Samuel J. Anderson was born January 30, 1855 near Cullybackey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland , and came to Michigan with his parents,  Elizabeth (Getty) and William Anderson and four sisters, in 1865.

On Thursday, December 3, 1885, he married Maria Jane Wallace at his mother's home in Macon Township, Lenawee County, Michigan.

They had two children:

  1. William Wallace Anderson
  2. Anna Lavina (Anderson) Smith

They lived on a couple of farms on Milwaukee Road near Ridgeway and attended the Methodist Church. The 1900 census has them living in Macon Township, Lenawee County and his wife's name is spelled "Moriah". In 1908, they moved to a farm near North Adams in Hillsdale County, Michigan.

Samuel died in 1925 at the age of 70 in North Adams. He is buried in Northlawn Cemetery in that town. Maria who was born on December 27, 1854 in Antrim County, Ireland, died on June 13, 1933 in North Adams at the age of 78.