Duke W Anderson

Duke William Anderson, born in Lawrence County, Illinois (1812-1873) was a Baptist Minister, Church Founder, Educator, and Underground Railroad Manager. He served as the first African American Justice of the Peace for Washington, D.C.

Volume 2 of the 1882 “History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880” by George Washington Williams includes several pages about the Rev D.W. Anderson and his background.

 “Duke William Anderson was born April 10, 1812, in the vicinity of Lawrenceville, Lawrence County,Illinois, of a Negro mother by a white father. His father, lately from North Carolina, fell under Gen. Harrison fighting the Indians. Like so many other great men he was born in an obscure place—a wigwam. At the time of his father's death he was quite a young baby.” The article continues by saying that he had a brother named John. Duke grew to be 6 ft 2 ½ inches tall with brown eyes.

Duke William Anderson married Ruth Ann Lucas in September 27, 1830 (some records say September 30, 1830) in Lawrence County, Illinois. His mother was riveted to the spot where her devoted husband fell at the hands of an Indians. 

Duke bought a tract of land, cleared it and began to farm. He planted a large orchard; became the owner of seven horses and all the implements necessary for farming.  For some years he lived the life of a farmer. He raised enough produce for the consumption of his family and enough left for the market.  Apples, potatoes, wheat and corn brought him handsome returns. 

The couple had five children, four of whom lived to adult age.  Luther Morgan born October 10, 1831; Mary Catharine born in 1833; George Washington born 1835; Elizabeth born 1837. The fifth child was born on September 4, 1839, but both the mother and child died in childbirth.

After the death of his wife, Duke taught school across the river in Vincennes, according to the book, taking his children with him. He was so overcome with grief that he was unable to stay there on his farm any longer, so he sold the land, the horses and bound out the children. He moved to Alton for two or three years, where he also taught school. There he married Mrs. Mary Jane Ragens who had two children of her own.  The couple returned to Lawrence County to recover his children and returned to Alton, Illinois to begin a new life.

In 1843 Duke became an ordained minister of the Baptist persuasion. In 1845, he moved to Woodburn, Madison County, Illinois, where he taught school and bought an 80-acre farm. While there, his congregation built a church for him.  

Duke later left to move to Quincy, Illinois to give his children a better education at Knox College and to pursue his work on the Underground Railroad. He argued so strongly against slavery that a price was placed upon his head in Missouri, and he was to be hanged if found in that state. Because of his work on the Underground Railroad he moved to Buffalo, New York just 24 miles from the Canadian border.  He stayed there two years taking charge of a Baptist church before moving on to Detroit Michigan in 1857.

His second wife died October 23, 1860, and Duke remarried March 18, 1861, to Mrs. Eliza Julia Shad of Chatham, Canada. At the close of the Civil War, the couple moved to Nashville where he taught in a theological institution. It was here that he accepted a call to minister to the 19th street Baptist Church in Washington, DC. Washington was in a vile condition at the close of the war. Its streets were mud holes, inhabitants crowded and jammed by troops and African Americans from the plantations.  Society was in a critical condition. There was a great need for a leader such as Duke W. Anderson.

Not only did Duke become preacher there but he was also elected trustee of Howard University, and of the Freedman’s Savings Bank and Trust Company, commissioner of Washington Asylum (1871) and Justice of the Peace (1869 and 1872). He oversaw the erection of a new house of worship in which the President of the United States was invited. In 1869, at the solicitation of Washington's mayor, Sayles J. Bowen, Rev. Anderson was appointed by President Lincoln as the first Black Justice of the Peace in the United States.

Duke William Andrson died on February 17, 1873, in Washington, DC. His body was placed in state in the church and the funeral service was said to be the largest Washington had ever seen except that of Abraham Lincoln.