He was the son of Geneviève Jadot (1763–1821),[2] a descendant of Louis Hebert, one of the earliest European settlers of New France (present day Quebec),[3] and George Christian Anthon (1734–1815), a German-American physician who served in the British Army during the American Revolution until the surrender of Detroit in 1796.
[6] In 1786, the family moved to New York where Anthon received a classical education,[7] and then attended Columbia College from which he graduated in 1801 at the head of his class.
Although somewhat brusque in manner and possessed of a displeasing voice, he showed great skill in marshaling facts and in legal exposition and analysis.
[11] The establishment of the Supreme Court of the City of New York is largely due to his efforts, he having successfully urged its necessity upon the state legislature.
[2][22] Through his son William, he was the grandfather of Marie Theresa Anthon (d. 1933),[12] who married her cousin, William Stanhope Callender,[23][2] and of the prominent socialite of the Gilded Age Marion Graves Anthon (1853–1915),[24] who was married to Stuyvesant Fish (1851–1923), the director of the National Park Bank of New York City and president of the Illinois Central Railroad and was the son of Hamilton Fish (1808–1893), who served as a U.S. Representative, U.S.