Page 8 - John Anderson

-RKQ$QGHUVRQ±+LV/LIHDQG7LPHVLQ2UPRQG)ORULGD

educator, and former Curator of Education at the Museum of Arts and
Sciences in Daytona Beach.

Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank the local store owners
and organizations that provide an outlet for our publications. We have
listed these shop owners and organizations in the latter pages of this
book and appreciate their support throughout the past 5-years and
certainly as we go forward.

Introduction

When twenty-three-year old John Anderson arrived in New Britain,
February 26, 1876, the colony unknowingly received its greatest
promoter, its most outstanding personality, and a man of such charm
and strength of character, that even today, over a hundred years
later, his influence has left an indelible mark on present-day Ormond
Beach.

Anderson was born in Portland, Maine, August 6, 1853, the only son
of Samuel J. and Jane Wade Dow Anderson. Samuel J. Anderson
(usually referred to as "General Anderson") was a lawyer, tax collector
of the port of Portland, Maine, and president of the Portland and
Ogdensburg Railroad. During his high school years John Anderson
organized a crack drill company that won the championship against
eleven other organized military companies of the state, "and was
especially commended by General Ulysses S. Grant."

After graduating from high school, John Anderson took a course at a
commercial college, and then worked in the foreign exchange depart-
ment of Jay Cooke & Co., N.Y. The Panic of 1873 surrounded a severe
international economic depression in both Europe and the United
States that lasted until 1879, and even longer in some countries.
After, the bank failed, Anderson began working in the bond
department of the First National Bank of New York. While working
there he received a letter from his cousin, Samuel Dow, from the New
Britain colony in Florida that dramatically changed the course of his
life. "I have found God's country. The hunting is good and the chances
for a young man to show his grit and nerve were never better. Come

vi