Richard Absolom Anderson was born in 1868 in Kentucky, the son of William Hezekiah “Buck” Anderson (1838-1921) and Susan B. Anderson (1843-1913). The family moved to Kansas, settling in Howard, where Rev. Anderson continued to live after his marriage. It is not apparent from the archival material where he was educated or when he became a minister. He is referred to as “Rev. Richard Anderson” as early as January 18, 1894, in his hometown newspaper (The Citizen, Howard, Kansas). The Howard Courant mentions him as serving the “Howard circuit” in 1901-1902. In 1903, according to the minutes of the South Kansas Conference, he served as a supply pastor in Climax, Kansas. In March, 1904, he moved his family to Baldwin, Kansas, where he planned to attend Baker University and to stay in the ministry. The Howard Courant notes that he is “an earnest and conscientious worker for the church.” A few months later, he is mentioned as having fallen ill in Baldwin with typhoid fever. [No record has been found on his enrollment at Baker, so it is not certain that he attended.] In 1905 he is listed as a supply pastor for the Chautauqua Circuit in the Independence district of the South Kansas Conference; in 1906 he was appointed to the Galesburg charge, also in the Independence district. At some point after his Galesburg appointment, he and his family moved to Parsons, Kansas. The census at that time lists him as “Insurance Agent,” and the Eagle of Walnut, Kansas, mentions that he is a salesman of aluminum cooking utensils (though he is still referred to as “Rev. R. A. Anderson”). In 1908 he is mentioned as “a M. E. minister of Parsons” who had “just closed a very successful revival.” He is possibly also the Rev. R. A. Anderson mentioned as supplying pulpits in Cherryvale (1909) and La Harpe (1915). “Rev. R. A. Anderson of Baldwin” is mentioned as being in attendance at the Quarterly Conference held at the M. E. Church in Garnett (or Welda) in July 1915. In 1916, a note from the fourth quarterly conference in Lecompton mentions that a resolution was passed asking that Rev. R. A. Anderson be returned at a salary “fixed at not less than $625.00.” He is mentioned again as living in, or temporarily supplying pulpits in, Bartlett (1918), Oswego (1919 and 1921), Antioch (1919), Chautauqua Springs (1920), Independence (1921). He is mentioned in the Kansas Conference minutes for 1923 as “R. A. Anderson” in a list of three men “elected to orders as Local Deacons” (p. 277). He is also listed as “Richard A. Anderson” in the Certificate of Ordination (p. 285). In that same year, he is listed as a supply pastor at the Liberty-Jefferson charge in the Independence district. Later that year (1923) he is mentioned as serving a church in Prairie View, Kansas. He is referred to in 1930 as conducting the second quarterly conference in Lenora, Kansas; in that same year, he is mentioned as living in Colby. The following year (1931) he is referred to as “Rev. R. A. Anderson of the (Concordia) Methodist church.” The Kansas West Conference file card that originally accompanied his file indicates that he transferred to Oklahoma in 1933. Rev. Anderson married Mary Elizabeth Williams (1869-1930) in 1893; their children were Paul Wesley Anderson (b. 1894), Chester Bowman Anderson (1896-1982), Esther Ruth Anderson (1902-1980), Walter D. Anderson (1907-1994), Grace Anderson (b. 1910), Dorothy Lucille Anderson (1910-1946), and Mary Elizabeth Anderson (1910-1924). After the death of his first wife, Rev. Anderson married Lelia Smith Perkins (b. 1891) on May 24, 1939. Rev. R. A. Anderson is not included in the Great Plains Conference index of memoirs, and no death notification has been located elsewhere. His last census record is in 1940, when he is living at 3019 Forest Ave., Kansas City, Missouri, with his second wife. His occupation in that year is listed as Church Minister.

Note written by Sarah St. John