Andersons of Colonial N. Carolina

My oldest “proveable” ancestor is William Anderson d 1789 in Edgecombe County, NC… he was “illegit” for you squeamish types. My undeniable DNA match is Edward Brantley d 1688 of Isle of Wight, VA. Which makes me a Brantley by blood and an Anderson by surname. Wm Anderson’s momma, by my best calculation, was the sister of Carolus Anderson who resided within walking distance of Thomas Pitman who lived along the Meherrin River separating VA and NC. She became Elizabeth Pitman, according to the 1733 will of Elizabeth Anderson, mother of Carolus and said Elizabeth Pitman. The details of my research are numerous and sundry on my blog here… use the search button if you dare.

Two wayward Pitman boys find themselves in Edgecombe County, say, the 1740s. One, by the name of James Pitman, likely married my GGGGGG Grandmama Elizabeth Anderson Pitman. The other chap, known as William Pitman, married a near neighbor of my ancestors in Edgecombe named Judith Ross. These two guys who wind up in Edgecombe County just baffles me. No one seems to have an idea of their origination, including the very frustrated “me”.

I am entertaining the idea that they may be bastards of one or more Pitman gals of either/or William Pitman or Thomas Pitman Srs. I have spent considerable time researching these families from Surry Co, VA, IOW and the Meherrin River area to Edgecombe County, NC. I have also considered the possibility that Thomas Pitman d 1730ish at Meherrin River may have had early sons by a first wife and the disparity of the ages of a possible “early, first family” may have precluded their names being mentioned in his last will. All of this is speculation of course. I offer no clues other than merely the “proximity” of the area and the “coincidence” of the time period in which all of these circumstances may have happened.

Aside from a ship dropping these two off randomly from Europe, where would they have come from at this early 1700ish time period? A speculative guess birthdate may have been 19690s?

The difficulty of proving this is intimidating to say the least…

A possible solution to this conundrum might lie in a DNA hunt… if I am correct my relative is indeed the Elizabeth Pitman in Edgecombe ( who seemingly married a James Pitman) then she likely had a son by him named Joseph Pitman (in my Posts or Pages). This Joseph perhaps had a son Abner… this might lead to a track for the mystery James Pitman.

See the recent comment by my friend David Boyett.