Page 15 - John Anderson

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obstacles of field and forest.” It’s with these reflections that we
realize John Anderson’s bugle began sounding reveille early in life
and continued throughout his life as he made history happen in both
the rugged White Mountains of New Hampshire and marsh lands of
Halifax Country in Florida.

John Anderson’s Father, Samuel J. Anderson

John Anderson was born at
Portland, Maine, on August 6,
1853, the only son of Samuel J.
and Jane Wade Dow Anderson.
His father, a lawyer by profession,
was Collector of Customs at the
Port of Portland during President
Cleveland’s first term. He was
also the organizer and leader of
the movement resulting in the
building of the Portland and
Ogdensburg Railroad through the
heart of the White Mountains.
This was previously considered
an impossible feat until
accomplished in 1875 by his brother, John Farwell Anderson, Chief
Engineer of the P&O Railroad.

Samuel Anderson (known as General Anderson; was a general in the
Maine State Militia) was elected president of the Portland and
Ogdensburg Railroad when officially formed in 1869. John Anderson,
subject of this book, was named for his great-great-great grandfather
who came to this country from Ireland and settled in Wiscasset,
Maine, in the late 1600’s. John’s grandfather, also named John
Anderson, was also a lawyer, a Member of Congress from the First
District, 1825 to 1833, Collector of Customs for the Port of Portland,
under President Van Buren, and was reappointed to that office by

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