Frequency & Distribution

According to the on-line Telephone Directory in March 2001, there are 91 telephone subscribers with the surname Anderton in the State of Utah. This is the second highest concentration after Texas.

The many database entries for Utah all seem to stem from the same line:

Descendants of Betty Anderton of Wigan, Lancashire to Utah by Lila C. Eubanks

John Anderton was born the 22nd of November and christened on the 10th of December in the year 1803, the son of Elizabeth or "Betty" Anderton of Pemberton, Wigan, Lancashire and Peter Campbell, a "Scotsman". Peter Campbell was called a "Drummer" by his grandson, James Anderton, but he is listed by his son John as a "Collier" -a coal worker or dealer. We have no further information on him. It appears that Peter Campbell and Elizabeth Anderton were never married. John carried the Anderton name throughout his life.

Elizabeth Anderton, John's mother, later lived with John's family and was by trade a "practical nurse". She appears to have been very well spoken of by those who knew her. We have no definite details of the early life of Elizabeth Anderton, nor of her son John. It is thought that Elizabeth's father may have been called "Billy".

John Anderton married(1)about 1822 to Nancy Lyon Ashurst, widow of Henry Ashurst, who was killed "in the coal pit" shortly after their marriage, leaving one son.

John and Nancy Lyon Anderton had five children, three of whom did not survive childhood. John Anderton married (2) Mary Ann Leather. They were the parents of six sons.

In 1851 John and Mary moved with their family from Wigan to Ashton Under Lyne. Some of Mary's family, the Leather family, had joined the Mormon Church during the 1840s as had the two older Anderton girls. They took their parents to church with them and in 1852 John and Mary were baptized at Grenny Brook along with their two eldest sons. John was a shoemaker. He died 24 February 1858 of Asthma. Mary Leather Anderton accompanied her boys to America and died in 1864 while living in St. Clair,Pennsylvania.

Elizabeth "Betty" Anderton would have been about eighty years old at the time of the Anderton's emigration. All of John's family came to America leaving her without descendants or family in England. She wanted to come with them, but was too old to make the trip, so she was left behind with friends. It is said that she sorrowed herself to death soon after they left.

Adapted from work of Cloyde W. Anderton of Bountiful Utah.
Written July 1967.

Note:
Most of the brothers settled in Utah, while Peter Anderton settled in Wyoming.

Anderton Store, Richfield, Utah by Richard L. Anderton

I am trying to trace my roots back through my grandfather, Reuben John Anderton who was born in Richfield Utah in about 1874, son of William Anderton. He moved to Idaho and then returned later on to Salt Lake City Utah. His son, my father William L. Anderton currently lives in Southern Utah.

My great grandparents, William Anderton and Martha moved to the western US eventually to the small frontier town of Richfield Utah where they opened up the only store in town. They occupied the store off and on (between indian raids) for many years. In fact, only recently was the street name changed from Anderton Street to something else...so much for history. My web page has some photos of the Old Anderton Store in Richfield Utah, circa 1880.

William would make a trading route from Salt Lake City where the railhead was located, taking with him manufactured goods from the East coast. He carried these via a horse drawn wagon south to Richfield for the store which Martha managed from day to day. After unloading the manufactured goods for sale in the store, he would refill his wagon with dairy and farm goods, in particular eggs packed in grain and flour, coffee, sugar, molassas, etc. and head West into Utah and Nevada mining towns where such goods were hard to come by. There, he would collect his pay in gold dust or silver bullion and, then baring any robbers or indians, head north to Salt Lake City with the hard cash and start the cycle over again.

My grandfather, Williams son, Reuben John Anderton, married Nellie and moved around, eventuall ending up in Buhl, Idaho, where all of his children were born. His children included:

I am also fascinated about the persistent story of "seven brothers" that came from "Wiggin" (Wigan), Lancashire to the coal fields of Pennsylvania in the early 1860's - this is a story that I heard from my Grandfather, Reuben....so, is there any truth to what the old guy had to say, or did he make this up.

Websites that include Andertons of Utah: