4 generations of a Gaines family posed for a portrait in 1870
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
This four-generation portrait was taken around 1870. From left to right: Robert Anderson, 1787-1873; Nahum Anderson, 1809-1893; George Anderson, 1839-1912; and Robert Anderson, 1864-1955.
Robert, at far left, was the second supervisor of the Town of Gaines and the first Chairman of the Orleans County Board of Supervisors in 1825.
According to family legend, Nahum Anderson was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. They lived in the large cobblestone house on Ridge Road about a quarter mile west of Gaines Basin Road. In 1859, Nahum added the cobblestone wing to the west end of the original house for himself.
The younger Robert moved away and died in Tacoma, Wash. The first Robert fought in the American Revolution and is buried in the graveyard behind the Gaines Congregational Church. He is the great-great-great-grandfather to County Historian Lattin. George Anderson’s sister Phoebe married B.M. Lattin in 1860.
