As a child he had a passion for law and politics, but his religious upbringing led him to enter the church.

That same year he married Jennie Lulah Ketcham, the daughter of a Cincinnati minister and a classmate of his from Ohio Wesleyan.

[1] In 1898 his interest in teaching landed him the job of recording secretary to the board of education of the Methodist Church.

From 1915 to 1918, he was the church's official supervisor of its missions in Italy, France, Finland, Norway, North Africa, and Russia.

[1] In 1921 he accompanied Henry Ford, Harvey S. Firestone, and Thomas Edison on their camping trip.

[3][4] Among other things, he called for "stricter observance of the law and the preservation of the Constitution of the United States," in other words, for more zealous enforcement of Prohibition.

[1] Anderson died on July 22, 1944, at his summer home in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts.