yesterday's tennessee

GEORGE ANDERSON GRAVEYARD

Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith

From U.S. Highway 412 near Westover School turn north onto Hopper Road, drive about .8 mile to Poplar Springs-Juno Road, turn east onto same and drive about .1 mile; at this point walk directly south through a field to this graveyard located in a copse of trees.

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Read by the present writer, June 19, 2001:

 

Double monument: GEORGE ANDERSON Born July 16, 1798 Died Aug. l4, 1864 Aged 66 y'rs. 28 das. Preserve me oh God for in thee do I put my trust MARY ANDERSON Born July 16, 1808 Died Sept. 27, 1875 Aged 67 y'rs. 2 mo's. and 1 da. Thy word is a lamp into my feet and a light unto my path	JOHN WILLIAM ANDERSON Born May 22, 1826 Died Apr. 5, 1876 In memory of John Wm. Anderson (a broken tombstone, the upper portion being an engraved cross against a sunburst; a masonic emblem centered in the cross)
	CORNELIOUS ANDERSON Son of M. & G. Anderson Born Sept. 3, 1847 Died Aug. 17, 1871 Aged 23 yrs. 11 mo's. 24 da's. (a fallen, badly broken tombstone)

 

There are at least five fieldstone marked graves in this burial ground. In an interview of Jonathan Smith with James Curtis Hopper (born 1919) at 811 Poplar Springs-Juno Road, June 19, 2001, the latter stated that in an unmarked grave here lies Joseph (Joe) A. Douglass (November 18, 1875-November 22, 1899), father of John G. Douglas,* father of his wife, Josephine Hopper. Mr. J. C. Hopper owns the land this graveyard is situated upon.

*Recent generations have spelled their last name, Douglas.

 

(Page 62)

 

 

The U.S. Census, 1880 (Henderson County, Civil District 7) reveals that Joe A. Douglass was one of the several children of A. G. Douglass. Henderson County Administrators Record, 1861-1899, page 308, indicates that A. G. Douglass died in 1888; on July 2, that year, T. B. Autry qualified as administrator of his estate.

George Anderson was a successful farmer, having come from Edgecombe County, North Carolina to southwest Henderson County in 1837. In the former he was married to Mary (Polly) Patterson, July 31, 1824 (marriage bond). The family's entry in the 1850 U.S. Census, Civil District 1, August 31, page 232:

GEORGE ANDERSON, 52, North Carolina, real estate valued at $900;
MARY ANDERSON, 47, North Carolina;
JOHN ANDERSON, 22, North Carolina;
DELILAII ANDERSON, 16, North Carolina;
ROBERT ANDERSON, 15, North Carolina;
HENRY ANDERSON, 13, North Carolina;
JOSHUA ANDERSON, 11, Tennessee;
BENJAMIN ANDERSON, 9, Tennessee;
GABRILLAS ANDERSON, 8, Tennessee;
CORNELIUS ANDERSON, 5, Tennessee;
MOSES ANDERSON, 1, Tennessee;
NANCY BILBRA, 63, North Carolina.

In December 1871, there were nine heirs' shares in George Anderson's estate; each was allotted $18.95 after debts had been paid. (Henderson County Administrators, Executors Settlements, 1819-1881, page 215) Three of George and Mary Anderson's sons, John W., Benjamin B. and Henry, served in Company I, 27th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, CSA; the latter died September 16, 1862 and the other two were paroled at war's end. (Compiled Military Service Records, Confederate) In the mid-1850s, John W. Anderson and Robert Bevill had been partners in a general store in the Shady Grove community.

The U.S. Census, 1860 (July 16), Civil District 7, Henderson County, page 237 reveals that George Anderson's real estate was valued at $3500 and personalty at $700. The Agricultural Schedule of that year's census (Henderson County, page 35) shows that he owned 165 improved acres, 362 unimproved acres, a total of 527 acres valued at $5000; he raised Indian corn and cotton on his farm. In 1850 he had only owned 100 acres valued at $150. (IBID. August 1850, page 731)

George Anderson was reported as owner of 427 acres in the federal direct land tax of 1865, valued at $3485.

In Henderson County Court Minute Book 1860-1866, page 441, the estate of Henry Anderson, 27 Tenn. Inf., CSA, died September 16, 1862 and his estate was divided among his siblings: Eliza Golden, Henrietta Brown, Delilah Burress, John W. Anderson, Joshua L. Anderson, Benjamin Anderson, Gabrilla Anderson, Cornelius Anderson, Moses Brock Anderson. In this document, daughter Delilah is given as a Burns. She was born August 18, 1832; married Solomon BURRESS, March 23, 1856; died January 5, 1905. (Dates from their family Bible record, photocopy owned by Darlene Gingerich, Jackson, Tennessee)

Henderson County Administrators Record, page 32: John W. Anderson qualified as administrator of Robert Anderson's estate, December 4, 1865.

 

(Page 63)

Arch Gray Douglass (1834-1888) was a school-teacher in his youth; farmer; subsequently served as sheriff of Henderson County, 1878-1882; its trustee, 1886-1888; first married to Gabriella Anderson, a daughter of George and Mary Anderson and they had a daughter, Nancy B. (Nannie). He then married Mary Autry and had children, Mary, Sarah and Joseph A. and Talmadge Douglass (1884-1904). Arch G. and Gabriella Douglass are buried in unmarked graves to the south of the Anderson tombstones in the George Anderson graveyard.

Adjoining George Anderson's farm was that of John Anderson (January 31, 1802-May 16, 1888) and wife, Nancy (February 2, 1801-April 19, 1882), buried in this family's Anderson graveyard, located on the west side of Hopper Road about .6 mile from this road's juncture with U.S. Highway 412. The biographical sketch of their son, Jackson Anderson (April 15, 1831-March 12, 1910), W. A. Goodspeed's HISTORY OF TENNESSEE (Henderson County), 1887, page 841:

 

Hon. Jackson Anderson, a well known agriculturist of the Seventeenth District, was born in 1831 in Edgecombe County, N.C., a son of John and Nancy (Taylor) Anderson. 'The parents were born in same State and county as our subject; the father in 1801, and the mother in 1800. John Anderson resided in his native State until after his marriage. In 1837 he immigrated to Henderson County; purchased property where he now resides. He was one of the earliest settlers and is the oldest person in the county; he is well known and highly respected. His wife was of Dutch descent; was the mother of five children. Jackson was the only one who lived to be grown. Mrs. Anderson lived to a ripe old ago, honored and beloved by all. She departed this life in 1883. The subject of this sketch was about six years old when his parents came to Henderson County; he remained with them until after his majority; in 1853 he married Miss Harriet E. Jackson, daughter of Wm. P. and Martha Jackson. Mrs. Anderson was born in 1837 and died in 1866. She bore four chidren: Emily Melvina, wife of Jesse Holmes; William H., deceased; John Slater and James Y After marriage Mr. Anderson located where he now resides, near the old homestead. He owns about 300 acres of valuable land, and has a desirable home. He is one of the most enterprising and influential men of the county; and by honor and integrity has won the confidence and esteem of the entire community. In 1859 he was elected magistrate of the Nineteenth Division, adjusting all cases brought before him with satisfaction for twenty-three years. In 1882 he was elected to represent Henderson County in the State Legislature. He served with so much credit and distinction that he was re-elected in 1984. He is a stanch and lending Republican; he was a Whig previous to the war: cast his first vote for Gen. Scott. in 1852. He is a Mason. belongs to Juno Lodge, No. 64, and is a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

 

John Anderson and Nancy Taylor obtained their marriage bond in Edgecombe County, September 23, 1823. He and George Anderson (1798-1864) were brothers and sons of George Anderson, Sr. and his wife, as shown in Edgecombe Deed Book 21, page 538 (June 1, 1831):

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(Page 64)

On June l, 1831, George Anderson, Sr. deeded to his son, John Anderson, from affection for him, 47 acres, part of his homestead in Edgecombe County. (Edgecombe County Deed Book 20, page 172; registered August 1831) Preparatory to selling out in North Carolina, John Anderson sold this 47 acres and an additional 29 acres to Elisha W. Stallings, December 5, 1836. (IBID. Book 21, page 553; registered February 1837)

On March 2, 1837, George Anderson, Jr. sold 135 acres "on the south side of Tar River," to James S. Battle for $400. (IBID. Book 21, page 597; registered February 1842) Preparatory to moving away from Edgecombe County, on March 1, 1837 he sold, along with his father, George Anderson, Sr., 156 acres adjoining the Battle purchase, to Ruben Johnston for $300. It was the senior Anderson's residential estate. (IBID. Book 23, page 49; registered May 1837 ) George Anderson, Jr.'s usual, characteristic signature on the deeds:

 

In 1830, George Anderson, Sr. and Jr. lived in District 2 of Edgecombe County while John Anderson lived in District 9 of the same county. George Anderson, Sr. was born in the 1750s and Jane Anderson in the 1760s, as suggested in the census of that year.

On August 27, 1832, while still living in Edgecombe County George Anderson, Sr. (1757-1837) applied for a pension for his services rendered the American cause for independence during the Revolutionary War. In this application (National Archives #S46684), Anderson deposed that he was 75 years old, had been born in Edgecombe County and it was from there that he entered military service (June 24, 1779); sometime later he fought in the battle of Guilford Courthouse (March 15, 1781). After this engagement and initial tour of duty, he "returned to Halifax and was soon returned to the Continental line for twelve months and was put under the direction of Capt. Alex Purrard whose company belonged to the regiment of Col. Pink Eaton. This organization took place at Ramsays Mill in Guildford County, N.C. From Ramsays Mill he passed on thro the southern part of North Carolina and crossing the Santee in So. Carolina, seized a fort in that neighborhood. . . . From this place the regiment moved on to Augusta in Georgia. . . . In an engagement at the latter place Col. Eaton was killed (May 1781). He was then sent down with a detachment to Savannah to effect an exchange of prisoners. He then returned to Augusta. From this place he went to Ninety Six and was put under command of Colonel /Nathanael/ Grene . . . engaged in desultory movements to prevent the enemy from reinforcing and not long after engaged them at Eutaw Springs (September 8, 1781). In this engagement your applicant was prevented from having shared from being placed in charge of the baggage wagons. After being returned to Camden and remained there some weeks and being kept together until he had approached Ramsays Mills on his return he was discharged." Anderson thus served in the 10th Regiment of the North Carolina Continental Line for which he was awarded an annual pension of $46.66, retroactive to March 1833.

Filed with this application at a later time was another one, that of George Anderson, Jr., presented before the Henderson County Court, August 1, 1853, for certification in order that it be sent to the Washington War Department. In it Anderson deposed that George Anderson, Sr. had served in the American Army; drew his pension at Tarboro until he moved to Henderson County, Tennessee where he died in August 1837; that he left a widow, Jane Anderson, whom he had married before 1794 and who died in March 1838; that they had children, George Anderson, Jr., John Anderson, Nancy Stalions (Stallings), Rebecca Anderson, Sally Taylor and Polly Lee, all of whom authorized George, Jr. to seek the amount of a pension that would have been their mother's, with arrears from September 1836. As the government made no provision for such adjustment to heirs the claim was finally rejected in July 1858. George Anderson, Jr. signed it, characteristically:

 

(Page 65)

The marriage bonds of Edgecome County, North Carolina reveal that Erasco Taylor married Sally Anderson, January 23, 1833; Willie Lee married Mary Anderson, March 18, 1829;all moved, including the daughter, Nancy Stallings, to Henderson County. Sally (died 1875) and Erasco Taylor are buried in the John Anderson graveyard on Hopper Road.

There was another George Anderson of Henderson County who claimed a pension for Revolutionary War service. His application (National Archives #S29114) was filed for certification with the Henderson County Court in October 1832; his descriptions of his services were rather evasive but he deposed that he was born in 1754 "on the Potomac River" in Virginia; that he was living in Person County, N.C. where he enlisted in the state militia; subsequently served several tours of service, once as a substitute for a half brother, John Cook; that eventually he moved to Smith, then Sumner counties in Tennessee and then to Henderson County. His application was approved and he was awarded a $46.67 annual pension from June 1834. In April 1834, Hugh Wormeley of Lexington, Tennessee had written to the head of the U.S. Pension Office in Nashville, expressing it as his duty that this George Anderson whom he had helped to obtain his pension was in fact "a Tory in the war of the Revolution . . . his family was of house-burning and horse stealing memory," as attested-to by "several respectable citizens who had known him in North Carolina"; still, as Colonel Samuel Dickens of "high respectability" had vouched for him, Wormeley initially helped Anderson obtain his pension but a final remark by another old veteran, William Lacy, that Anderson had expressed Tory sentiments, prompted him to make these comments available to the pension office, whereupon Anderson's pension was suspended in the spring of 1835, his last payment having been paid him in September 1834.

(William Lacy, born May 25, 1755,Orange County, North Carolina, a North Carolina militia-man in the Revolution, had lived in several Carolina counties before moving to Henderson County where he applied successfully for a pension in August 1834. S21342.)

[HTML editor's note: William Lacy is buried at Duke Chapel Cemetery.]

 

ADDENDUM

George Anderson's land record in the 1865 Henderson County Federal Direct Land Tax, Civil District 7, page 19:

 

Other works by Jonathan K. T. Smith can be found at the Madison County Records Repository at TNGenWeb.