The country doctors of the past have left a lasting mark on the history of rural Virginia communities. Older generations may recall the name Dr. John Carlisle Anderson, and older generations from over a century ago would recall his father, Dr. J. C. Anderson Sr. The elder Dr. Anderson was born in 1852 to Watt Otey Anderson and former Miss Nancy Jane Smith. Each of his siblings left a lasting legacy within the county. J. C. Anderson’s maternal grandparents, George K. Smith and former Miss Susan H. Adkins were progenitors of a long list of descendants near Turkeycock Creek.

In 1874, Watt O. Anderson donated land to build a new church, replacing the community’s old log meeting house. The new church was renamed “Greenpond,” and the graveyard now serves as the final resting place for many of the Anderson family members near what is now the Climax community. J. C. Anderson established his home, “Minneola” nearby on land about a mile east of Tomahawk Creek. At the age of twenty-seven, he married his cousin Miss Mary Jane Smith, a daughter of William M. Smith and former Miss Rebecca F. Hodnett. Together, they raised seven children, though they lost another child in infancy.

In 1878, a post office was established at Minneola. The form detailed nearby post offices including Bearskin, three miles to the northwest, and Callands, six and one-half miles to the southwest. For the first two years, J. C. Anderson appointed a couple men for the position. First, Robert Edward Hodges managed the office in 1878, then John Rice Miller Motley succeeded him for the year 1879. In 1880, Dr. Anderson took on the responsibility of postmaster himself, holding the position for the next twenty-four years at Minneola. (Some records spell it as “Mineola”). The 1880 census shows that Dr. Anderson’s property was situated near the families of Preston Mahan, Naamon Mahan, John Bradner, Squire Berger, Gilbert Hunley, and other local farmers. 

J. C. Anderson also served as the second postmaster of Chestnut Level P.O., which was established in 1873 under George Washington Jones. Dr. Anderson appears on the appointment record list between 1881 and 1887, when Robert L. Dodson took his place. Dr. Anderson’s brother, James Anderson, established a grist mill at Tomahawk Creek in 1887, which eventually had its own post office as well. Another brother, Charles Anderson, worked as a prominent teacher and later principal of Climax High School. Charles married Miss Nannie Pigg, a daughter of Hezekiah F. Pigg of Pigg’s Mill. In 1890, J. C. Anderson took up the position of postmaster at Dry Fork Depot for the next six years.

The 1900 census shows that Dr. Anderson’s oldest son Frank worked as a “salesman grocer” while his younger siblings worked as farm laborers on the property. As Dr. Anderson Sr. continued his legacy, his second son, John Carlisle Anderson Jr., embarked on his own notable journey to become a physician. For a few years, he moved to the coal mining village of Mucklow in Kanawha County, West Virginia to practice medicine. During the Great War (World War I), J. C. Anderson Jr. enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 at Bedford County. He was a tall and authoritative man, just over six feet in height. He was promoted from 1st Lieutenant to Captain in 1918, serving gallantly overseas as part of the 42nd Ambulance Company and engaged in the Meuse–Argonne offensive near the end of the war. 

J. C. Anderson Sr. passed away in 1921 and is buried at Greenpond Baptist Church Cemetery. His son soon became the prominent doctor around Chatham, where he is listed in the 1930 census on South Main Street next to the Jacobs family of jewelers and a banker named Bodie Yeatts. The doctor and his wife Mrs. Stella Anderson (born Colvin) raised three daughters: Mary Jo, Patricia, and Dot Anderson. Throughout the following few decades, Dr. Anderson helped deliver many newborns, including my late granduncle Posey Anderson Grant, who was given “Anderson” as a middle name. In his later years, J. C. Anderson Jr. retired to Sarasota, Florida, where he passed away in 1958. For nearly eighty years, the father and son cared for the county’s residents, earning their place as household names. Though both are now laid to rest, their legacy lives on in the history of the community.