William James Anderson (2 November 1812 – 15 May 1873) was a physician, amateur geologist and historian of Scottish descent.Biography of William James Anderson from Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volume X (1871–1880)
/ref> He studied medicine at

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, where he obtained the degree of MD. Anderson was a physician in

the Maritimes The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Ca ...

in the 1830s. At that time he developed an interest in the history and geology of

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. After a serious health problem he left the medical profession and the Maritimes in 1847. He was in the lumber business in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

and moved to

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

in 1860. In 1873, Anderson died in Quebec City of

Tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. He was survived by a wife and daughter.

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
1812 births 1873 deaths 19th-century Canadian historians 19th-century Canadian male writers 19th-century Canadian physicians 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Amateur geologists Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian people of Scottish descent Colony of Nova Scotia people Tuberculosis deaths in Quebec {{Canada-med-bio-stub