John Anderson (March 22, 1836 – February 24, 1910) was a

Norwegian-American Norwegian Americans ( nb, Norskamerikanere, nn, Norskamerikanarar) are Americans with ancestral roots in Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the ...

publisher.

Background

John Anderson was born at

Voss Voss () is a municipality and a traditional district in Vestland county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen. Other villages include Bolstadøyri, Borstrondi, Evanger, Kvitheim, Mjølfjell, ...

Søndre Bergenhus Amt Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Municipal ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. He was the son of Anders Knudsen Saue (1806–49) and Ragnhild Samsonsdatter Øen (1812–97). He was brought by his parents to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1845. His father subsequently died in the cholera epidemic in 1849. Anderson soon became an errand boy in a shop and delivered newspapers for the ''

Commercial Advertiser The ''New-York Commercial Advertiser'' was an American evening newspaper. It originated as the ''American Minerva'' in 1793, changed its name in 1797, and was published, with slight name variations, until 1904. History The paper had its origins ...

''. This led to a position as an apprentice typographer at that publication. John Anderson subsequently worked for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

''. Anderson decided in 1866 to leave the ''Chicago Tribune'' to start his own company.

Career

In 1866, Anderson founded ''

Skandinaven ''Skandinaven'' was a Norwegian language newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois from 1866 until 1941. Background ''Skandinaven'' was established by three Norwegian immigrants; John Anderson, Knud Langeland (1813–88), and Iver Lawson ( ...

'', a weekly or semi-weekly

Norwegian language Norwegian ( no, norsk, links=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regio ...

newspaper together with Iver Lawson (1821-1871) and Knud Langeland (1813-1888). Lawson was principally an investor. Langeland was the newspaper's first editor, while Anderson took care of the business side of the business. Anderson purchased the subscription lists of ''Norske-Amerikanerne'', a failing Norwegian language newspaper. Langeland and Lawson left ''Skandinaven'' in 1872 and established ''Amerika'', a rival paper. ''Skandinaven'' merged briefly with ''Amerika'' in 1873 to form ''Skandinaven og Amerika''. Starting the 1870s ''Skandinaven'' published a magazine that contained articles of interest, stories, and poetry. It carried works by Norwegian-American writers including

Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen (23 September 1848 – 4 October 1895) was a Norwegian-American author and college professor. He is best remembered for his novel ''Gunnar: A Tale of Norse Life'', which is generally considered to have been the first novel ...

and

Rasmus B. Anderson Rasmus Bjørn Anderson (January 12, 1846 – March 2, 1936) was an American author, professor, editor, businessman and diplomat. He brought to popular attention the fact that Viking explorers were the first Europeans to arrive in the New World ...

. In 1901, John Anderson was knighted by King

Oscar II Oscar II (Oscar Fredrik; 21 January 1829 – 8 December 1907) was King of Sweden from 1872 until his death in 1907 and King of Norway from 1872 to 1905. Oscar was the son of King Oscar I and Queen Josephine. He inherited the Swedish and Norweg ...

in the

Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ci ...

for his work in ''Skandinaven''. ''Skandinaven'' became one of the most influential and successful newspapers in the

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

n immigrant community. Through the success of the paper, Anderson was able to build a publishing business that became one of the largest venture of its kind. The newspaper was in operation from May 1866 until October 1941. When ''Skandinaven'' suspended publication,

Reidar Rye Haugan Reidar Rye Haugan (September 18, 1893 – October 1972) was an American newspaper editor and publisher. Background Reidar Rye Haugan was born the youngest of eight children born in Trondheim, Norway. Together with his mother and sister, Haugan im ...

established the Norwegian language newspaper ''Viking'' on which he served as both editor and publisher.

Personal life

He married Maria Christine Frank on September 22, 1859 and they had one son. He remarried in 1875, to Julia Sampson, and they had two sons and one daughter. John Anderson died at his home in Chicago on February 24, 1910.

References

Other sources

Øverland, Orm (1986) ''Skandinaven and the beginnings of professional publishing'' (Northfield, Minn: Norwegian-American Historical Association) Wist, J. B. (1914) ''Norsk-amerikanernes festskrift 1914'' (Decorah, Iowa)

External links