Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/335

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\1RGIXIA BKXiRAPIlY


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assisting his father on the homestead and in his general store. From seventeen to twen- ty-four years of age he was in the employ of the Adams Express Company as mes- senger. In 1896 he took a general business course at Smithdeal lUisiness College in Richmond. In 1897 the medical instinct of Dr. Meriwether Lewis ( 1 ) Anderson, his grandfather, combined with a line of dis- tinguished physicians on his maternal side, asserted itself and Meriwether Lewis (2) began a medical course at the Medical Col- lege of Virginia, in May, 1900, at the age of twenty-seven years, he was a graduated M. D., and spent the next year, until June, 1901, at the Old Dominion Hospital in Richmond. Since that time he has been engaged professionally in Richmond, located at 928 West Grace street, where he is well established in general practice. He was made a ]\Iason on arriving at lega\ age, and at thirteen years became a member of the Presbyterian church, joining by his own wish and request. He is a mem- ber of the Royal Arcanum, and a Democrat in politics.

Dr. Anderson married, in the First Bap- tist Church, Richmond. September 23. 1903, Rev. (jeorge Cooper officiating, Annie Tatum, born in Richmond, May 22, 1874, daughter of \Mlliam Henry and Marv (Pearman) Tatum. her father a merchant and veteran of the civil war, serving four years in the First Howdtzer Confederate army. Children of Dr. Meriwether L. An- derson: Ann ]\Ieriwether, born January 13, 1905; Louisa IMaury. born December 21. 1906; Sarah Travers, born January 30, 1908; Meriwether Lewis (3), born March 7, 191 1.

Rev. Edward Nathan Calisch. The en- ergy and intellectual activity that is a marked peculiarity of the Jewish race is clearly seen in the Rev. Edward Nathan Calisch, of Richmond, Virginia. He holds a responsible position, and shows the ver- satilit}' of his talents, wdelding at the same time a wide-spread influence. The place he has achieved is the result of an ambition which, even as a boy, drove him to work patiently and vmtiringly towards the aims which he had set for himself. The success which has crowned his efforts and placed him in a position of respect and esteem may justly be said to be mainly due to him- self and his own ability and unflagging en-


ergy, lie comes of a family of brain- workers. An uncle, N. S. Calisch, who was the editor of the "Amsterdamischer Cour- ant" was an author and lexicographer, and compiled a standard English-Dutch and Dutch-English dictionary. A great-uncle, Morris Calisch, was an artist and poet.

Henry Calisch, father of the Rev. Edward X. Calisch, was born in .Amsterdam, Hol- land, in 1832. and came to America in the fifties. He was a teacher 1)y (occupation, and noted for his literary and linguistic ability. He died about 1875, his death being caused by exposure suffered at the time of the great Chicago fire of 1871, at which time he was living in Chicago with his family. Later he returned to Toledo, Ohio, the city in which he had been living. He married Rebecca \'an Xorden, born in Rotterdam, Holland, in 1846, died in America in 1900. They had children : Solomon H.. a resident of Toledo, Ohio ; Edward Nathan, of this sketch ; Frances H.. unmarried, lives with her brother, the rabbi, and is a trained nurse by profession.

Rev. Edward Xathan Calisch was born in Toledo, Ohio, June 23, 1865. After the dis- aster of the Chicago fire, and the family had returned to Toledo, he attended local schools there, and when his father died, at which time he w^as ten years of age, he worked as a cash boy for a time with Man- del Brothers of Chicago. He then attended in succession the following institutions of learning : Hebrew Union College, which conferred upon him his degree as rabbi in 1887: University of Cincinnati, Bachelor of Laws in 1887; University of Virginia, Master of Arts in 1905, and Doctor of Phil- osophy in 190S. He commenced his active working life prior to his graduation, as a teacher in the Sabbath schools in Cincin- nati. Ohio, and in Lexington, Kentucky. After his graduation in August, 1887. he was appointed as rabbi of a congregation in Peoria, Illinois. He remained in charge of his congregation in Peoria until 1891, in which year he was called to the congrega- tion in Richmond, Virginia, with wdiich he has since that time been identified. He is a prominent figure in all movements wdiich have for their object the betterment of ex- isting conditions, and is well known as a speaker, fluent and influential, in civic causes, city government, reform movements, etc. Since 1910 he has served as vice-presi-