William Hopkins Anderson (1835 - 1914)

Born 14 Feb 1835 in Florence, Washington County, Pennsylvania

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Allen) Anderson — married 3 Sep 1861 in Wellsville, Utah

Died 24 Dec 1914 at age 79 in Soda Springs, Caribou County, Idaho

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Biography

William was born in 1835. He was the son of Robert Anderson and Dorcas Simms. He passed away in 1914.

From Ancestry.com: Newspaper clipping - A delightful birthday party was given by Mrs. W. H. Anderson at her home Tuesday evening, in honor of her husband, Dr. W. H. Anderson, wo had reached his 76th milestone. Mrs. Anderson was assisted in entertaining her guests by Miss May Heaston, a charming young granddaughter of this worthy old couple. High five and flinch were the principal games of the evening, and these were thoroughly enjoyed by all. A fine old-fashioned supper was served, and the overjoyed Doctor forgot for the time being the weight of declining years and seemed a boy again. He gave his guests an imitation of an orchestra he had heard while in Salt Lake City last Monday that was certainly great. He even went so far as to impersonate a lady trying to sing with the same orchestra accompanying her. The weight of years does not seem to bother the Doctor, and for that matter, he could easily pass for 60. That the days of the good old Doctor may be prolonged on the earth is the wish of The Chieftain, and "if by means of reason" he shall reach four score years, "may we be there to see." There were present: Mr. and Mrs. Carl Saunders, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Hildreth, Mrs. M. E. Kelly, Mrs. H. I. Barnard, Miss May Heaston, Miss Lizzie Allen; Messrs. Charles Gasser, Rober Crum and Thomas Corrigan.

From Ancestry.com: Newspaper article about 50th Wedding Anniversary, September 8th was Golden Wedding Anniversary - Good, old, successful, philanthropic people are Dr. William H. Anderson and his faithful and true companion in life, “Grandma” Anderson. On the date mentioned in the caption of this article this aged couple passed the 50th milestone on their journey through life, their golden wedding day. Dr. Anderson is a native of the Penn state and came to Salt Lake City as early as 1859. A year later he went to Cache Valley, remaining there seven years, thence going to Malad City, where spent perhaps the best years of an honorable and resultant life. He was a resident of that immediate vicinity for thirty years, during which long period of time he practiced medicine and officiated as a justice of the peace. Coming to Soda Springs in 1897 and engaging in the drug business, he has ever since been identified with the best interests of the town, a clever businessman and a public-spirited citizen in whom the entire community is well pleased. Three children were born to this grey-haired and deserving pair, two of whom are still living, and married. Only one person, among all those who were present at the wedding of this interesting couple fifty years ago, survives today. Dr. Anderson is first vice president of the Idaho Pharmaceutical association, besides having diplomas of different medical institutions hanging about the walls and is at present police magistrate here. However, his election to this position was not of his choosing. It was truly a case of the office seeking this man. The Palace Drug store on North Dillon Street is indeed a credit alike to its proprietor and to the town. And now a concluding word about “Grandma” Anderson: She is a kindly soul whose little acts of thoughtfulness and appreciation will be kept green on memory’s tablet long after she has passed to her reward in another world. No reference to pioneer life would be complete without tribute to the courageous women who shared with fathers, husbands, and brothers the hardships of those days. Conditions more out of harmony, environments more uninviting compared with what woman would have them could scarcely be imagined. The ease, comfort, companionship and society so essential to Grandma’s life, and that of every woman, were sternly set aside, bravely given over for years of struggle. There is nothing in romance or song more thrilling, richer in the higher qualities of womanhood than may be gleaned from the stories of pioneer life touching the women who helped to make the western land a home of security and refinement. The inspiring presence of such noble women as Grandma Anderson tinted and softened the harsher outlines of pioneer life with the subtle halo of a woman’s influence.

1850 United States Census, Jackson, Monroe, Ohio, William Anderson, male, white, age 15, birth year 1835, birthplace: Pennsylvania, occupation: clerk, household members: Robert S. Anderson age 47, Darcus (Dorcas) Anderson age 38, William Anderson age 15, Robert Anderson age 13, Napoleon Anderson age 11, Mary Anderson age 8, Samuel Anderson age 5, Decalb Anderson age 2.

1870 United States Census, Portage, Box Elder, Utah Territory, William Henderson (Anderson), age 35, birth date 1835, birthplace: Pennsylvania, white, male, occupation: postmaster, household members: William Anderson age 35, Mary Anderson age 31, William Anderson age 7, Dorcus Anderson age 4, Mary Anderson age 3.

1880 United States Census, Portage, Box Elder, Utah, Wm. H. Anderson, age 45, birth date abt. 1835, birthplace: Pennsylvania, white, male, married, spouse's name: Mary A. Anderson, Father's birthplace: Pennsylvania, Mother's birthplace: Ohio, occupation: Physician and Surgeon, household members: Wm. H. Anderson age 45, Mary A. Anderson age 40, William A. Anderson age 17, Mary E. Anderson age 13.

1900 United States Census, Soda Springs, Bannock, Idaho, W.H. Anderson, marriage year 1861, household members: W.H. Anderson age 65.

1910 United States Census, Soda Springs, Bannock, Idaho, William H. Anderson, age 75, birth date 1835, birthplace: Pennsylvania, white, male, head, married, spouse's name: Mary A. Anderson, Father's birthplace: Pennsylvania, Mother's birthplace: Ohio, occupation: druggist, industry: drug store, household members: William H. Anderson age 75, Mary A. Anderson age 70, Mary D. Heaston age 22.

Utah Pioneers and Prominent Men, William Hopkins Anderson, residence place: Utah.

Obituary- Pioneer of Soda Springs Joined Silent Majority, posted on Ancestry.com by Dora Brubaker on 07/26/2008. Dr. W. H. Anderson Was a Citizen Who Had Been Active in the County (story written by W. H. Hildreth). At 4:30 o'clock Wednesday afternoon, December 23rd, the closing chapter was written in the life book of Dr. William H. Anderson, an honored citizen of Soda Springs, Idaho. His age was 79 years, 10 months and 23 days. Dr. Anderson was stricken ill November 14th, first with a severe cold, which gradually developed into stomach trouble, which caused his death as above stated. Dr. Anderson was quite well known in Pocatello among the medical fraternity. At Soda Springs he had been associated with Dr. Ellis Kackley for the past 15 years and helped with all the operations. About a year ago, knowing that his career on this earth would soon draw to a close, made provisions for his successor in the person of Dr. Russell Tigert, of Mississippi, to help Dr. Kackley with future operations in the hospital. Dr. Anderson had an excellent memory and recalled many instances within a few moments before death struck him. He was a man of excellent habits, fine moral character, and sturdy constitution, and he continued to be active in his accustomed pursuits till long past the age at which men ordinarily drop out of the ranks of the workers. To this end there is no doubt that his sunshine disposition largely contributed. He met most of the conditions and situations of life with a joke. He was a practical, matter-of-fact man, but had his own peculiar way of extracting merriment from life as it went along, and he was not disposed to worry about matters that could be better in other ways. This cheerful spirit remained with him to the last, and he retained his clearness of intellect up to his closing days. He was invariably a good neighbor. When he died, full of years, and ready to be gathered to his fathers, the grief that was felt over the close of his long career was widespread and sincere. His best monument will be the good report that he has left behind him in the community in which he has lived for so many years. He believed that the man who scatters flowers in the pathway of his fellowmen, who lets into the dark places of life the sunshine of human sympathy and human happiness, is following in the footsteps of his master. The funeral of Dr. Anderson was held at the LDS church in Soda Springs yesterday afternoon at 2 and was largely attended by old-time friends. As the casket was borne up the isle the choir sang very beautifully, under the direction of Elder John J. Skinner, "Nearer My God to Three." Then followed another beautiful song, "Oh, My Father." After a prayer by Elder Harry Horsley, the choir sang "I Know My Redeemer Lives." Beautiful were the tributes and eulogies paid to Dr. Anderson by Bishop T. H Horsley, W. H. Skinner, Joseph Pong and Lewis S. Pond. The speakers were followed by the choir singing "Sometime We'll Understand," after which the closing prayer was offered by Elder David K. McLean. Friends of the departed doctor were then given an opportunity for a last look upon the face of their friend and neighbor. The flowers were many and very beautiful. At the Fairview cemetery the body was laid tenderly away and now rests besides a loving wife who passed away about a year ago. The new grave was dedicated in most tender and loving words by Daniel J. Lau. The pall bearers were Wm. A. Anderson, Thomas Carrigan, William Kelly, William Meads, Samuel Anderson and Clarence Vance. Dr. Anderson leaves one daughter, Mrs. Thomas Corrigan and one son, Wm. A. Anderson, besides 7 grandchildren and three great grandchildren. We can only remind these mourners that he is not dead, he is only asleep--resting after a long and well spent life here; he cannot, and would not if he could, return to us; we can, if we will, go to him. Behind the storm clouds always lurks the rainbow and when the storm is past it weeps upon the flowers of the land and the pearls of the sea. Darkness precedes the dawning and out of the blackness of night comes the sunshine and joy of the day. And so from the beauty of his life take an inspiration and go forth to live as he lived, so that when the summons comes you may say as did he "all is well." William H. Anderson, MD, was born at Florence, PA, on the 14th day of February, 1835, and was the son of Robert S. and Dorcas A.S. (Hopkins) Anderson, natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio, respectively. The father was for many years engaged in the mercantile business in his native state, and in late years in Iowa to which state he migrated, and he lived to reach the patriarchal age of 85 years. Since 1897 Dr. Anderson had been a resident of Soda Springs and his life has been a busy and profitable one here as it was in those communities that knew his ministering ways before he cast in his lot with Soda Springs and its people. Well advanced in years, Dr. Anderson had for some time past practically abandoned his medical practice, his work being confined to consultations and emergency calls, rather than to a regular practice, such as he maintained for more than half a century. A few years ago, he was elected by the medical profession to the office of first vice president of the Idaho state pharmaceutical association. The Anderson family is of record and of the oldest American families, and the parental grandparents of the doctor were Major Robert and Betsy Agnew Anderson, both Pennsylvanians. Major Anderson was born just prior to the Revolutionary war period, and he was all his life a leader in public affairs. It is noteworthy that he was the major of a Pennsylvania regiment sent to Fort Dearborn, now Chicago, in 1812, when invasion from British forces was feared. He was the son of Robert and Margaret Anderson, the former of whom was born on March 16, 1734. The maternal ancestors of the doctor, as well as those on the paternal side, were notable in many ways. Dr. Anderson's mother was the daughter of William and Mary (Pumphrey) Hopkins, the Pumphreys being closely related to John Hancock and Stephen Hopkins, both of whom signed the Declaration of Independence, and her father was a son of James Hopkins, whose family name is perpetuated in the famous John Hopkins University. Dr. Anderson received his early educational training in the schools of Pennsylvania and Ohio and following his public-school education with a course of study at the Ecleetie College of Medicine and Surgery at Cincinnati. He was graduated with the class of 1855, when he was 20 years of age and very soon thereafter began the practice of his profession in New Newary, Iowa. Four years later he moved to the west, settling in Utah, and there he enjoyed a liberal practice in Cache and Malad counties, that state, as well as Oneida County, Idaho. It was not until 1897 that Dr. Anderson severed his connection entirely with the state of Utah and confined himself exclusively to his Idaho practice. He located in that year at Soda Springs, and here he has since engaged in a general practice, medical and surgery, until advancing age and an inclination to retire from active service led him to practically withdraw. Dr. Anderson was a man who ever kept abreast with the tide of developments in the scientific world. He was ever an interested factor in every forward movement that was ever promulgated for the ultimate good of his community. Public service had not been outside the field of Dr. Anderson's activity, and for 25 years he was justice of the peace in Utah, and he was at one time regimental surgeon in the Nauvoo Legion of Cache County, Utah, while he was postmaster of Portage, in Utah, for 30 years. He was a member of the church of Latter-Day Saints. On September 8, 1861, Dr. Anderson was married at Wellsville, Utah, to Miss Mary Allen, of English birth, and the daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Siddall) Allen of Derbyshire, England. The children of Dr. Anderson are three in number as follows: William A. who was born in Wellsbille on the 26th of September 1862; Dorcas E., born on February 16, 1865, and died on August 2, 1876, and Mary E., born on March 19, 1867.

Buried at Fairview Cemetery, Soda Springs, Caribou County, Idaho.

Sources

• Ancestry.com: 1850, 1870, 1880, 1900, and 1910 United States Census.

• Ancestry.com: Utah Pioneers and Prominent Men.

• Find A Grave website: Memorial #29484738.