Elijah J. Anders is both a successful fanner and an active business man at Sidney. He has always lived in close touch with the soil and with agricultural conditions, and that experience has been invaluable to him as a grain merchant.
Mr. Anders has spent nearly all his life in Champaign County but was born at Canal Winchester, Ohio, May 19, 1875. His parents, John and Mary (Krumm) Anders, were both born in Germany. His father was brought to America by his parents when about two years of age, the family locating in Ohio. He grew up there, took up farming and in 1878 came to Champaign County, locating in Philo Township. He and his wife are still living at Sidney. They had a large family of children, named briefly as follows: William, of Sidney; Elijah and Etta, twins, the latter the wife of Charles Shipps of Fairmount, Illinois: Emma, wife of S. T. Mosier, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Henry, of New Berlin, Illinois; Minnie, wife of Arthur Cole, of Block, Illinois; Mary, wife of Charles Thompson, of Urbana; Mrs. Archie J. Hall, of Sidney; and John, now deceased.
Elijah J. Anders grew up on his father’s farm in Champaign County and lived at home with his parents until he was twenty-six. In the mean-time he had acquired a good education in the district schools and also in the business college at Champaign. When he began farming on his own account it was as a renter of 155 acres, and after entering business at Sidney in 1913 he continued to supervise his farming interests. At Sidney Mr. Anders joined Mr. Golden in the implement business a year and a half. Then for fifteen months he was assistant bookkeeper in the State Bank and has since been manager of the Sidney Grain Company. He is utilizing his important connections and acquaintance with the grain raisers in this section of Illinois to build up a highly profitable and successful business.
Mr. Anders married, February 26, 1902, Miss Alice Porterfield. They have two bright young children, Dorothy Mildred and Clifford Burt, both of whom are receiving their education in the local schools. Mr. Anders is a Democrat and is a present member of the town board of Sidney. He and his family attend worship at the Methodist Episcopal Church.