Robert Anderson Biographical Review

ROBERT ANDERSON, the capable and enterprising manager of the lumber business of J.S. & G.S. Russell, and a popular citizen of Ashland, Illinois, was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, December 22, 1842. His parents were William and Martha (Kimpston) Anderson, both of whom were natives of county Tyrone, where they were married and where all of their children were born. In 1847, they came to America, and located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where both parents afterward died. This worthy couple were the parents of five children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first son. Jane, the first in order of birth, died in young womanhood, in Philadelphia; next in order was our subject; Kate, the third child, resides in Bucks county, Pennsylvania; Sarah, now Mrs. Finley, lives in Philadelphia where her husband is a carpet manufacturer; Willie was born in Philadelphia, but died in infancy. Mr. Anderson lived with his maternal grandfather in Ireland, until he was twenty-two years of age, when, in June, 1865, he came to Philadelphia. He remained in the city of Brotherly Love until the fall of 1872, and was, in the meantime, on May 2, 1868, married there, to Miss Mary A. Lucas, who was born in his native county, in Ireland, and who had been a schoolmate of his in the beautiful Emerald Isle, in which country her parents spent their entire lives. In 1872, Mr. Anderson came to Jacksonville, Illinois, where he entered the employ of Russell Brothers, with whom he has been connected ever since. In 1876, he started the business in Ashland, which he now operates, which is the only lumber yard in that city, and they enjoy a large and lucrative trade. The entire management of this large enterprise is vested in Mr. Anderson’s hands. It is he who pays the men, does all the collecting, and handles all the money, and is, in fact, a trusted employee, whose integrity is unimpeachable and his faithfulness unsurpassed. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have four children: Robert L., twenty-four years of age and unmarried, is the manager of a lumber business in Virginia, Illinois; Henrietta, is the wife of Ferdinand L. Strawn, a prominent and successful young farmer near Jacksonville, Illinois, to whom she was married January 6, 1892; Sarah E. and Willie Johnson are still under the parental roof; the former, now past eighteen years of age, is an efficient teacher in the public schools of Sangamon county; the latter is employed, during vacation, about the lumber yard or on the farm belonging to the Russell Brothers. All of the children have had excellent educational opportunities in the common and high schools of Ashland. Robert L., the oldest son, is a graduate of the Jacksonville Business College, and Henrietta graduated in music at the Jacksonville Conservatory of Music, and taught that beautiful art in Ashland for several years, being very successful. In his political affiliations, Mr. Anderson is a stanch Republican, advocating most thoroughly the principles of that party. He abhors free trade England, and deeply sympathizes with his oppressed countrymen across the water. Socially, he affiliates with the I.O.O.F., Knights of Pythias and with the A.O.U.W. The entire family are earnest and useful members of Pleasant Plains Presbyterian Church, contributing liberally to its support and advancement. Ireland and America being such friends, it is natural that their respective countrymen should entertain the kindest regard for each other, especially if, as in Mr. Anderson’s case, they are irreproachable in business and social life, inspiring all worthy men with the deepest respect and esteem.