Amador County Biographies

WILLIAM G. ANDERSON

Submitted by Betty Wilson

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	WILLIAM G. ANDERSON, Superintendent of the New York Mine, near 
Jackson, Amador County, was born in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, May 7, 1835.  
His parents, Josiah and Susan (Turner) Anderson, were natives of the United 
States, born and reared in the State of Maine.  They removed to New Brunswick in 
1824, where they remained until the time of their death, which was about four 
years ago.  His father never withdrew his allegiance to the United States.  They 
raised a family of twelve children of their own, besides two that were adopted.  
William G., when quite young, served a regular apprenticeship in the shipyards 
of St. Johns, New Brunswick, where he learned the trade of ship-carpenter.  In 
1854 he went to Maine to visit relatives, when he concluded to go to work at his 
trade at Bath, in that State, where he worked from March 1 to November of the 
same year.  He worked for Berry & Richardson on the ship Commodore, one of the 
largest vessels built on the Kennebec River at that date.  In November, 1854, he 
went to Minnesota and settled at St. Paul, where he engaged in the lumber 
business.  In 1855 he was appointed by the board of aldermen, as Marshal of the 
city of St. Paul, and a few months later was appointed Deputy Sheriff of 
Washington County, under Sheriff Johnson.  During the same year he went to the 
Lake Superior country, during the copper excitement, and in August returned to 
Stillwater, Minnesota, making the trip down the St. Croix River, about 260 
miles, in a birch-bark canoe.  In 1858 he started for the Fraser River gold 
mines; but on reaching St. Louis, having heard discouraging reports from that 
country, he concluded to stop at St. Louis and work at his trade.  While here he 
assisted in building the steamer W. G. Gay.  He then went to Paducah, Kentucky, 
where he was employed by Tom Scott, the originator of the Southern Pacific 
Railroad enterprise, building the steamer Autocrat, a noted vessel that plied 
between Louisville and New Orleans.  After being launched she was towed to 
Evansville, Indiana, where she was fitted up with the machinery and furnishings 
formerly used on the Southern Belle, one of the finest boats on the lower 
Mississippi River.  When the Autocrat was completed he was employed on her for 
several trips as ship carpenter.  In the fall of 1859 he went to Louisville and 
assisted in fitting up the steamer T.D. Hine, for Captain John Akerson, of 
Franklin, Tuckepaw Parish, Louisiana, and after she was completed served for 
some time in the capacity of carpenter, mate, etc., on her regular trips, after 
which he was employed at various points along the river in building boats, 
barges, etc.  In 1861, the civil war having been inaugurated, he concluded to go 
north.  On arriving at New Orleans he found it difficult to get away, but 
through the influence of Theobald Forestall, an influential banker and business 
man of New Orleans, he finally succeeded in shipping as ship carpenter, on the 
Moses Davenport, for Boston, where he arrived on May 1.  He then went to New 
Brunswick to visit his parents, where he remained about nine months; then 
returned to New York city.  From New York he went to Fairhaven, Connecticut, 
where he assisted in building a gunboat for Poke & Bushnell, Government 
contractors.  From Fairhaven he went to New York city, where he was employed in 
biding a Panama steamer.
	In 1864 he went to Boston, where he was married to Miss Isabella 
Boggs, a native of St. John, New Brunswick.
	In about three months after his marriage he sailed for California.  
He settled in San Francisco, where he worked at his trade for seven years.  In 
1872 he went to San Mateo County and engaged in farming and the dairy business, 
in which he continued for six years.  In 1878 he came to Amador County and 
engaged in mining.  In 1884 he went to Mare Island, where he was employed by the 
Government as ship carpenter.  In 1886 he returned to Amador County and resumed 
work on the New York mine, in connection with his partner, John W. Stewart, of 
San Francisco.
	Mr. Anderson’s family consists of his wife and four children, two 
boys and two girls.  His wife and three of the children are in New Brunswick, 
where they have property.  One son is with Mr. Anderson and is engaged on the 
mine.  Mr. Anderson owns a half interest in 560 acres of patented land, on which 
the New York mine is located, and also a half interest in a water ditch six 
miles long, that supplies water sufficient to irrigate the land and also furnish 
power for all milling purposes.
 
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing 
Co., 1891