John Quinn Anderson, born January 1, 1866, in LaGrange, Missouri, became a prominent figure in South Dakota’s cattle industry and government service. After the early deaths of his parents, Anderson moved to South Dakota in 1882, working various jobs before establishing a successful stock ranch in Brule County. In 1901, he became a bonded Indian trader at the Crow Creek Indian Agency. Politically active, he served in the South Dakota legislature and was named a presidential elector. Anderson married Clara L. Willrodt in 1898. He was affiliated with the Elks and Knights of Pythias.
John Quinn Anderson, government trader at the Crow Creek Indian agency in Buffalo County, is a native of the state of Missouri, having been born in LaGrange, Lewis County, on the 1st of January, 1866, and being a son of Captain Lee Anderson, who was born and reared in Virginia, being of Scotch ancestry. He was an early settler in Missouri, where he passed the closing years of his life, having died when the subject was but seven years of age, and the latter’s mother passed away five years later, at Dallas, Texas, in 1878. He thereafter lived in the home of an uncle until he had attained the age of fourteen years, having in the meanwhile attended the public schools as opportunity afforded. At the early age noted, he went to Iowa, where he was for two years employed in a creamery, and then came to what is now the state of South Dakota, where he arrived in the year 1882, locating in Mitchell, Davison County, and turning his hand to such work as he could secure. He assisted in building a portion of the line of the railroad between Mitchell and Aberdeen when nineteen years of age and held the position of tie foreman. He early identified himself with the cattle industry, buying and selling stock, while during the past few years he has also raised cattle on a constantly increasing scale. In 1894, he started a stock ranch sixty miles west of Chamberlain, in Brule County, and has there continued operations most successfully, while he is at the present time one of the executive officers of the Western Stock Growers’ Association. For a number of years past, he has been a government beef contractor, and since March, 1901, he has been bonded Indian trader at Crow Creek Indian agency. In politics, he is a staunch Republican, and fraternally is identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias.
On the 16th of November, 1898, Mr. Anderson was united in marriage to Miss Clara L. Willrodt, who was born in the city of Davenport, Iowa, on the 30th of July, 1874, being a daughter of Senator Lawrence H. and Mary (Wagner) Willrodt, who are now residents of Brule County, South Dakota. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have no children.
When Mr. Anderson resided in Lyman County, South Dakota, he was named as a presidential elector for this year. He was a representative in the legislature from Lyman and Stanley counties in 1901.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.