JOHN R. ANDERSON.

JOHN R. ANDERSON, one of the large cattle dealers of Allen and Bourbon counties and a member of the firm of Love & Ensminger, is one of the pioneers of Kansas. In April 1856 his father brought the family to Bourbon county and took up land in Franklin township. He was from Green county, Missouri, but was originally from Lee county, Virginia. In the latter place our subject was born October 4, 1839. His father, Charles Anderson was born in Tennessee in 1807 and died in Bourbon county, Kansas, in 1863. The family left Virginia in 1853 and made the trip to Missouri with a yoke of oxen, being two months on the road.

The original Anderson, and the one who established the family in America, was John Anderson, an Irishman and a blacksmith. His burial place is unknown but his wife is buried at Xenia, Kansas.

Charles Anderson married Anna Hester who died in 1893 at the age of eighty-one years. Her children are: Mary, widow of T. L. Charles, of Larned, Kansas; William C., of Xenia, Kansas; Catherine, deceased, married Mr. Adkinson; John R.; Elizabeth, wife of A. Williams, of Xenia, Kansas, and Letitia, deceased, who married J. F. Davis.

Our subject was seventeen years old when he came to Kansas. He aided his father in opening a new farm and herded and drove cattle for several years. He took a claim himself when he reached the required age and was interested in its initial development and improvement when the war broke out. He enlisted first October 10, 1861, in Company I, Third Kansas Cavalry and was transferred to the Sixth Kansas. He was mustered out of the latter regiment in September 1862, and, a year later, re-enlisted in the Fourteenth Kansas. During his first enlistment Mr. Anderson fought bushwhackers in Missouri and the Indian Territory. While with the Fourteenth he was in the battle at Prairie DuChene, Arkansas, the chief one in which he participated. He was mustered out of service in June 1865 and returned to his home in Kansas. His history for thirty-five years can be told in a few words. His early training led him into the stock business soon after the war and for many years nothing else has claimed his attention. When the firm of which he is a member was formed he was chosen for the active management of its affairs. So extensive has been its operations and so closely has Mr. Anderson been confined to duty that the strain is telling upon him and the year 1901 will close his connection with the business and he will rest.

In politics Mr. Anderson is a Democrat. He became a follower of the

faith when it required courage to be a Democrat, but he outrode the storm and has seen his party in full control of National affairs since the war. His first presidential vote he cast for Douglas and he cast his second vote for Mr. Lincoln because he did not think it a good plan "to swap horses in the middle of a stream." He has been County Commissioner, a position he filled with ability and credit.

Mr. Anderson was first married in Bourbon county in 1866. His wife was Louisa Williams. She died in 1889 with twelve children surviving: Marsh D.; Elsie, widow of George Johnson; Allen T., of Nebraska; Robert and Cannon D., of Bourbon county; Warren, of Nebraska; Ralph and Ronald B., of Bronson, and Alma Lean and Grover C. Anderson. In 1890 Mr. Anderson was married to Lizzie Campbell, his present wife.

Mr. Anderson is a Workman, a Mason, an Eastern Star, a member of the order of Knights and Ladies of Security and of the G. A. R. post at Bronson.

Previous | Home | Next