John Alexander ANDERSON, Congress, KS (1834-1892)

ANDERSON John Alexander , a Representative from Kansas; born near Pigeon Creek, Washington County, Pa., June 26, 1834; attended public and private schools; was graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1853; ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1857 and began preaching in Stockton, Calif.; elected trustee of the State insane asylum in 1860; appointed chaplain of the Third Regiment, California Volunteer Infantry, in 1862; accompanied General Connor's expedition to Salt Lake City in July 1862; mustered into the Federal service March 1863; resigned June 1863; California correspondent and agent of the United States Sanitary Commission 1863-1865; moved to Junction City, Kans., in 1868, where he erected the First Presbyterian Church, of which he was pastor for five years; regent of the University of Kansas in 1872 and 1873; president of the Kansas State Agricultural College 1873-1879; elected as a Republican to the Forty-sixth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1879-March 3, 1887); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1886 but was elected as an Independent Republican to the Fiftieth Congress and reelected as a Republican to the Fifty-first Congress (March 4, 1887-March 3, 1891); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1890; appointed United States consul general to Cairo, Egypt, March 4, 1891, and remained there until shortly before his death in a hospital in Liverpool, England, May 18, 1892, en route to his home; interment in Highland Cemetery, Junction City, Kans.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present