Charles Marley Anderson was born in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania, in 1845, and moved with his parents to Darke County, Ohio, in 1855.

[2] He attended the common schools, and enlisted in Company B, 71st Ohio Infantry, in 1861 during the American Civil War.

[1] Anderson was elected as a Democrat to Ohio's 4th congressional district in 1884, and failed at re-nomination in 1886.

[1] He was named by Governor James E. Campbell as an Ohio commissioner to the World's Columbian Exposition of 1892.

[1] Charles Marley Anderson married Ella Hart of Greenville on June 7, 1870.