BIOGRAPHIES:  Walter H. ANDERSON, Waterville Township, Pepin Co., WI

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Submitted by:  oldstufn@hotmail.com  on  11 May 2005
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Walter H. Anderson, who is now living practically retired on a
valuable farm of forty acres in section 26, Waterville township,
Pepin County, was born in Faribault Minn., October 15, 1856.  His
parents, Lemuel and Martha (Holder) Anderson, were natives of Ohio
who came west to Minnesota at an early date, Mrs. Anderson dying
there in 1861.  In the year after her death Mr. Anderson moved to
Durand, Wis., where, however, he remained but a short time, as he
soon set out for California, intending to try his fortune in the gold
fields, or perhaps because he felt lonely and craved excitement and
change of scene.  It is probable, however, that he never reached his
destination, as he was taken sick at Pike's Peak, Colorado, and soon
after all trace of him was lost, and he has never more been heard
from.  In those adventurous days, before the Pacific railroad linked
the eastern and Middle States with those on the Pacific coast, the
overland journey was fraught with dangers, and one human life was
little regarded, the westward-rushing pioneers having their hands
full in preserving their own existence and guarding their lives from
the perils of the way. Mr. Anderson, probably, therefore, shared the
fate of the thousands who set out full of hope and courage, but whose
remains were laid to rest in  hastily dug graves all the way along
the route from the settled communities of the East to the far western
El Dorado.  Lemuel and Martha Anderson had but two children, of whom
Walther H., the subject of this memoir, is the younger.  Their other
child is Fannie, now the widow of Henry Amidon, her husband having
died in 1915.  Walter H. Anderson acquired his education in Buffalo
and Pepin Counties, attending district school. After losing his
parents, he was received into the family of John Plummer, by whom he
was reared until 12 years of age, and then went to live with
Nathaniel Plummer. At the age of 14 he went to work at the stave and
sawmill of Nathaniel Plummer, located one mile west of Mr. Anderson's
present residence, and for over twenty years remained in his employ. 
Besides attending to his duties connected with that position, he had
owned and operated land in Waterville township from the time he was
23 years old, and he now gave his undivided attention to farming.  In
this line of industry he has had a successful career, having owned
various farms, all of which he developed, putting them on a
profitable basis.  To his present farm he came in 1907, and is here
living practically retired, enjoying the fruits of his former
enterprise and industry. His land is valuable and well improved, and
he has a comfortable modern residence.  During his active career he
served as school treasurer for seventeen years, and for one term was
township treasurer. In politics he is a Republican.  Mr Anderson was
united in marriage, June 23, 1878, with Mary H. Plummer, who was born
in Durand, Wis., daughter of Samuel L. and Eunice (Belknap) Plummer. 
He and his wife have three children, Walter W., Lillie Irene, and
William Henry.  Walter W., who worked his way through the University
of Nevada, was for two years principal of the high school at Dayton,
that state. He is now president of the School of Mines at Ely, Nev. 
He married Hope Bain of Nevada and has three children, Walter
Lindley, Harry Leroy and Dorothy Hope.  Lillie Irene, after attending
district school, was graduated from the high school at Arkansaw and a
business college at Lake City, Minn.  She has taught in various
schools for the last ten years and is now a teacher in Big Coolie.
William Henry, who was educated in Pepin County, was in the employ of
William V. Dorwin at Dorwin's Mill.  He is now a first-class
machinist in the United States navy on the U.S.S. New Mexico. Lillie
and William are both unmarried.

-Transcribed from the "History of Buffalo and Pepin Counties
Wisconsin, 1919", page 731

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