M. W. Brother Charles Anthony was born in Richmond, Virginia, March 31, 1798. He was the third son of Joseph and Rhoda Anthony who were members of the Society of Friends also known as the Quakers.
They moved to Clinton County, Ohio, then a Quaker stronghold, in 1811 and engaged in farming. Young Charles was carefully educated and sent to Cincinnati to study law. He was admitted to the bar in 1820.
On March 23, 1820 he married Elizabeth Evans of Cincinnati, who bore Anthony nine children, five of whom, did not survive. She died in 1841. In 1844 Charles married Mary E. Hulsey of Springfield; they had seven children, four of whom, along with their mother survived Charles.
Charles Anthony was one of the outstanding citizens of Springfield and Clark County from 1824, when he moved there, until his death in 1862. He was three times elected to the Lower House of the State Legislature and was chosen Speaker. He was elected to one term in the State Senate in 1833.
His most outstanding success during his terms in the Legislature was the reformation of the prison system in Ohio. He was responsible for the State committing the government to humane treatment of prisoners and the construction of a new penitentiary.
He also served as U. S. Attorney for Ohio from 1840 until 1844 during the Tyler administration and on the Springfield City Council. While on the Council he helped establish Greenmont Cemetery, then east of the village.
He received his title of General in the Ohio Militia during the Mexican War of 1846-1847. He is listed as Brigadier General of the 3rd Brigade, 5th Division Ohio Militia. Records show that he had been an officer in several Clark County Militia Companies from 1825 until 1847, with ranks from Lieutenant to Major.
He had the reputation of an outstanding lawyer with a fine manner in handling juries. He was very active in the Presbyterian Church and the American Bible Society, helping to start a branch of the Society in Springfield. He was also active in the literary societies of the times.
M. W. Brother Anthony received his Entered Apprentice degree in Highland Lodge No. 38 on March 2, 1822. On June 24, 1822 he received both his Fellow Craft and Master Mason degrees. On June 7, 1823 he dimitted from Highland Lodge No. No. 38 and affiliated on April 6, 1824 with N. C. Harmony Lodge No. 2, dimitting wherefrom on October 6, 1824 to help form Morning Star Lodge No. 80 in 1825, the dispensation being granted on January 10, 1826. About 1831 the lodge ceased its labors although he represented that lodge at Grand Lodge in January 1831.
He was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ohio in January 1832 apparently while not actively affiliated with any Ohio lodge. He may not even have been present since the minutes are signed by the newly elected Deputy Grand Master. M. W. Brother Anthony, for some reason is not recorded as presiding at the 1833 Annual Communication either.
In 1846 his name appears on a petition to re-establish Xenia Lodge No. 49. Also in 1846, at the Grand Lodge Session in Dayton, Ohio he presented the Grand Lodge with a special copy of the Holy Bible, on behalf of the American Bible Society. (Unfortunately we have no idea whatever happened to the Bible or where it is today.)
In 1847 he, along with several other brethren, petitioned the Grand Lodge for a dispensation to establish Clark Lodge No. 101, Clark Lodge’s Charter was granted in 1848 and Charles Anthony served as Master in 1848, 1849 and again in 1855.
Most Worshipful Brother Charles Anthony died on May 10, 1862. His death was mourned by all the leading citizens of this part of the state. Resolutions of mourning by the local Bar Association and by Clark Lodge No. 101 were printed in the Springfield paper. Anthony Lodge No. 455 chartered on October 18, 1871 is named for M. W. Brother Charles Anthony.
He was laid to rest, on Sunday, May 11, 1862, in the family plot in the northwest corner of the old Columbia Street Cemetery.
No stone marks his grave. The plot is marked by a tall family marker with the names of those who preceded him in death marked there on. His name is not inscribed on the marker and there is no written contemporary statements that he was buried there, but written and printed stories by “old timers” in the late 1800’s and family tradition places his burial in this family plot.
In recognition of MWB Anthony and his service as Grand Master, the Ninth Masonic District placed a memorial stone marker on the family plot.