Isaac L. Anderson

Who was Isaac L. Anderson?

Isaac L. Anderson was a Presbyterian minister and the founder in 1819 of Southern and Western Theological Seminary in Maryville, Tennessee. In 1842 the seminary was renamed as Maryville College. A native of Stockbridge County, Virginia, Dr. Anderson was educated in a traditional log school house after he was taught to read and spell by his grandmother. Later he attended Liberty Hall Academy, present-day Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia. At the age of 17 he joined the church, and at age 21 he moved with his family to nearby Knox County, Tennessee.

Anderson and other members of his family were first buried in New Providence cemetery; they were moved to the Maryville College cemetery in 1933.