Knox County NeArchives Biographies.....Anderson, Carl August 1879 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ne/nefiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 March 18, 2015, 2:42 am Source: Nebraskana Author: See below Carl August Anderson Carl August Anderson, son of August and Christine (Johnson) Anderson, was born at Mead, Nebraska, August 25, 1879. August Anderson and his wife were natives of Kylingared Parish, in Elfborgs, Sweden. August was born on November 9, 1834, and Christine on April 6, 1838. They were married on February 22, 1866, and soon thereafter set sail for America. Crossing the North Sea from Stockholm to Hull, they traveled by rail to Liverpool, where they went on board the sailship. After a tiresome voyage of more than twenty-one days they reached the coast of Nova Scotia. Here the ship was not allowed to harbor, but was kept at anchor, because of the fact that cholera had broken out on board. Christine Anderson contracted the disease and for a time her life was endangered, but she eventually recovered. On arriving at Jamestown they discovered that someone had reported them dead, had obtained possession of their trunks and belongings and decamped, leaving them with nothing but the clothes they had on. For about three months the father worked on a farm, after which he and his wife removed to Bishop Hill, Illinois, and later to Geneseo, Illinois. There they remained until 1867, at which time they came to Nebraska and homesteaded in Saunders County about fourteen miles from Fremont. Trouble pursued them. The mother came through on a passenger train while the father rode with the furniture. The train carrying it was wrecked and the father saved his life by jumping through a window of the car. After settling in Nebraska hardships and misforunes continued to descend upon them—grasshoppers devoured their crops for three years in the seventies, leaving hard times and want in their wake, prairie fires frequently raced down upon them, and at one time the sills of their house caught. The eighty acre homestead was sold after a few years and a tract of 160 acres purchased. The mother's illness during the eighties so impoverished the family that a popular subscription was taken up by neighbors to defray part of the doctor bills. Her partial recovery, however, made the family happy again. During these three years Carl was cared for by neighbors and was nearly adopted by one of the families. Through hardship and the brighter days which followed the family continued to live in the same place until January, 1898, when two of the sons came to Wausa, followed in March of the same year by their parents. August Anderson died at Wausa on November 13, 1896, and his wife on October 6, 1909. Their five children are: J. Albert, farmer and stock-raiser, who lives north of Wausa; Frank Edwin, Swedish Lutheran pastor, who resides at Woodhull, Illinois; Theodore, superintendent of the Swedish National Sanitarium at Denver; Cecilia Gertrude, wife of Charles S. Erickson, who resides in Wausa, and Carl August, the subject of this sketch. Carl’s birthplace was a sod house, partly dug into a sidehill. He resided there until May 30, 1893, when they joined the family in Knox County. He attended the common schools of Saunders County and later was a student at the Wausa public schools. During the years 1893 and 1894 he assisted his brothers in the general merchandise business, and in 1895 began to learn the printer’s trade. He kept a case for eight months, then returned to the farm where he worked for a year and a half. Next lie spent two years learning the harness maker’s trade, and then went back to clerking for sixteen months in a store at Wakefield. On December 1, 1901, Mr. Anderson purchased a half interest in the Wausa Gazette from J. E. Baggstrom who established the journal in partnership with Frank Edwin, now a clergyman at Wodhull, Illinois. The brothers were associated in the publication of the Gazette until January 1, 1904, when Carl purchased the remaining half interest and his brother removed to Omaha to take up the wider field of journalism as editor of the Omaha Posten, a Swedish weekly. Mr. Anderson edits a live country paper, full of news, and always boosting for Wausa. The job work ranks well to the front as compared with work turned out by the country shops, and Mr. Anderson enjoys a liberal patronage as his work merits. In January, 1908, he was appointed postmaster at Wausa, serving a little more than two terms. For three years the work of the Gazette was carried on in connection with the postoffice work, but finding this too strenuous Mr. Anderson leased the Gazette office. The brothers were again affiliated in the newspaper work until the spring of 1922 when Frank Edwin again severed his connection with the paper. Since that time Mr. Anderson has been editor in chief of the Gazette with the exception of a two year period prior to September 1, 1931, when the position was filled by his second son, Gordon Vladimir. He was undoubtedly at that time the youngest editor in Nebraska, being but nineteen years of age. Politically, Mr. Anderson has always been a staunch Republican, and has filled various minor political offices. At one time he was candidate for the legislature from his district. He has served as treasurer of the local Red Cross organization since the World War; has been secretary of the Wausa Improvement Club continuously since 1924, and previous to that was president and secretary of the organization at various times. He has taken much interest in good roads and coined the expression "Main Street of North America," which was given to the Meridian Highway, U. S. No. 81. A member of the Lutheran Church, Mr. Anderson has done much work in behalf of the local church. For more than fourteen years he was choir director, and for a number of years was a member of the board of trustees. For some time he served as treasurer of the congregation. He has always taken an active interest in band work and has been director of the Wausa band for many years, and has directed orchestras at various times. On August 31, 1904, he was married to Olga E. Monteen at Mead. Mrs. Anderson was a Nebraska girl, the oldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gust Monteen, natives of Sweden. Her mother was Ingrid Berg. Mrs. Anderson's father served as treasurer of the Nebraska Conference of the Swedish Lutheran Church for fourteen years. Her grand uncle, the Reverend S. G. Larson, was one of the pioneer Lutheran ministers of Nebraska. Mrs. Anderson was graduated from Mead High School and took a teacher’s course at Peru Normal School. She taught two successful seasons before her marriage. To them were born three children, Rupert Cedric; Gordon Vladimir and Carmelita Nordica Lucile. The oldest son is a graduate of Augustana College, as is Gordon. In the summer of 1928 both boys were members of the Augustana College band which made a concert tour through Sweden, and upon its completion took a sightseeing trip through Denmark, France, Belgium, Holland and England. The following two school years Cedric taught in the Battle Creek, Iowa, high schools, having charge of the band and orchestral work. He is now a teacher in the North Platte High School, filling a similar position there. Carmelita has completed two and a half years of college at Augustana, and intends to secure her Bachelor of Arts degree. At present she assists her father in editing and publishing the Wausa Gazette. Residence: Wausa. Additional Comments: Extracted from Nebraskana Edited by Sara Mullin Baldwin & Robert Morton Baldwin The Baldwin Company Hebron, NE 1932 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ne/knox/bios/anderson94gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/nefiles/ File size: 8.0 Kb