An Eccentric Southern Gentleman

Sometime around 1910, a southbound train pulled into Marietta. As it came to a stop across from the hotel and livery, a passenger stuck his head out of the window. Spying an antiquated-looking gentleman seated in front of the livery stable, the passenger called out, “How many folks live in this little town?”

Hearing the passenger’s Northern accent, the antiquated gentleman answered, “Well, we’ve got a couple of thousand that live here, but we’ve got 10,000 dead Yankees buried over there on the hill!”

That gentleman was John A.G. “Chuck” Anderson, one of Marietta’s more colorful characters. His antiquated appearance came from more than just his age (he would have been about 65 in 1910); Anderson’s preferred clothing style was reminiscent of an earlier time. The cut of his suit, his tall hat, his wide mustache and his long sideburns gave him the air of an old-fashioned Southern gentleman.

Anderson also possessed eccentricity in keeping with his appearance, managing to flout social conventions without losing respect. Anderson easily moved among all levels of society and was well-liked by black and white, rich and poor alike.

Some of this may have come from the nature of his childhood. According to Thomas Allen Scott’s Cobb County, Georgia and the Origins of the Suburban South, Anderson was referred to as a “woods-colt,” meaning a man of illegitimate birth, and the census records appear to bear this out. The U.S. census of 1860 lists a 14-year-old J.A. Anderson living with his 48-year old father, John A.G. Anderson Sr., and no other family. Yet the 1850 census lists his father as a bachelor living alone at a Marietta hotel owned by John Arnold.

At some point in his childhood, the younger Anderson came to live with his father, who was a successful businessman. Between 1850 and 1860, the elder Arnold had acquired seven slaves, ranging in age from 4 to 26. Growing up with no brothers or sisters, the younger Anderson likely turned to his father’s slaves for companionship, developing a lifelong familiarity with, if not affinity for, black culture.

Coming into his own after the Civil War, Anderson acquired the old cotton warehouse next to the railroad on Whitlock Avenue and turned it into a thriving livery stable. Anderson hired out horses and other livestock, buggies, carriages and hearses. He insisted that his animals be treated well and worked in rotation, and if one was returned to him showing signs of overwork, he would verbally thrash the customer, refusing ever to do business with him again.

But the livery was not the only business Anderson operated. He converted the upstairs into a saloon and dance hall catering to African Americans, and when moving pictures arrived on the scene, he operated a makeshift movie theater for black patrons in back of the livery stable. Although he was married for a time and supported a sister-in-law, Anderson never had any children–at least not officially. After his wife passed away, Anderson kept an African-American mistress and made no secret of the fact.

According to Rip Blair, a prominent Mariettan of the early 20th century, Anderson’s “light-skinned mistress” would take the finest buggy in the livery, attached to a horse with a proud, high-stepping gait, and drive leisurely around the square. Afterward, she would drive down Cherokee Street, past some of Marietta’s finest homes, and back again–just to show that she could.

Whatever wealth Chuck Anderson had, he did his best to take it with him. After he died on Oct. 10, 1917, leaving no apparent heir, unpaid creditors filed suit against his estate, which the court declared to be insolvent.

The building that once held Anderson’s livery stable (and other enterprises) now houses the .