Photo of Anderson from the LDS Biographical Encyclopedia
Anderson was born inChristiania (modern Oslo), Norway on 22 January 1865. His parents, Christian and Petronella Nielson, had joined the LDS Church only a few years before his birth and in 1871 theyemigrated toUtah Territory, United States. They settled first inCoalsville and later inOgden.
In 1886, Anderson married Asenath Tillotson and began a teaching career in Ogden andBrigham City. From 1891 to 1893, he served amission for the LDS Church in his birth country of Norway and resumed teaching upon returning. He served asSuperintendent of Schools inBox Elder County, Utah, from 1900 to 1903.Asenath died in January 1904, having borne six children with Nephi (three of which survived to adulthood).
Just two months after his wife's death, Anderson left on his second mission for the church, this time toGreat Britain, where under the direction ofHeber J. Grant he became assistanteditor of the LDS periodicalMillennial Star. Returning to Utah in 1906, Anderson moved his family toSalt Lake City and secured a position as instructor ofEnglish and Missionary Studies atLatter-day Saints High School. In 1908, he married Maud Rebecca Symons, with whom he would have six more children.
In a piece inThe Improvement Era entitled "A Plea for Fiction" (1898), Anderson wrote of the Mormon experience—"What a field is here for the pen of the novelist." Although he is well known for his particular style of early LDS fiction, his first published book was the non-fiction title,A Young Folks' History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1889).[1][2] In the early 1890s, Anderson began submitting short works toThe Contributor.
He published his most recognized work, the novelAdded Upon, in 1898, to wide acclaim and popularity. At his death, a local newspaper exclaimed thatAdded Upon had "been read by almost every person in [Utah]."[3][4] During the last three decades of his life, Anderson would write ten novels and numerous short stories, all involving LDS characters and storyline.
The first and most popular novel written by Anderson. Originally published in 1898 byDeseret News Publishing Company and significantly enlarged and expanded in its fifth edition (1912), the book has never been out of print (its copyright expired in 2005, at which time it began to be re-printed by numerous online publishers). The story concerns severalspirit children of God who move from thepre-existence, to mortal life, to theireternal reward, interacting with each other at each step. The novel influenced many subsequent Mormon works of literature, notablySaturday's Warrior.
^"Nephi Anderson".The Improvement Era.26 (4). Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:373–375. February 1923. Retrieved3 August 2021.
