[Brøderbund WFT Vol. 3, Ed. 1, Tree #0136, Date of Import: Feb 26, 2001]
Ida Jane Anderson*:
Ida Jane Anderson Oakley was the oldest of the children of Henry Beach
Anderson and Anna Elizabeth Aker. She was born in LaSalle County
Illinois and moved to Iowa and then Nebraska with the family. She was
married in western Nebraska (McCook) and her first two children were born
in Colorado.
In the late 1920's Earle Anderson, grandson of HB Anderson, made a
writingdesk from the wood of the old Anderson Family Organ. This desk is
to pass to the eldest Anderson son and will come to Jo, when Vivian
(Earle's wife) no longer wants it.
Zuinglius Anderson, HB's father, is said to have been very interested in
music. Edna Rowan Peak has said that he was not a very good farmer and
as a result, his children were not permitted to study music. It is
tempting to wonder if HB reacted and bought the organ so his children
could learn music. The family moved from Illinois to Atlantic, Iowa; then
to Syracuse, Nebraska and McCook, Nebraska before moving to Maize,
Kansas. I (Jo) have heard that the organ went to Colorado by train from
Nebraska. This would suggest that it was Ida Jane who had been given
music lessons. One of the Oakley children was born in Maize, Kansas and
so the possibility exists that the organ came back to Maize and the HB
Anderson household, where Earle remembered it and was able to use the
products to construct the desk!