ANDERSON, Daniel

ANDERSON, DANCER, SCOTT, WILLIS, FERGUSON, WILLEY

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 1/20/2014 at 00:45:26

History of Decatur County Iowa and Its People
Illustrated, Volumne II.
Prof. J. M. Howell and Heman C. Smith, Supervising Editors
The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company. pp. 411-13. Chicago. 1915

Daniel ANDERSON

Since February 12, 1900, Daniel Anderson has been postmaster of Lamoni and in that time the business of the office has increased nearly two hundred per cent. He was born in La Salle county, Illinois, on the 8th of June, 1867, a son of Andrew K. and Inger Anderson, both of whom were born near Stavanger, Norway. The birth of the father occurred on the 24th of June, 1832, and that of the mother on the 17th of January, 1836. In 1857 both crossed to the new world, sailing on the same ship to Quebec. Later both went to Chicago and on the 5th of July, 1857, they were married in La Salle county, Illinois. Their acquaintance dated from their childhood, as they resided in the same locality in Norway. The father is a director of the State Savings Bank of Lamoni and is a man of much business ability. They were the parents of eight children, one of whom died in infancy, the others being: Andrew, a resident of
Lamoni, who, in connection with his brother Oscar operates several hundred acres of land in Fayette township; Mrs. Anna A. Dancer, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work; Daniel; Benjamin M., a resident of Independence, Missouri, who is a traveling salesman for the Carpenter Paper Company of Omaha; Oscar, a banker of Lamoni, who is also an extensive land owner and who is mentioned elsewhere in this work; David A., a graduate of the State University of Iowa who has the degree of Ph. D., and who is a member of the faculty of the State University of Washington; and Nellie M., at home, who graduated from the local high school and who is also a graduate of Graceland College.

Daniel Anderson was about five years old when in March, 1872, the family removed from Ottawa, Illinois, to Decatur county, Iowa, locating in the precinct where Lamoni now stands. He attended the local high school and then turned his attention to farming until 1900, when he was made postmaster of Lamoni. He has since held that office and the fact that he has been reappointed under various presidents is incontrovertible proof of the satisfactoriness of his service. During the fifteen years that he has been postmaster the business of the office has increased nearly two hundred per cent and there are four rural mail routes and a mail messenger route between Togo and Lamoni and in the office itself employment is furnished to an assistant postmaster, two clerks and a substitute.

In December, 1888, Mr. Anderson married Miss M. Annie Scott, who was born in Nebraska City, Nebraska, but was taken to Plano, Illinois, when a child. Her parents, John and Sarah Scott, both natives of England, emigrated to the United States in 1866 and in 1881 became residents of Lamoni. The father was foreman in the Herald Publishing House from 1886 until 1896, but both he and his wife have gone to their reward. A brother of Mrs. Anderson passed away in 1889 when nineteen years of age, but she has three sisters living, namely: Mrs. Carrie Willis, residing in Lamoni; Mrs. H. L. Ferguson, who is living in Norwalk, Iowa; and Lorna M. Scott, who is the postmaster's capable assistant. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have become the parents of three children: Helen, now Mrs. J. A. Willey, of Burlington, Iowa; A. Scott, a student in the State University of Iowa; and Andrew Kenneth, who died when but nineteen months old.

Mr. Anderson is a republican and has always taken much interest in the success of the party, doing all in his power to insure its victory at the polls. He is a deacon in the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints and for nineteen years was a member of the board of trustees of Graceland College, a church school at Lamoni. His personal characteristics are such that he has won warm friends and as an official he is very popular, since he is at once highly efficient and also uniformly courteous and accommodating.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, January of 2014