Anderson, John

Epithet: of Add MS 33106

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000923.0x0002f9

Epithet: Major; Bengal Engineers

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000923.0x0003d9

Epithet: Reverend; of the General Register House, Edinburgh

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000923.0x000340

Epithet: of Add MS 32702

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000923.0x0003dc

Epithet: Bailiff of the Port called ' Portus Domine nostre Gracie per terram.'

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000923.0x0003d5

Epithet: formerly of the Northumberland Militia

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000923.0x0003d8

Epithet: advocate

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000923.0x0003d4

Scottish surgeon

From the guide to the John Anderson letters to John Riddell, 1824-1827, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Epithet: merchant, of Bristol

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000923.0x0003da

Mariner; possibly a merchant; of Paterson, New Jersey.

From the guide to the John Anderson papers, 1804-1822, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Epithet: of Sherborne Dorset

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000758.0x000301

Epithet: witness of Wolley Ch xi.67

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000615.0x00036b

Epithet: DD; Minister of Newburgh, county Fifeshire

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000923.0x0003d7

Epithet: Subject of Mss Eur E315

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001394.0x0000a0

Epithet: of Old Meldrum

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000923.0x0002fc

Very little is known about John Anderson of Newark, Delaware. It appears that he sold or traded farm goods, including pigs, cows, and sheep to local residents from 1891 until 1921. It is possible that he was partners in a firm named Anderson and Finley for a brief time around 1896. He rented property at 57 Chapel Street from Charles Krapf and maintained accounts for several family members including aunts and uncles.

Information derived from the collection.

From the guide to the John Anderson account book, 1891-1940, 1891-1898, (University of Delaware Library - Special Collections)

John Anderson (1853-1911) was born in Portland, Maine, on August 6, 1853. He was the only son born to Samuel J. Anderson and Jane Wade Dow Anderson. Anderson graduated from Portland High School in 1872. After a short course in commercial college, Anderson took a position in the foreign exchange department of Jay Cooke and Company. He also held positions with the Agency of London and the First National Bank of New York. It was during this same period that Anderson received a letter from his cousin Samuel Dow describing the bountiful prospects in New Britain, Florida, which would later be renamed Ormond Beach. Dow described the city saying, "I have found God's country."

On February 26, 1876, Anderson arrived in Florida with friend Charles Fox. Anderson met future business partner, Joseph D. Price, while looking for land in 1876. Anderson and Dow purchased 80 acres that would later become the Santa Lucia Plantation. Anderson focused on developing agriculture which included oranges, lemons, and grape fruit.

With the development of new transportation routes, such as the St. Johns and Halifax Railroad Company in 1886, Anderson and Price realized they could draw visitors to the eastern coast of Florida. On January 1, 1888, the partners opened the Ormond Hotel on the Santa Lucia Plantation land. For nearly a century, the 75-room hotel would be a social and business center for the town. It was the opening of the Ormond Hotel that catapulted Ormond's visibility as a vacation spot. Anderson took a lead role in building the tourism industry in the region. He and Price sold the hotel in 1891 to Henry Flagler, who renovated it to attract clientele such as the Rockefellers and Astors. Anderson and Price remained in the hotel business as operating managers of the Ormond Hotel and later purchased the Coquina Hotel in 1903.

Between 1876-1878 and 1881-1882 Anderson was Volusia County's tax assessor. He also was involved in endeavors such as the creation of the first golf course in Volusia County and organizing the first automobile racing event on the beach in 1902. Anderson died in 1911 and was buried in Portland, Maine.

Source: Strickland, Alice. Ormond on the Halifax: A Centennial History of Ormond Beach, Florida . Holly Hill, Fl: Southeast Printing and Publishing Company, 1980. 59-82. Strickland, Alice. The Valiant Pioneers . Miami, Fl: Center Printing Company, 1963. 53-57, 65-69.

From the guide to the John Anderson Papers Relating to Ormond Beach, 1869-1910, (Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida)