Andersons of Colonial N. Carolina

I think it is generally assumed that the only men of that name in Edgecombe County from 1756 or so until the 1830s or so was George Sr b. 1756 and his son George Jr b. 1798.  I have always assumed they remained on their properties near Walnut Creek until they packed up and moved to Henderson County, Tenn. about 1837… evidently not.

Either the father or the son George was in business as a storekeeper in the town of Halifax at least by 1824.  The only other culprit by the name of George to reasonably be in Halifax was a grandson of Peter Anderson d. 1801. But he was b.1812 and hence would only be 12 years old in 1824.

So… unless someone can counter my assumption… I take the following to be my ancestor…

DRAT!… I proved myself wrong.  There is a George Anderson in Halifax in 1820… he could easily be a son of either the James or William in 1810.  I was suspicious of this guy because I cannot believe ANY of my clan can carry a tune.   I’ll just leave my ramblings in place without editing and bear the embarassment.    The guy WAS a Mason tho’ if that helps anyone else….. (smiling).

Scattered throughout the Tarboro newspaper accounts are “Lists of Letters” which sit idle in the Post Office which must perturb the postmaster… George evidently did not care much for mail as he is constantly cited… but this one caught my eye because this is in the town of Halifax in 1824…

And then this…

Sept 12, 1824… The business drops a partner (Henry Mason) and re-emerge a few days later as Anderson and Loudon… next door to the Bank. Note the byline is Halifax.

Henry Mason is still a mystery to me.. here he is in 1825 trying to collect from the dead beat Governor (from the Govs papers)…    not sure if he collected?

http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/ead/id/97690

H. G. (Hutchins Gordon) Burton was a United States representative (1819-1824) from and governor (1824-1827) of North Carolina. The collection includes family, political, and business papers of Burton, including letters pertaining chiefly to North Carolina and national politics, including the 1824 presidential election, economic conditions, and horse racing.

Robert Loudon was a Mason… more of interest because he was of the Royal White Hart Lodge #2 of Halifax…

Royal White Hart was established 1767 and is the second oldest lodge in NC. A colorful history is online…….. But this caught my interest…

So George was also a Mason, which does not surprise me… one of the extant tombstones in Henderson, Tenn has a Masonic emblem prominently displayed.

My hunch is that this is George Anderson Jr. If so, the old boy could sing… which does surprise me.

And the old boy kept his ties to Edgecombe County… here he is in a Grand Jury, 1834, voicing a few concerns and trashing a Senator they did not agree with one whit, thank you.

All fun stuff to research… and all new to me. An old family account from 1959 has some Andersons apparently living near Scotland Neck which has always perplexed me… perhaps this can lead to some new revelations?

May 13, 1959 (Hugh B. Johnston article)

WILLIAM ANDERSON

(This traditional account of William Anderson, 1732-1789, was written by Mrs. A.C. Davis of Rocky Mount.)

William Anderson…came to Edgecombe about 1732…by old records a Scotsman who did not want to fight England, along with more Scotch in the county, his son James having a store at Tarborough when it was only a ferry and warehouse to collect Quit Rents for the Lords Proprietors or Earl Granville.

His sons and daughters wed mostly in a near-by section and his old home is, I feel sure, where I was brought home a month-old baby to the old home of my grandfather, as his holdings reached from the north side of Tar River.

…But 12 children caused some of them not to have much land and to go back where they probably came from, on the Halifax line where many more Andersons probably lived.

Two wives, and he does not say that the first died, gave him 12 children (last wife is also “Uncle Sam” Davis great-great aunt). My great-grandmother Evalina Anderson was said to be the child of one who lived Scotland Neck, and Nathan Guilford Worsley was of the Worsleys near the head of Conetoe Creek. They came to live where her grandfather William Anderson had probably early in the 1700’s built on Cokey Road high on a red hill top, where oaks and sycamores grew; his house had a great room, smaller room, two shed-rooms, an attic upstairs, basement, small coluned front porch at the chimney (not there now) in slavery times, log kitchen some distance away, and a small back porch used as a dining room on occasion.

Boxwoods in the vegetable garden walk and crepe myrtles among oaks, it was typical of a Scotch Highlander and his descendants, even to those old phlox, of sweet smell, in the vegetable garden as I knew it as a child, for I had this very house as my first home, father living with old Aunts Worsley, sisters of my grandmother, about five miles out from Rocky Mount beyond West Edgecombe School, and it has been in continuous possession of Anderson descendants. Grandmother Lizzina Worsley Bullock was born there, and it was on the Old Stage Coach Road (Cokey) before anyone had even thought of a war with England, when this home of Andersons was built.

These Andersons…were strong Old Side Baptists who believed in predestination, as most Highland Scotch did, and many left Scotland for North Ireland and America for their Campbellistic belief, but still did not want to fight England. Many of my kin were stingy and thrifty as Scotch and just as eccentric. Possibly I am wrong about it, even his house. It has taken me seventy-six years to study out the origin of this place, my first home, and I expect some will say I am just day dreaming…as to just who once lived on that hill.

I had told the Aunt whom I last visited, Mrs. Frank Bullock that it was at least 150 years old. Now I am sure I underestimated it by fifty years. The basement was filled in by my Uncle Frank’s family, the front porch made longer after 1912 and a kitchen built on, but for many years it was as first built, 150 years ago at least, and might even be 250 years now from my memory of it.

My friend David Gammon has weighed in with some thoughts.  He is from the area and is a wealth of genealogy trivia that never ceases to amaze me.

I just re-read this. I think you can read it two ways. As usual, there is a grain of truth in it, but it got distorted with the passage of time. I am pulling out the facts as she presents them, and I can’t resist an editorial comment or two:

1. Evelina Anderson was the granddaughter of the 1789 William Anderson.
2. The father of Evelina Anderson was from near Scotland Neck.
3. 1789 William was born in 1732, and came to America from Scotland that same year because he did not want to fight England. (Now that’s one hell of a baby.)
4. Some of the children of 1789 William did not inherit much, so they went back to near the Halifax County line where they had lived before. (what happened to the Scotland story?)
5. Other Andersons lived up near the Halifax County line.

At first hearing, this seems to be the ramblings of a very old woman, who remembers some things she heard, and has confused some others. The part about Evelina forward I believe – it’s the earlier part that I don’t believe.

Here’s what we can prove that seems to relate:

1. Evelina Anderson was daughter of Charlotte Anderson, who can be proved to be a sibling of Old Man Micajah Anderson, Josiah Anderson, and Elizabeth Anderson Pittman. If there were other siblings, then they died without issue prior to Josiah in the late 1860s, and were thus not heirs to his estate. The census indicates Charlotte Anderson never married, so Evelina was illegitimate. And we know that she was not the granddaughter of 1789 William – most likely a great-granddaughter, however.

2. Old Man Micajah (Evelina’s uncle) did indeed live over near Scotland Neck for a while. In his autobiography, he states that he and his first wife Nancy lived first on the Avington farm. This is a misspelling of Abbington. The Abbington farms were in Halifax County near the Cow Haul Swamp, south of Scotland Neck. Likewise, Elizabeth Anderson Pittman lived in that area. But we cannot prove that Josiah or Charlotte ever lived in that area. So the part about Scotland Neck is true, but for a different person. An example of a true fact getting twisted with time. One might theorize that Micajah, who was perhaps the oldest child, married Nancy and his sister Elizabeth moved with them to the Abbington farm. Josiah and Charlotte may have stayed behind, with other relatives. I am presuming the parents had already died.

3. Old Man Micajah eventually moved to Township 5 (Lower Fishing Creek) in Edgecombe, which, as the crow flies, was not far from the Abbington farm where he started out his married life. The farm where he eventually lived was about three miles or so south of the Halifax County line. There were no other Andersons in this part of the world. So I presume this tale was indeed based in some truth but got distorted with time.

4. The red hill top was on Cokey Road, according to this account. Cokey Road still exists, and is Highway 43, coming southwest out of Rocky Mount heading towards West Edgecombe School. The land in that area is mostly flat, but occasionally there is a slight hill.

Here are a few things worth exploring, however:

1. The heirs of Charlotte Anderson, which appear to be ONLY the children of Evelina Anderson Worsley.
3. The identity of “Uncle Sam Davis,” who the author says was great-great-nephew of the second wife of 1789 William Anderson. May not pan out – but worth exploring. The author is a Mrs. Davis – so he must be on her husband’s side of the family.

DG

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Could it be that George Anderson moved near Scotland Neck and is the genesis of her “fuzzy” recollections?

But here he is “apparently”  near the Walnut Creek area in 1834 (Battle had property adjoining both Georges’). In debt in 1834 and leaves in 1837… still unanswered questions.

The George Anderson property in Edgecombe County…

https://andersonnc.wordpress.com/george-anderson-b-1756-edgecombe-property/

Revolutionary War account… George Jr. states his father made it to Henderson County, Tenn and dies August, 1837…

Click to access s46684.pdf