William Anderson,
president of the Gillespie Mutual Insurance Company and for many years a
leading agriculturist of Macoupin county, whose farm is located on section
5, Cahokia township, is a native of Putnam county, Indiana. He was born
February 14, 1832, a son of Thomas and Mary (Scott) Anderson. The
grandfather of our subject on the paternal side was James Anderson, a native
of Virginia, who moved to Tennessee and later took up his abode in Indiana.
He had good fighting blood in his veins and was one of the active
participants in the Black Plawk war. He lived to the advanced age of eighty
years.
Thomas Anderson, the father of our subject, was the eldest
son of James Anderson. He was born in Tennessee and removed with his parents
to Indiana early in life, continuing there until 1834. Believing that more
favorable opportunities lay westward, he came to Macoupin county, Illinois,
and entered one hundred and sixty acres of land in Honey Point township. He
died just as he was entering upon the prime of a useful career, at the age
of thirty-five years. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Scott, and she
came to Macoupin county in 1834. There were four children in their family,
namely: William, of this review; James M., who was a resident of Terre
Haute, Indiana, and is now deceased; Jesse F., of Portland, Oregon; and
Joseph M., who' was a resident of Missouri and is also deceased.
William Anderson has been a resident of Macoupin county since 1834, a
period of seventy-seven years, and there are few men within its borders who
can claim a better acquaintance with its development during the period
named. He possessed very limited advantages of school training, as he was
left an orphan in his boyhood, but he has been an apt student in the great
school of experience. He early became acquainted with farm work and found
employment on farms and in sawmills, working for nine years in mills on
Honey creek. In the years when it was necessary he carefully saved his money
and he was thus enabled to purchase eighty acres of land, later becoming the
owner of one hundred acres on section 35, Brushy Mound township. He was
diligent and enterprising in his business, as is proven by the fact that he
now owns two hundred and forty acres in Cahokia township and forty acres on
section 20, Honey Point township, he and his wife being also the owners of
valuable properties in Gillespie. His place, known as the Walnut Lawn Farm,
is highly improved with modern buildings and fruit, shade and ornamental
trees and is one of the most pleasing features of the landscape in that part
of the county. He has given considerable attention h> breeding and raising
high grade stock and his income from this source has added largely to his
fortune. Although not actively engaged in farming for several years past, he
takes a great interest in everything pertaining to agriculture and
stock-raising and enjoys thoroughly the fruits of his wisely directed
labors. He is president of the Gillespie Mutual Insurance Company, which
carries two million, five hundred thousand dollars worth of written
insurance and is one of the most firmly established organizations of the
kind in this part of the country. Its success has been largely due to the
good judgment and unquestioned business ability of its president.
In
1856 Mr. Anderson was married to Miss Lydia J. Huddleston, a native of
Brushy Mound township. The following children were born to this union: John
T., the eldest, lives at Terre Haute, Indiana, and has one child, Edna.
Samuel F., a farmer of Cahokia township, has six children, Hazel, Audrey,
George, Owen, Chester and Clarence. Clara is the wife of J. M. McGovern, of
Bates county, Missouri. William Luther, who lives in Montgomery county,
Illinois, has ten children. Ida married J. D. McReynolds, of Honey Point
township, and they have three living children, William H., John M. and May,
and two deceased. Charles, who married Tena Walschleger and is now in charge
of the home farm, lost two children in infancy. The mother of these children
died April 9, 1881, and in 1891 Mr. Anderson was married ho Mrs. Sarah J.
Miller, formerly Sarah J. Sanders and the widow of George Miller. By her
first marriage she had three children, one of whom, Dora, still survives.
This daughter is the wife of Samuel F. Anderson, one of the sons of Mr.
Anderson of this review.
Politically Mr. Anderson for a number of
years gave his support to the principles and candidates of the populist
party, but he is governed in voting largely by the nature of the questions
at issue and the character of the candidates. He served for twenty-five
years as school director and has most acceptably discharged the duties of
various township offices. At the time of the Grange movement he was
prominent as one of its earnest advocates and occupied the chair as master
of the local Grange. Religiously he is affiliated with the United Baptist
church. A liberal contributor to worthy objects, he has also devoted much
time and energy to promoting the interests of the community and is one of
its most honored residents. He is today one of the leading citizens of
Macoupin county and enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him.
Extracted 18 May 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Macoupin County, Illinois: Biographical and Pictorial, by Charles A. Walker, published in 1911, Volume 2, pages 122-125.
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