side of War: Confederacy
Residence place: Macon, GA
Death date: 1919
Notes: 1863-08-24 paroled, (David's Island, NY, DeCamp Hospl); 1864-10-15 Returned, Estimated Day
Source: Roster of Confederate Soldiers of GA 1861-1865; the Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War; Confederate Veteran Magazine