Name:                     Andrew Jackson ANDERSON1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8    Click here for photo from Guin2

Sex:                         Male

Father:                    Jacob Anderson SLOGVIG (8 Jun 1807 - 6 May 1864)

Mother:                  Serine (Serena) Tormodsdatter MADLAND (1 Jan 1814 - 7 Jan 1898)

 

Individual Facts

Birth                       12 Apr 1842                                           Rutland township, La Salle Co., IL9

Baptism                  1864 (age 22)                                         Petaluma, Sonoma Co., CA10

Death                     15 Dec 1917 (age 75)                            San Jose, Santa Clara, CA11

Burial                      17 Dec 1917                                           Tulocay Cemetery, Napa, CA11

                                                                photo of Napa grave site        photo of grave stone

 

Marriages/Children

1. Melissa B. BROADHURST

Marriage                23 Jun 1866 (age 24)                             Napa, Napa Co., CA12

                                                                                                (Napa Co. Marriage Index, Book A, p. 173) 

   No Children

 

Notes (Individual)

Birth: [While there is a small town of Rutland in southern LaSalle Co., Rutland township is on of the 3 townships where the Sloopers settled along the Fox River and this is where the Anderson farm was located.  RLDS Church baptismal records indicate that he was born in Ruthland, but it is assumed that that this is just a misspelling as no Ruthland exists in the area.]

Baptism: [RLDS baptism by E. C. Brand.]

Death: [Cause of Death: "Carcinoma of Prostate" - Dr. C. A. Wayland]11

Burial: [Burial lot 6, block 92.]11

.

General: Probably the Wheeler family's "rich uncle" -- He is listed in the 1860 US Census in his parent's household and as age 18 and occupation "Farmer."  In the 1870 census he is listed (between an Elswick and an Osler family) as age 28 and "Farming" in Grove Township, Pottawattamie Co., IA; listed with him are his wife, mother and 15 year old niece Julia; also listed in the household is a 19 year old male by the name of Edward Smith who is listed as a "Farm Laborer."  In the 1880 census in Grove Township, Pottawattamie Co, IA, he is listed as 38 year old "Farmer" and with his wife and mother; listed just below his mother is a 12 year old female who is listed as "adopted" and, although the census taker's handwriting is difficult to read, this girl's name appears to be Alice Weeks or Meeks (no other family information indicates that he and his wife ever had or adopted a child).  He is listed in the 1885 Iowa State Census, along with his wife and mother, in Carson Township, Pottawattamie Co., IA.  Here he is listed as a "Grain Dealer" and his residence appears to be at the following address, "Car Wash & Central."

.

   "Andrew J. Anderson, the man with the golden finger, was next in the family after Isabelle. He was not much of a mechanic but he was a good business man and 'everything he touched turned to gold.' He started his career early, when a lad of 12 crossing the great plains in 1854 with his parents' wagon train.  It was a time when massacres were not uncommon and Jacob and Serena were much alarmed when he turned up missing one day.  It was discovered that he had loitered behind and was trading bright buttons with the Indians.  When his father died, Andrew took over the operation of the home ranch at Soscol.  ... married Melissa B. Broadhurst ...born (1844) in Niles Michigan" (Slooper book, p. 428)

.

    Andrew J. moved back to the Wheelers Grove area in southwest Iowa with his wife and mother in 1867.  Andrew built a "nice frame house diagonally across the Mormon Trail to the southwest" and was considered to be "a wonderful house because it also had porches."  They "lived on the land Jacob had kept in Pottawattamie County.... acquired interests in the nearby town to Carson, Iowa.  Here he was very successful with the ownership of a grain elevator and had a large business shipping grain.  He lived in a large house in town but was a diligent worker and continued to raise stock and run the farm, which he increased to 1000 acres.   In December 1888 Andrew and Melissa retired to San Diego..."  In 1894 he returned to ranching and real estate investing in northern CA.  Andrew "bought1300 acres of land near Fruto, Glenn County, and took up residence there.  He went into stock raising and acquired more land until by 1906, he owned 1600 acres in the home ranch west of Fruto and 1940 acres four miles east of Fruto.  He maintained at least 500 head of cattle including a herd of imported high grade red polls, reputedly one of the only two in California and quite a rarity in the United states at that time."  In his last years he bought property in the San Jose area, owning a two story building known as the Anderson Building.*  He did not have any children so upon his death, the Iowa land and "the rest of his estate was divided among his heirs" (or went to an attorney who was appointed guardian for the Wheeler children). (Slooper book, pp. 428-429)  

.

   *Letters to his grandniece Mattie Opsal/Uhl indicate that he was living in Fruto, CA, (west of Willows, CA) in 1915 and 1916.  A letter from there dated 17 Nov 1916 indicated that he had sold his ranch and was planning to move to San Jose.  Further, this letter indicted that had bought a half interest in a "business corner" (San Antonio St. & S. 2nd St.) in downtown San Jose and he and his business partner would construct a commercial building there.  The first floor of this building would hold 7 stores and the "upper part" would be apartments.  Subsequent letters beginning 26 Nov 1916 were postmarked from San Jose.  A letter dated 9 May 1917 indicated that he had just returned to San Jose from Iowa where he had spent about a month dealing with the farm land he still owned there.  He indicated that he made an arrangement with Elwood Osler (probably the one who married Lenora I. Wheeler, great granddaughter of Jason Wheeler) , a local banker and owner of adjacent farm land, to "look after" the Anderson farm land which was still being actively farmed.  This same letter indicated that he sold his "Kansas land, as it was undesirable land."  His letter of 25 Sep 1917 indicated that he was anxious to see the "Anderson Apartments" completed and rented, but a letter dated 30 Oct 1917 (1 1/2 months prior to his death) from a Miss Dora Carter of San Jose indicated that "Uncle has not been well lately" and requested that Mattie come soon to visit him.

.

   "A.J. Anderson, gain merchant and farmer, Carson...  began life on his own responsibility in California on a farm; there he remained but a year or two, when he emigrated to Iowa, settling in Grove Township... on a farm where he was engaged exclusively in farming and stock dealing till he entered the grain business in Carson, erecting an elevator, which he owns and operates in connection with his farm.  He first bought a partial interest in the old homestead of 680 acres in Grove Township, Pottawattamie County, then his mother's interest' since then he has added land until the farm now contains 1,000 acres. This farm consists of what is known as Wheeler's Grove, in Grove Township, and is very valuable.  There being 200 acres of good timber land.  ... lives in Carson; ... is a member of the church of Latter Day Saints; he is no partisan in politics."  (Pottawattamie 1883 book)  

.

   He was baptized in the Reorganized LDS Church at Sonoma, CA, in 1865 and was ordained 22 Jan 1871 in Wheelers Grove, Pottawattamie Co., IA, holding the office of "Priest" there. (RLDS Archives, Wheeler's Grove Branch Record #172.)

.

   Prof. J.M. Guinn, in his 1906 history of Calif., devotes a section to A. J. Anderson pointing out that he owned several thousand acres near Fruto, CA, and that "the stock business is his specialty." Politically, he admired Teddy Roosevelt but was "a staunch adherent of Democratic principles."  Guinn further mentions that when in Iowa he was active in Masonic work, a "member of Blue Lodge."  Page 429 of the Slooper book states that, "During his Iowa residence, Andrew was quite active in Masonry."

.

Notes (Family #1)

Marriage: [Married by Justice G. W. Towle.  Marriage information found in list of 1866 marriages contracted in Napa Co. in the Napa Daily Evening Reporter, 4 Jan 1867, p. 2, col. 2.  History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, has the marriage date of 24 Jun 1866.]

 

Sources

1.  Rosdail, J. Hart.  The Sloopers; Their Ancestry and Posterity; The Story of the People on the Norwegian Mayflower, The Sloop, "Restoration.".  Broadview, IL: Norwegian Slooper Society of America, 1961.  pp. 428-429, 473.

2.  Guinn, J. M., Prof..  History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley, California. An Historical Story of the State's Marvelous Growth from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time.  Chicago: Chapman Publishing Co., 1906.  pp.1468-70.

3.  History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa.  Chicago: O. L. Baskin & Co., Historical Publishers, 1883.  pp. 152-3.

4.  1850 US Census.  Grove Township, Pottawattamie Co., IA.

5.  1860 US Census.  Napa Co., CA.

6.  1885 Iowa State Census.  Carson Township, Pottawattamie Co.

7.  1880 US Census.  Grove Township, Pottawattamie Co., IA.

8.  1870 US Census.  Grove Township, Pottawattamie Co., IA.

9.  Archive Records furnished by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints under cover letters of 6 and 20 Oct 1999. (Contact person: Barbara J. Bernauer, Assistant Archivist).  Independence, MO: RLDS Church, 1999.  Wheeler's Grove Branch Record Book (#172). [Note: in year 2000 the RLDS Church changed its name to "Community of Christ."]

10.  Ibid.  Wheeler's Grove Branch Record Book (#172).

11.  Records of the Tulocay Cemetery (founded 1859), 411 Coombsville Road, P.O. Box 7, Napa, CA 94558.  Phone (707) 252-4727.

12.  History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa.  Chicago: O.L. Baskin & Co., Histrorical Publishers, 1883.  p. 153.

 

Prepared by:

O. Keith Wheeler

Mad River, CA 95552

(707) 574-6595

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