OLIVER P. ANDERSON, a pioneer of Clarke County, was born in
Madison County, Kentucky, March 13, 1832, a son of Alexander and Julia A.
(Raborn) Anderson. He remained with his parents until twenty years of age, when
he went to McLean County, Illinois, where he was employed as clerk in a
dry-goods store until 1854. He then came
to Iowa and lived in Marshall County until 1856, when in August of that year he
joined the expedition of James Lane, in behalf of Kansas, as a Free-Soiler,
returning to Iowa in September and the 20th of that month settled in Clarke County.
He worked at the carpenter’s trade until 1862 and then turned his attention to
farming. March 31, 1864, he enlisted in
the defense of his country, and was assigned to Company F., Sixth Iowa
Infantry. He participated in the battles of Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church,
Pine Mountain, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Jonesboro, and in Sherman’s march to
the sea. He was wounded twice in the Atlanta campaign, and was forty-three days
under fire of the enemy on the march to the sea. At the battle of
Griswoldsville, Georgia, he received a very severe gunshot wound in the body,
penetrating the point of the left lung, which was supposed to be mortal. May
20, 1865, he was discharged by general order of the War Department at
Davenport, Iowa, and returned to his home in Osceola. He never recovered from the effects of his
wound, but although disabled for manual labor he has devoted his care and
attention to his farm. He is also largely engaged in fish culture, and has
demonstrated the fact that this enterprise can be made a success in Clarke
County. He has studied the habits and requirements of carp very closely, and
his methods of protection, which are of his own invention, are very
commendable. Mr. Anderson was married in
1860 to Miss Margaret C. Gregg. They have two children – Ernest F. and Evia
May. Mr. Anderson is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
SOURCE: Biographical
and Historical Record of Clarke County, Iowa, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago,
Illinois, 1886 p. 439
