ANTHONY ALDERSON, one of the extensive land-owners of Pana Township, residing on section 26, is a native of Yorkshire, England, and the date of his birth is February 9, 1824. His father, Anthony Alderson, was born in the same locality, and his occupation was that of mining. He married Ann Sunter, who died in England at the age of fifty-four. In 18o2, he crossed the Atlantic to America, and located in Ohio, where he spent his remaining days, passing away at the age of sixty-eight.

Our subject is the youngest of three sons in a family of eleven children. At the age of seven years he began working in a lead mine, and a year later was transferred to a coal mine eighteen hundred feet below the surface of the earth. On reaching the mine, he had to go about three miles to where the digging was done. Between the ages of seven and twenty-five years our subject was thus employed.

He then determined to seek a home elsewhere, hoping to better his financial condition. Crossing the broad Atlantic to America, he went to Ohio, where he again followed coal mining for two years. On the expiration of that period, he purchased land in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, buying eighty acres, upon which he opened a coal mine. He had less than $100 at the time of his purchase, but in two years he had cleared $4,000. At length, in the spring of 1864, he sold out and came to Christian County, Ill., and purchased eighty acres of land, part of his present farm. Then he opened a coal mine on forty acres in Shelby County, which he carried on for some time.

Ere leaving his native land, Mr. Alderson was married, in 1844, at the age of twenty, to Mary Moore, who was also born in Yorkshire, England. In 1891 he was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who was called to her final rest on the 30th of November. Seven children had been born of that union: Thomas, now a prominent farmer and stock-dealer of Shelby County, owning seven hundred acres of land; Anthony, who died at the age of seventeen years; Dr. John J., a well-known physician of Chicago; William M. C., who died at the age of twenty-five; Albert M., a leading agriculturist of Christian County, who owns eighty acres in this county and five hundred acres in Fayette County; Sarah Alice, who keeps house for her father; and Charles H., who died at the age of seventeen months.

The home farm comprises three hundred and twenty acres of rich and highly cultivated land, and in all its appointments it is complete. Mr. Alderson also owns one hundred and sixty acres in Shelby County, and one hundred and twenty-five acres in Fayette County. At one time his landed possessions were much more extensive, but be has since sold a considerable portion of it. He now owns a fine house of fifteen rooms in Pana, which he has rented.

He has been very successful in his business interests since coming to Christian County, and has now laid aside business cares, his income from his farms making it possible for him to live a retired life. He has met with many reverses, and where many another man would have been discouraged be has kept on his way with a courage and determination that have ultimately brought him prosperity. His example in this particular is certainly well worthy of emulation.

In politics, he is a supporter of Republican principles and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a man of kindly and benevolent impulses, and throughout the community has a wide circle of friends, who esteem him highly for his many excellencies of character.