Elliott Crippen Anderson

Elliott Crippen Anderson was born July 20, 1840, in Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan, the son of William (1802-1887) and Deborah (Benton or Denton, 1806-1888).

His father was born in either New York or in Canada and married Deborah in 1825 (born in Nova Scotia), probably in Ontario. In any case they were living in Bayham, Elgin County, Ontario by 1826 and resided there until at least 1835. By 1837 they had moved to Middlesex County, Ontario and by 1840 had settled in Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan. By 1843 they had settled on a farm in Walker, Kent County where they resided for some years. In 1850 Elliott was living with his family and attending school in Grand Rapids; by 1860 he was working as a farm laborer in Walker, Kent County.

Elliott stood 6’ tall, with gray eyes, light hair and light complexion, and was 21 years old and probably still living in the Grand Rapids area when he enlisted in Company B on May 13, 1861. (Company B was made up largely of men from Grand Rapids, and many of who had served in various local militia units before the war, in particular the Grand Rapids Artillery, under Captain Baker Borden, who would also command Company B.) Elliott was wounded in the left hip on May 31, 1862, at Fair Oaks, Virginia. According to Rebecca Richmond, teenage daughter of William Richmond, one of Grand Rapids’ leading businessmen, “young Anderson was severely wounded” at Fair Oaks. The Detroit Advertiser & Tribune reported in August that Elliott was a patient in the New York City hospital, although in fact by then he had been sent home to recover his health.

On August 5, 1862, Dr. Charles Shepherd of Grand Rapids wrote the War Department that he had examined Anderson and found him to be suffering from “contractions of muscles and shrinking of limb” as a consequence of his wound of May 31, and that he was “incapacitated for duty”. Nor did Dr. Shepherd think Anderson would be able to resume his duties in a period of less than 30 days. As a consequence, Elliott was discharged on September 2 at Detroit Barracks, for “a gunshot wound of the left hip and thigh near the great trochanter implicating the sciatic nerve.”

Although reportedly discharged on September 2, by the New Year Elliott had still not received his discharge papers. And on January 3, 1863, Anderson wrote from his home in Grand Rapids to Lieutenant Colonel Smith in charge of the army depot in Detroit and Major Howard, also in Detroit, that he was at home on furlough still awaiting his discharge paper. "If my discharge and pay certificates are complete, please send them to P. R. L. Peirce of Grand Rapids. . . . If Mr. Howard has them will be please also forward blank acct to Mr. P.” He was discharged from the army Detroit Barracks on September 27, 1864, for a gunshot wound of the left hip and thigh “near great trochanter.”

Elliott married Adeline “Addie” Maria Covell (1843-1927) on December 23, 1863, and they had at least three children: Edward F. (b. 1864), Albert E. (b. 1866) and Arthur Ream (b. 1873).

Elliott remained in Grand Rapids through at least 1866, but by 1873 was living in Buda, Illinois. By 1880 he was working as a farmer and living with his wife and family in Macon, Bureau County, Illinois, and he reportedly lived in Illinois for some 14 years. He eventually moved to Iowa and by 1886 he was living in Shelby, Iowa, and apparently lived for a time in Omaha, Nebraska. In any case, Elliott soon returned to Shelby where he was living in 1907 and for many years worked as a stockman.

He retired from his trade as a stockman about 1908 and by 1910 was living in Albany, Oregon (where his son Edward lived); he was still living in Albany, Oregon in 1911 but by the following year was living in Santa Monica, California.

In 1879 Elliott applied for and received pension no. 179,004, drawing $72 per month by 1925.

Elliott eventually returned to Oregon, and by 1922 he was reportedly suffering from chronic bronchitis and, according to his physician, Dr. B. R. Wallace, was “very feeble and unable to take care of himself and is so nearly helpless as to require the regular personal aid and attendance of another person.” Elliott was residing at 127 W. 4th Street in Albany in 1922.

He was living at 1024 W. 8th Street in Albany, Oregon, when he died on June 3, 1925. He was buried in the Masonic cemetery in Albany.

His widow was living at 127 W. 4th Street, Albany, Oregon, and received pension no. 966266, drawing $30 per month by the time she died in 1927.