James and Julia Anderson House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, not every story starts where you'd expect, and this one's no different. James Elgin Anderson was born in Ohio, which right there should tell you something about the kind of man who ends up defining a place that wasn't his to begin with.

He made his way to Leon County in 1857, a young man setting down roots in Texas soil, and by all accounts he meant to stay. Then 1861 arrived, the way those years do, carrying everything with them. Anderson enlisted in the Confederate army, riding out with the Leon Hunters, part of Hood's Texas Brigade.

He'd come a long way from Ohio, and now he was about to go a great deal farther. He served, and he rose, and when it was over, he was standing at Appomattox in 1865 alongside General Robert E. Lee himself.

Let that land for a second. Appomattox. Whatever a man carries home from a moment like that, Captain Anderson carried it back to Leon County.

He became a distinguished educator, which is its own kind of rebuilding a world. In 1867, he married Julia Evans. In 1875, the Andersons purchased the property right here and built themselves a house, proper end chimneys on the outside flanking the whole thing.

Now, that might've been enough for some folks. But James and Julia weren't finished. Between 1885 and 1895, they remodeled.

Added a second story. And then came the Eastlake detailing, exuberant is the word the marker uses, and it earns it. You can see it on the porches, you can see it along the roofline, all that Victorian flair announced to anyone passing by that the Andersons had arrived and intended to be remembered.

Julia passed in 1897. James in 1918. The house stayed in the family for many years, a noted piece of Jewett's heritage, which is exactly what happens when a man from Ohio decides Texas is where his story belongs.

What the marker says

Ohio-born James Elgin Anderson (1836-1918) settled in Leon County in 1857. He enlisted in the Confederate army in 1861, serving with the Leon Hunters, Hood's Texas Brigade. After standing with Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox in 1865, Capt. Anderson returned to Leon County, where he became a distinguished educator and married Julia Evans (1847-1897) in 1867. The Andersons purchased property here in 1875 and built a house with outside end chimneys. In keeping with Victorian trends, they remodeled the house between 1885 and 1895, adding a second story and the exuberant Eastlake detailing so prominent on the porches and along the roofline. A noted piece of Jewett's heritage, the house remained in the family for many years. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-1999