John Alexander Anderson
Politician. Republican. Born: June 26, 1834, Pigeon Creek, Pennsylvania. Died: May 18, 1892, Liverpool, England. Served in U.S. House of Representatives, 5th District: March 4, 1879, to March 3, 1887.
John A. Anderson, who died in Liverpool, England, on May 18, 1892, was born near Pigeon Creek, Washington County, Pennsylvania, on June 26, 1834. He graduated from Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, in 1853, and was ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1857. He commenced preaching in Stockton, California, and was elected trustee of the state insane asylum in 1860. In 1862 he was appointed chaplain of the Third Regiment, California Volunteer Infantry and mustered into the Federal service March 1863, but resigned in June to become California correspondent and agent of the United States Sanitary Commission, a position he held until the end of the war. Anderson moved to Junction City, Kansas, in 1868, where he built and pastured the First Presbyterian Church. He served as regent of the University of Kansas in 1872 and 1873, as president of the Kansas State Agricultural College 1873-1879, as a Member of Congress from March 4, 1879, to March 3, 1887. Congressman Anderson failed to get his party's nomination in 1886 but won election as an Independent Republican and returned to Washington for two additional terms (March 4, 1887-March 3, 1891). He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1890, but received an appointment as United States consul general to Cairo, Egypt, on March 4, 1891, and remained there until shortly before his death in a Liverpool hospital. Anderson was buried in Junction City's Highland Cemetery.
Entry: Anderson, John Alexander
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: June 2011
Date Modified: June 2017
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