Wallace H. Anderson

WALLACE H. ANDERSON, county attorney of Allen County, has won many of the honors of his profession during his active practice at Iola, is a native of Kansas, and is a worthy product of Kansas country life and schools.

His family came to Brown County in 1869 and Wallace Harmon Anderson was born on the farm there December 26, 1877. His ancestors were Englishmen who came to Pennsylvania in colonial days. His grandfather Amos Anderson was born in Pennsylvania in 1802, and had a brother who served in the War of 1812. Amos Anderson lived in Ohio, in Iowa, came to Kansas about 1871, but finally retired from his work as a farmer and moved to Nebraska. His death occurred at Ashland in that state in 1891. He married Miss Blazer, who was born in Pennsylvania and died in Nebraska. She was of Pennsylvania German stock, and one of her ancestors, perhaps an uncle, was a member of the historic Boston Tea Party.

Amos J. Anderson, father of the Allen County attorney, was born in Ohio December 17, 1844, but in early childhood his parents removed to Henry County, Iowa, and he grew up in the country near Mount Pleasant. He was still a youth when he enlisted in 1862 for service in the Union army. He spent three years three months in Company E of the Ninth Iowa Cavalry, and fought until the close of hostilities. His principal service was up and down the Mississippi River and in the State of Arkansas, and he waged many fights against the guerrillas and border ruffians of the period. He was also with the Federal armies that pushed back Price's raid through Missouri and Kansas.

Following the war he came from Iowa and located in Brown County, Kansas, in 1869. His farm was six miles west of Hiawatha. He still owns his homestead of eighty acres which he took up as virgin prairie and developed through many seasons of productiveness. That farm was his home until 1906 when he removed to Iola, where he now resides. Throughout his residence in Kansas he has been a stanch adherent of the republican party, was at one time trustee of his home township, and while a worker in civic and political affairs, serving as delegate to county and state conventions, he never aspired to any official honors. He was reared a member of the Baptist Church, but is now a Methodist. He belongs to Hiawatha Lodge, No. 35, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Amos J. Anderson married Margaret M. Green, who was born in Hancock County, Ohio, in 1850. They had four children: Mary E., David L., William M. and Wallace H. Mary E. is the wife of J. H. Round, who is employed by the Prime Western Smelter Company at Iola. Mr. and Mrs. Round are the parents of five children, and four of their daughters are teaching in Allen County. These five daughters are: Bessie, wife of Mr. Alger, living in Missouri. Florence H., Ada B., Margaret M. and Irene, all of whom are graduates of the Iola High School and are teachers in Allen County. The son David L. is a farmer in Wabaunsee County, Kansas, William M. occupies the old homestead in Brown County.

Wallace H. Anderson had the environment and atmosphere of a Kansas farm during his boyhood. He secured his early training in the rural schools of Brown County and in 1898 graduated from the Hiawatha Academy. For two years he taught in Brown County. Through his own efforts and earnings he paid for most of his higher education. Mr. Anderson spent four years in the University of Kansas at Lawrence, two years in the literary department and two years in the law course. He was graduated in 1904 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws and had been admitted to the bar in 1903. After several years of practice in Hiawatha, he moved to Iola in December, 1906, and has found his time well taken up with a growing civil and criminal practice. For two years he served as deputy county attorney, for a year and a half was police judge of Iola, and in 1914 was elected county attorney. November 7, 1916, he was re-elected for another term of two years. His offices are in the courthouse.

Mr. Anderson is a republican and is an active member of the County, State and American Bar associations. One of his chief interests outside his office and profession since coming to Iola has been the local Young Men's Christian Association, and for the past six years he has served as one of its directors. He is a member of Green Chapter of the Legal Honorary fraternity Phi Delta Phi. He also belongs to Lawrence Lodge. No. 6, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Valley Chapter, No. 11, Royal Arch Mason, at Iola, Esdraelon Commandery of the Knights Templar, Iola Lodge, No. 21, Independent Order Odd Fellows, and also the Encampment and Rebekahs; is banker of Iola Camp, No. 961, Modern Woodmen of America, a member of Iola Lodge Knights of Pythias, of Iola Camp, No. 101, Woodmen of the World, and of the Anti Horse Thief Association. His church home is with the First Methodist Church of Iola.

Mr. Anderson and family reside in a comfortable home at 601 S. Cottonwood Street. In 1908 at Lawrence he married Miss Guila C. Myers. Her mother, Mrs. A. B. Myers, lives with Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. Mrs. Anderson is a cultured and highly educated woman, holds the degrees Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from the University of Kansas, and for five years before her marriage was a teacher in the Iola High School. They are the parents of three children: Wallace M., born November 17, 1910; Esther, born December 31, 1912; and Alfred J., born March 31, 1915.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
VOLUME 1 & 2
BIOGRAPHIES — VOLUMES 3, 4, & 5
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