Anthony R. Cardwell lived on his father's farm in Campbell County, Virginia, until the age of twenty. He then went to Grainger County, Tennessee, where his brother Robert had previously moved. He is found on the Tax Rolls of Grainger County in 1820. In 1850 he is listed as a farmer in Grainger County. Sometime thereafter, a part of Grainger County became Jefferson County, Tennessee.

In August, 1855, he disposed of all his property in Jefferson County and left for Caldwell County, Texas.

He brought his entire family of nine sons (one son, Alexander, had died earlier in Jefferson County), three daughters, one son-in-law, three daughters-in-law, five grandchildren, and his many slaves. They traveled by oxen wagon train, ultimately arriving in Caldwell County, Texas on December 31st; the trip lasting almost five months. Sarah Angeline Cardwell, Anthony's daughter, wrote about this trip, described in part below.

The journey led them across the Ohio River (Note: Certain to have actually been the Mississippi) which they crossed by ferry. Once across the river, they landed in a cane break and every little while one of the wagons would bog down and the others would help get them out. Finally, they got through the cane break only to run into hard rains and flood waters. Every thing was water soaked and Anthony had lost his shoes, so he waded around barefoot, but singing all the while. One woman who heard him said "There's the man after my heart - anyone who can sing in all this slush."

All provisions were washed away and the whole crowd was desperate. Finally, he contacted a man who had killed a bear and he managed for it. That was their first meat but said it was delicious.

The oxen drawn wagon train arrived in Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas, on December 31, 1855. Early in 1856, Anthony bought land lying about two miles north of Lockhart, on which a few acres had been cleared and a log house built. During the remainder of 1856, he bought more land and by the end of the year owned about 1500 acres.

Laboring diligently and wisely, he cleared a good farm and engaged in farming and ranching during the remaining years of his activity, living there until his death on November 20, 1891, at the age of ninety-five years, six months, and seventeen days.