Anderson, Andrew B.

The following data is extracted from Illustrated History of the State of Idaho.

Mr. Anderson, who is president of the Weiser Bank, at Weiser, and chairman of the board of commissioners of Washington County, dates his residence in Idaho from 1869. He is a native of Kentucky, his birth having occurred in Louisville, February 21, 1846. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, the family having been founded in America by Thomas Anderson, the grandfather, who crossed the Atlantic in early manhood, taking up his residence in Kentucky. He aided his adopted country in the war of 1812, and also participated in the battles with the Indians during the early settlement of the "dark and bloody ground." He married a Miss Henry, a native of that state, and their son Joseph, father of our subject, was born and reared in Kentucky. He married Miss Rachel Henry, a distant relative of his mother, and in 1848 removed with his family to Missouri. They continued their westward journey in i860, when the father, accompanied by his wife and four children, started across the plains to California. He took up his abode in Butte County, and there resided until his death, which occurred in the sixty-fifth year of his age, while his wife lived to be fifty-five years of age. Three of their children still survive, two being residents of the Golden state.

Andrew Bradley Anderson was only two years of age when the family went to Missouri, and a youth of fourteen at the time of the emigration to California. He continued his education in Butte County, and there made his home until 1864, when he removed to Canyon City. Oregon, where he engaged in placer mining, making as high as one hundred dollars per day. He thus took out gold in considerable quantities, but afterwards lost much of it in other mining investments. On the 13th of June 1869, he arrived in the Boise basin, where he engaged in mining until 1881, meeting with satisfactory success. He took quite a large amount of gold from one of his claims and then sold it for ten thousand dollars. In the year mentioned he removed to the Payette River, near Falk's Store, and engaged in stock raising, an enterprise which he has since followed. He has owned large herds of cattle and horses, and his efforts have been crowned with prosperity. In 1888 he came to Washington County and purchased two hundred acres of land six miles from Weiser. He has since improved the property, has a good residence and farm buildings upon it, and in the management of his property displays the most progressive methods. Everything about his place indicates the careful supervision of the owner, whose business ability is also shown in other lines of endeavor. He is one of the leading stockholders in the Weiser Bank, of which he is now acceptably serving as president, is a member of the Telephone Company and of the Payette Irrigating Ditch Company. His wise counsel and sound judgment have been important factors in the successful con-duct of these enterprises, which have yielded excellent financial returns to the stockholders. Mr. Anderson is a most progressive business man, ready to adopt new methods and measures which are an improvement on those already in vogue.

In 1876 was celebrated the marriage of our subject and Miss Rebecca Elizabeth Stewart, a native of Missouri, and two children blessed their union: W. A. B., now in the Weiser Bank, and Emma Belle, who is attending school in Boise. Mrs. Anderson departed this life in 1883. She was a consistent member of the Episcopal Church, and was greatly beloved by her family and friends, so that her death was deeply deplored throughout the community.

In his political views Mr. Anderson has been a life-long Democrat, and in 1872 he was elected to the territorial legislature, where he served most acceptably to his constituents and credit-ably to himself. He is now chairman of the County board of commissioners, and uses his official prerogative for the advancement of the general welfare and the promotion of the County's best interests. All measures for the public good receive his support and co-operation and his influence in behalf of such interests is most effective. He was made a Mason in 1866, in Canyon City, Oregon, and became one of the charter members of the lodge at Weiser, of which he is now past master. He also received the royal-arch degree in Canyon City, has held various offices in the chapter, and is also a valued member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity. In his business affairs he has met with splendid success, and by reason of his energy, ambition and careful discrimination he has been very successful, and is now regarded as one of the wealthiest men of the community in which he makes his home. A man of unswerving integrity and honor, one who has a perfect appreciation of the higher ethics of life, he has gained and retained the confidence and respect of his fellow men, and is distinctively one of the leading citizens of Weiser and Washington County, with whose interests he has been identified for twelve years.

Source: Illustrated History of the State of Idaho

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