Sacramento County
Biographies
CHARLES W. ANDERSON
The capable supervision of the present
chief is bringing the gratification of satisfactory results to the fire
department of Sacramento. Ambitious to develop a plant worthy of the
municipality, he has devoted every energy with intense
eagerness to the securing of needed improvements. The capable labors of his
predecessors in office have been supplemented by his own arduous and
unremitting application to the management of the department. The results of his
efforts are apparent in the increased efficiency of the plant. There are many
people in the city who assert that the position has never had an incumbent more
energetic, more sagacious and more trustworthy than is Mr. Anderson, who with
justice may feel proud of the appreciation given to his work in the city's
behalf.
The county of Sacramento has been the
lifelong home of Mr. Anderson, and his father, Hartford Anderson, held a
prominent place among the pioneer residents in the vicinity of Folsom. His
brother, Judge W. A. Anderson, of Sacramento, also crossed the plains with the
father in 1849. Charles W. Anderson's birth occurred July 5, 1867. As a boy he
had the advantage of instruction under Professor Blanchard in the public
schools. Leaving school in 1882 he secured work as a laborer on a
ranch near Folsom, where he remained for one year. Next he undertook to learn
the blacksmith's trade, but at the expiration of six months his health became
impaired and he was forced to relinquish all activities. An enforced idleness of
six months, during which time he remained with his father, enabled him to
regain his former strength. As soon as able to work he learned the trade of a
tinsmith and afterward followed it as a journeyman until 1887, when he became
an apprentice in the state printing office at Sacramento. Seven years were
spent in that office, the period subsequent to his apprenticeship being spent
in regular work for wages.
Upon his return to Folsom in 1894 Mr.
Anderson engaged as a tinsmith for Brown & Yaeger,
but that place he resigned in 1895, when he returned to Sacramento and entered
the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as a tinsmith. When he
resigned that post in August of 1910 it was in order that he might accept the
responsible duties as chief of the fire department, to which he has been
appointed by Mayor Beard. In entering his new tasks he showed the energy, tact,
and determination characteristic of him in previous business associations,
and his service up to the present time has been marked by the steady growth of
the department and its continued immediate response to all alarms. Not only has
the chief proved a resourceful fire-fighter, but in addition he makes many
suggestions as to prevention of fires and watches closely all of the extra
hazardous fire risks, believing that no service is of greater value to any
municipality than the prevention of such serious catastrophes.
The marriage of Mr. Anderson and Miss
Louisa Meyer took place at Folsom, Sacramento county,
August 16, 1893, and has been blessed with two children, Carl W. and Ruth
Louisa, both of whom have received superior educational advantages in the high
schools of Sacramento. The Republican party has
received the consistent and steadfast support of Mr. Anderson ever since he
attained his majority and cast his first ballot. Fraternally he not only has
maintained an active connection with the Loyal Order of Moose, but also has
been a prominent local worker in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is
past noble grand of Eldorado Lodge No. 8. Both of
these fraternities receive his generous assistance in their charitable
undertakings and he has further given helpful aid to general measures for the
common good. He is also a member of the Pacific Coast Association of Fire
Chiefs. His interest in the welfare and progress of his native county is
particularly keen. In his opinion no movement is too arduous, no enterprise too
great for local support provided the prosperity of the community thereby is
enhanced.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento County,
California, Pages 819-820. Historic
Record Company,
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.