Born in Sweden March 24, 1846, and came to American when he was 6 years old. In 1860 when 14 years old he came to Winnebago county, and was among the first settlers of the county. He later attended the Iowa State University, graduated with a B.A. degree in 1876, and the law department. He was admitted to the bar and practiced law for some years and very naturally drifted into politics. He was state legislature from the district of Worth, Winnebago, Hancock and Wright counties, in the 21st general assembly, having been elected as a republican. After affiliating with the republican party for many years. during which time he was prominent as a speaker, he became, a democrat. It was as a democrat that he received the nomination as lieutenant-governor of Iowa. He established the Independent in 1887 and has been its editor and publisher for most of the thirty-four years of its existence. He has four children, Rudolph, William P. and Horace Anderson and, a daughter, Mrs. Edwin Foster. Mr. Anderson was a member of the Masonic Order, the Oddfellows, the Woodmen, the Yeoman and the United Workmen. In the two former orders he had received most of the higher degrees, and was well informed of their modes and usages.