HON. JOHN H. ANDERSON. This part of Missouri has proved a mine of wealth to thousands of industrious and earnest farmers who have come hither from the East and by dint of hard work and enterprise have developed the resources which nature so liberally provided. Among these is John H. Anderson, who was born in North Carolina, in 1826, to the marriage of William and Jane (Scruggs) Anderson, natives of the Palmetto State, where they were reared and married.
Later the parents moved to the Old North State and from there to Georgia, where they remained a few years. When our subject was five or six years of age the parents came by team to what is now Moniteau County, Missouri, when that was thinly settled, and in 1846 removed from there to Taney, now Stone County, and settled on Crane Creek. There they remained until the war, and in 1862 he removed with three of his sons to Texas. His death occurred at Ft. Griffin, Shackleford County, Tex., about 1883, when seventy-seven years of age. He followed farming through life and met with fair success. His father, Noble Anderson, was born in South Carolina, and his grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier. The mother of our subject died in the Lone Star State about 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson were the parents of nine children: John H., subject; Polly, wife of David P. Parker, died at Aurora; Francis M., a farmer of Blanco County, Tex.; David died in Texas; Parsedda Trammell, of Texas; Martha Ann, deceased, was the wife of Hiram Leath; James N., of Brown County, Tex.; William C., also of Brown County, Tex., and Elizabeth, deceased, who was the wife of J. C. C. Simpson.
Our subject was reared on a farm, secured a fair English education, and in 1846 came with his parents to what is now Stone County, Missouri In 1848 he married Miss Elizabeth Wright, daughter of Aaron Wright, who died in Tennessee. Mrs. Anderson died July 3, 1880. She was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church. Six children were born to this union: Nancy J. died young; David P. died when young; Adam, of Washington; Thomas B., of Stone County; Martha A., wife of Allen Gold, of Stone County, and an infant died unnamed. January 2, 1881, Mr. Anderson married Mrs. Eveline Gobel, daughter of Jeremiah Trice, a native of North Carolina, but who moved to Stone County after the war and spent his last days here. Four children have been born to the second union: John W., Bertha, Elizabeth and James Henry. With the exception of a few years during the war Mr. Anderson has lived on his present farm since 1848. He has 200 acres on Crane Creek, eight miles north of Galena, and is one of the pioneers and among the best known men of the county. He was justice of the peace for a number of years prior to the Rebellion, and during the exciting time attending the war he served in the Home Guards in 1861 and in July, 1862, he joined the Missouri State Militia. Still later he joined the Seventh Provisional, served as sergeant, and was mostly on scouting expeditions but was never captured or wounded. During the war he was elected as county judge but did not qualify as he was in the service. A number of years after the war he served a year as associate justice of the county Court, and then two years as presiding justice of the County Court and ex-officio probate judge. Previous to the war he was a Democrat, but since then he has been a Republican, although not an active politician nor an aspirant for official honors.