John W. Anderson (1801?–September 20, 1836) was an American interstate slave trader and farmer based near Maysville, Mason County, Kentucky.

[5] In 1828 he was accused of having wrongfully resold a pair of young enslaved sisters, Malala, 13, and Marinda, 11, but Anderson denied the charges.

[7] Cholera was epidemic that year, and a shipment from Alexandria, Virginia to the Delta region arrived with a number of sick and dying enslaved passengers.

[7] The population of the town was irate at the dead babies and teenagers, and alarmed at the possibility that slave traders were importing contagion.

[7] To placate the citizens of Natchez, 10 slave traders, including John W. Anderson, Paul Pascal, and Thomas McCargo, signed a public letter agreeing to relocate outside the city limits.

When the landowners heard about the establishment of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, they reached out and let them know about what they had been told was a "jail cell" when they bought the property.