Anson Stager (April 20, 1825 - March 26, 1885) was the co-founder of Western Union, the first president of Western Electric Manufacturing Company and a Union Army officer, where he was head of the Military Telegraph Department during the American Civil War.

Stager obliged and immediately prepared a cipher by which he could securely communicate with those who had the key (notably the governors of Illinois and Indiana).

In 1869 Stager moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he served as president of Western Electric.

[6] Anson Stager died in Chicago, Illinois, on March 26, 1885, and was survived by three daughters.

His daughter Ellen Stager would marry Arthur Butler, 4th Marquess of Ormonde in 1887 and had four children.