Joel M. ANDERSON, son of William D. and Sarah I. (LOUDER) ANDERSON, was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, April 16, 1841. His parents were natives of North Carolina and were of Scotch ancestry. His father was a pioneer minister of the Wesleyan Methodist church. Reared in a state where slavery existed he disapproved strongly of the system and, with a view of getting himself and family from its blighting influences, he removed to Henry county, Indiana, in 1851. He remained there until about 1858, when he removed to Decatur county, Iowa, where he continued to make his home during the remainder of his life. He died in February, 1890, and his wife survived him less than a week.

Joel M. ANDERSON, the subject of this sketch, died at his home in Hutchinson, Kansas, December 18, 1911. He had the following brothers and sisters: Rhoda, deceased, married W. H. SANFORD, of Leon, Iowa; Mary A. married J. P. DUNN, of Abbeyville, Kansas; William S., a farmer of Ringgold county, Iowa; Irene married Peter DECK, of Abbeyville, Kansas; Solomon, a member of the Third Iowa Cavalry in the Civil War, died in the service in Louisville, Kentucky; John C., a farmer, at Kennard, Indiana; Isaac B., a farmer, at Cadiz, Indiana.

Joel M. ANDERSON was educated in the district schools of Henry county, Indiana, and Decatur county, Iowa. He remained at home working on the farm until he reached his majority. He then rented a farm in Decatur county, Iowa, and afterward bought a small farm in that county which he cultivated until the fall of 1873, when he removed to Reno county, Kansas, where he located a homestead claim on the northwest quarter of section 34, township 23, range 8, and during the fall and winter of 1873 broke sod preparatory to spring planting. In the spring he rented some other land that had been broken the preceding year and planted forty acres in corn, but he lost his entire crop by the grasshopper scourge that devasted that section that year. Having nothing left, like many other settlers, he had to leave his claim and seek some other location to obtain a living for himself and family. He returned to his former home in Iowa where he spent the winter working with his team at one dollar per day. In the spring of 1875 he returned to Kansas to make another effort to raise a crop. He planted only a small acreage of wheat because he did not have enough money to purchase seed for a larger acreage. The grasshopper plague had abated and he was able to realize a fair return for his labor that year. His first house was a one-story, fourteen by sixteen, in which he lived for several years, until he was able to enlarge and improve it. He was engaged in general farming and stock raising until September, 1888, when he removed to Hutchinson to assume the duties of the office of county treasurer, to which he had been elected.

Mr. ANDERSON was elected to the office of county commissioner in 1885. for a term of one year, from the third district. This was to fill a vacancy in that office. On the expiration of that term he was re-elected for the full term of three years, but he resigned the office of commissioner to accept the office of county treasurer, to which he was elected in the fall of 1887. He served for two terms, of two years each, in the latter office, being re-elected in the fall of 1889. He was elected police judge of Hutchinson, in 1895, and served in that capacity for two years. He was also township trustee for three years, and one of the organizers of school district No. 58, and served as treasurer of the school board for nine years. In the discharge of these various official duties he was always prompt, efficient and reliable, and commanded the approbation and the esteem of the community which he faithfully served. His official record is without criticism or reproach. His public honors always came to him unsought, his fellow citizens calling him to office because they recognized his trustworthiness and ability.

After retiring from office Mr. ANDERSON engaged in the real-estate and insurance business, and also engaged as administrator of estates and guardian of minor heirs. In this capacity his superior business judgment, his unquestioned integrity in handling public and private interests, gave assurance that business entrusted to him would be carefully handled and honestly accounted for. His entire life was in harmony with his profession — honorable, straight and upright — and was crowned with the high degree of success which is ever accorded sterling worth.

On August 8, 1863, Mr. ANDERSON enlisted in Company C, Ninth Iowa Cavalry, under the command of Colonel DRUMMOND, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with whom he served for two years. This regiment served in Missouri and Arkansas, guarding wagon trains and doing much scouting and escort duty. On account of disability from hard service and exposure, Mr. Anderson was discharged at the end of two years. Joel M. ANDERSON was married, July 31, 1862, in Iowa, to Sarah A. CHAMBERS, a daughter of Daniel E. and Elizabeth (BRINNEMAN) CHAMBERS. Mrs. ANDERSON was born in Pennsylvania, September 8, 1844. Her father was born in Pennsylvania, June 21, 1816. He was a farmer, owning one hundred and sixty acres of cultivated land and forty acres of timber land, near Leon, Iowa, where he settled in 1848. In 1850 Mr. CHAMBERS was attracted by prospects in gold mining in California and went on the long journey across the plains to seek his fortune in that state. After two years of indifferent success he returned to his Iowa home and resumed his farming operations. In 1893 he came with his wife to Hutchinson to live with his daughter, Mrs. Joel M. ANDERSON. He died here, September 8, 1905. He had been blind for about twenty years. Mr. CHAMBERS had been a successful farmer and took great pride in his farm, and in the raising and care of fine horses. His wife was born in Pennsylvania, February 25, 1816, and died in Hutchinson, June 4, 1894. Both were prominent members of the Methodist church.

The brothers and sisters of Mrs. Joel M. ANDERSON are: Austin, born in Pennsylvania, March 29, 1841, was a soldier in the Civil War, serving six months, died in Lyoden, Washington territory, January 17, 1889; Mary Ellen, born in Pennsylvania, December 2, 1847, married George T. CHANDLER, a farmer, living at Armour, South Dakota; Emma Jane, born near Leon, Iowa, May 29, 1858, died June 16, 1869; Amos, born near Leon, Iowa, October 16, 1854, is a farmer and stock raiser at Leon, Iowa.

The children born to Mr. and Mrs. ANDERSON are: William A., a fanner of Reno county; Ida L. married M. WILMOT; Cora married John S. DAUBER, of Whitewater, Kansas; Bertha married Walter MEADE, of Hutchinson, Kansas.

Mr. ANDERSON was an active and prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, having served as a member of the official board, and in the work of the Sunday school, in which he was a teacher in the country. He was a member of Joe Hooker Post, Grand Army of the Republic. He was also a supporter of the Hutchinson Young Men's Christian Association. Politically, he was identified with the Republican party, having served on the county central committee, and was frequently a delegate to the conventions of his party. Mrs. ANDERSON is a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and the Woman's Relief Corps, auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic. The family residence is one of the handsome homes of Hutchinson, located at 517 Third avenue, east.

SOURCE: PLOUGHE, Sheridan. History of Reno County, Kansas: Its People, Industries, and Institutions Vol. II. Pp. 209-12. B.F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis. 1917.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, June of 2009