Andersons of Colonial N. Carolina

The guy shows up 1716… sells out in 1721/22 and moves to “Bath”…  I have a couple “Pages” on him.  My theory is that he may have been an Indian Trader.  He disappears from the records and another James Anderson shows up in Tarboro records in 1759.  Is it the same guy?  I don’t know.

There is incontrovertible evidence (in my mind at least) that numerous folks from Occoneechee Neck, NC relocated to Saxe Gotha, SC in the 1720s to 1730s… roughly.  These folks hailed from Isle of Wight/ Nansemond originally.

Robert Long, Philip Raiford, Joseph Joyner, Richard Jackson,  others more from Prince George County Virginia….  see here    https://andersonnc.wordpress.com/?s=saxe+gotha

So… I went so far as to do an interlibrary loan and got a copy of the “Journals of the Indian Trade, South Carolina 1718 to 1720 something”  and searched (read) the book looking for an ANDERSON….  nothing…. darn it.

Now I find this…

“Early history of Georgia, embracing the embassy of Sir Alexander Cuming to the country of the Cherokees, in the year 1730. A paper read in substance before the New-England Historic, Genealogical Society, February, 1872, by Samuel, G. Drake, M.A. ”         … pause for a moment to consider that Mr. Drake was born 1798… he died shortly after this dissertation…  and the guy had a VAST library of original documents… enough to make Thomas Jefferson slobber in jealousy if he had been earlier…

The principal object of this paper is to detail an early embassy to the country of the Cherokee Indians ; the chief authority for which is a MS. written by Sir Alexander Cuming, Bart., in the year 1755, the ambassador himself. This MS. came into the writer’s hands by purchase from a London bookseller. Accompanying it was a paper, stating that it once belonged to the great Shakesperian scholar, Isaac Read, Esq., from whom it passed into the keeping of George Chalmers, Esq….

…Sir Alexander Cuming was sent over as an ambassador in 1730; and from certain passages in his MS. it would seem that the affair was kept secret until his return, as no account is found of his preparation or departure upon the service, although arrangements had probably been made for it as early as 1728….

We do not find in our examination of documents any notice of the departure of Sir Alexander and his party ; but of his arrival in the Cherokee country and subsequent transactions, there is a minute account, which it is now proposed to sketch. That no record is found of the sailing of the embassy may be accounted for upon the hypothesis that it was secretly undertaken for apparent reasons then existing. News had reached England, that about the middle of March, 1729, an army of Carolinians, consisting of 100 white men and 100 Indians, had killed thirty-two Yomassee Indians and a fryar, burnt their town, and driven others into the castle at St. Augustine ; that an alliance was formed between the Creeks and Cherokees against the English, and that in this aspect of affairs the English traders did not dare to resume their business among them. This was the state of things when Sir Alexander Cuming arrived in ” Charles Town.” Nothing daunted, however, he left that place for the interior, on the 13th of March, 1730, and in ten days arrived at Keeakwee, 300 miles from Charleston. By the way he learned that the Cherokees were governed by seven Mother Towns : — These were Tannassie, Kettooah, Ustenary, Telliquo, Estootowie, Keyowee, and Noyohee. These towns had each their king, but at this time the kings of but three of the towns were alive, namely, those of Tannasee in the upper settlements ; of Kettooah in the middle ; and of Ustenary in the lower. Besides a king, or head man, each town had a head warrior.

On the 3d of April, Sir Alexander was at Telliquo with his company which consisted of Eleazar Wiggan, Ludovick Grant, Samuel Brown, William Cooper, Agnus Macpherson, Martin Kane, David Dowie, George Hunter, George Chicken, Lacklain Mackbain, Francis Baver, and Joseph Cooper, all British subjects. Here, at this time and place, Moytoy (of Telliquo) was chosen emperor over the whole Cherokee nation, and unlimited power was conferred upon him.

When Sir Alexander had arrived at a point about 100 miles from Charleston, he was informed by a Capt. Russel, that for two years the French had been endeavoring to seduce the Lower Cherokees to their interests ; that one Whitehead, a native of Paris, was the French agent. But here our documents take us a step back, in the detail of Sir Alexander’s journey in the Indian country. It was about five o’clock in the afternoon that he set out from Mr. James Kinloch’s plantation at New Gilmorton, being 23 miles from Charles Town. He was attended by Mr. George Chicken, besides Alexander Muckele, Aaron Cheesbrook, and Powel, pack-horse men ; but the pack-horse men having got drunk, and overturned the baggage, these were left behind, and Sir Alexander proceeded with only Mr. Chicken and Mr. George Hunter, and lay that night at Mr. Alexander Kinlock’s house at Wampee, 14 miles from his brother James’s. On the 14th the party reached Mr. Neilson’s, about 20 miles from their last named place. During this day’s march Sir Alexander employed much of it in searching for springs, ponds and minerals. The 15th they made 35 miles, and stopped at the house of Mr. Coxe. Here Sir Alexander met Mr. William Cooper, a bold man well skilled in the Cherokee language, who engaged to meet him on the next day, and attend him to the Cherokee mountains. March 16, they reached Capt. Russel’s before mentioned, but 10 miles from their stopping place ; having spent much time in search of curiosities. Among those discovered was a cave. They went into it. Mr. Hunter, Mr. Chicken and Mr. Coxe made marks to show that they had been there ; and Sir Alexander cut upon a stone on the left hand of it ” King George II., of Great Britain, wrote by S. A. C.” He also discovered some iron stone, which was one great end of his going in person to the mountains, not being able to depend upon the truth of any report he had heard in Carolina. Here his drunken pack-horse men came up. Two of those he discharged, and hired James Anderson in place of them. The 17th, more iron ore was discovered. On examining it Mr. Hunter found it yielded one third iron. Here Joseph Fairclough told Sir Alexander, privately, of a discovery he had made of copper, about 450 miles from the Catarba nation, and offered to conduct him to it, but Sir Alexander said his intent in going to the Cherokee mountains was more than answered by the discoveries already made, besides the getting roots for the bites of snakes : so he proceeded to Beaver Creek, and encamped under a tree some 18 miles from Capt. Russel’s.

March 18. After procuring several roots for the cure of the bites of snakes the party went on to the Congarees, where they again encamped under a tree, distance about 20 miles. Here happened something remarkable : Capt. How, a chief of the Catarba nation, by his manner towards Sir Alexander, whom Sir A. had made his friend, ordered his men to salute him with feathers, said they would dance round him all night, and would make him a present of all their skins ; but understanding that the dancing would disturb, instead of gratifying Sir Alexander, he ordered his men to desist, and withdrew and shot a turkey for his supper.

… and so the bizzare tale continues… read it here:

http://www20.us.archive.org/stream/earlyhistoryofge00drak#page/n9/mode/2up

WHAT?   Seriously, I’m not making this up….  a near lunatic castletrash aristocrat by the name of Cuming travels from England in 1730, passes thru Saxe Gotha, SC, fires some drunken hands, hires a  James Anderson, carries back 7  Cherokees to England, winds up in Debtor’s Prison in 1755 and writes a book which mentions “a James Anderson” … and the book is now lost.

So I tried tracking down the missing manuscript of the lunatic  Sir Alexander Cuming just to check the good Mr. Drake’s facts…  it appears to be eaten by the dog. But apparently Mr. Drake did have it in his possession……… and do you think he would make up something so insignificant as the James Anderson reference?

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I trust my buddy Holmes and my buddyette Traci will find some amusement in this post…

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For the seriously curious… I think Philip Raiford and James Anderson were “contemporaries”… meaning that they grew up as next door neighbors in Isle of Wight… each being born about 1695…