Hugh J. Anderson

Hugh Johnston Anderson (May 10, 1801 – May 31, 1881) was member of the United States Congress from Maine and served as the 20th Governor of Maine.

Hugh J. Anderson was born in Wiscasset, Maine on May 10, 1801. He attended the local schools, moved to Belfast, Maine in 1815, and was employed as a clerk in his uncle's mercantile.

Anderson was clerk of the Waldo County courts from 1824 to 1836. He studied law, attained admission to the bar, and practiced as an attorney.

A Democrat, Anderson was elected to the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1837 to March 3, 1841. He was not a candidate for reelection to the Twenty-seventh Congress in 1840.

From 1844 to 1847 Anderson was the Governor of Maine. He was a candidate for U.S. Senator in 1847 but subsequently withdrew.

After leaving the governorship, Anderson resumed practicing law. He served as commissioner of customs in the United States Treasury Department from 1853 to 1858.

In 1857 Anderson was appointed head of the commission to review operations of and reorganize the United States Mint at San Francisco in 1857. From 1866 to 1869 he was Sixth Auditor of the Treasury.

Anderson retired from public life in 1880 and settled in Portland, Maine, where he died in 1881. Interment was in Belfast, Maine's Grove Cemetery.

Anderson was married to Martha J. Dummer (1807-1881). Their children included John F. Anderson, an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War who attained the rank of brigadier general by brevet.