Richard Anderson (abt. 1673 - abt. 1723)

Born about 1673 in New Kent, New Kent, Virginia

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 1723 at about age 50 in Hanover County, Virginia

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Biography

Birth, Family Connections, Land Holdings

Richard Anderson Sr. is generally accepted as one of the sons of Robert Anderson Sr., the scion of the large Anderson family of New Kent and Hanover Counties and the Goldmine Plantation. For an analysis of the birth order and birth years of the eight Anderson siblings, including Richard, see

Richard has a somewhat thin record and does not appear to have been one of the more prominent figures in New Kent County as his father and some of his brothers were. Based on St. Paul Vestry records, Richard seems to have spent his entire life in Hanover County near the junction of the Pamunkey and Tottopotamys Rivers, to the east of the other Andersons’ land. Two of his three sons, however, were prominent in Louisa County, where they must have moved after reaching adulthood.

Richard was likely the third son of Robert Anderson Sr., after Robert Jr. and David, but the birth order is somewhat uncertain. Pat Anderson’s site attributes his birth date as 1673, death about 1723. Colonial Virginia Anderson Families on Rootsweb, site created by Pat Anderson, “Richard Anderson”[1] No record directly supports the birth year estimate – the year is likely assumed based on the birth of older brother Robert Jr. in about 1663 and David in 1665, with an assumed sister Mary before Richard’s birth. Richard appears in the St. Paul Vestry records in 1709, after Robert Jr. but before older brother David. The Vestry Book of St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County, VA, 1706-1786, p. 209, tr. and ed. by C.G.Chamberlain, Clearfield Pub. 1940[2]

The relationship of David, John, and two other brothers Matthew and William to oldest brother Robert is confirmed by Robert Jr.’s Tobacco Letterbook kept by Robert Anderson, 1698-1717, located in the Tracy W. McGregor Autograph Collection, ca. 1599-1947, Accession #10547, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, VA. In some of these letters, Robert specifically names each of these as his brothers. But the letter book does not mention Richard. Richard instead is presumed to be another brother and son of Robert Anderson Sr. primarily by virtue of his geographic proximity to the other Andersons in the processioning records of St. Paul’s Vestry and by some of the naming conventions in the family.

Richard appears in several historical records. The first such record is the 1704 Quit Rent rolls of Virginia, New Kent County, where Richard appears owning 200 acres, accompanied by a list of the other Anderson brothers Robert Jr. and David, his father Robert, and his uncle John. The Quit Rents of Virginia, 1704, by Annie Laurie Wright Smith, Virginia State Archives; 1957[3] Richard would have been about 31 at this time.

Like the other sons of Robert, Richard appears in the St. Paul Vestry frequently, primarily in the processioning records. But Richard never served on the Vestry itself. Richard’s first appearance in the Vestry records is in 1706, with the simple entry “To Rich’d Anderson’s acc’t,” 60 lbs tobacco. The Vestry Book of St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County, VA, 1706-1786, at p. 14, tr. and ed. by C.G.Chamberlain, Clearfield Pub. 1940[4] The Vestry records do not identify what this payment was for. Richard does not appear again in the Vestry notes (but see processioning below) until December 1717, at which point the Vestry paid him 520 lbs of tobacco for “keeping Ma; Clark,” i.e., Mary Clark. Id. p. 79. The record does not state who Mary Clark was or why Richard was “keeping” her. But in the same vestry record, one page later appears the following entry: “Ordered that Rich,d Anderson have 100011 Tob,o Conv,t for keeping Mary Clark one year from this time, to this time twelve months, and if he make a Cure of her foot & Leg, to have five hundred pounds Tob,o more.” Id. p. 80.

This curious entry raises as many questions as answers. Some researchers have concluded from this that Richard must have practiced medicine in some form. It is possible he agreed to keep this invalid woman for the annual sum in an attempt to cure her. Whatever Richard tried apparently did not work – in December 1718 the vestry ordered another payment to Richard “for Mary Clark’s keeping & burial.” Id. at 82. Richard thereafter appears only one more time in the Vestry notes, in December 1723, “To Rich.d Anderson for Curing Eliz. Hallin 500 C.” Id. at 104. Thus, Richard had a second shot at curing someone, hopefully with better results. Richard died shortly after this as he does not appear again in any Vestry record, and his wife Charity took over his land in the next processioning in 1731. Id. at 276 Precinct #8.

Richard’s land appears to have been located near the junction of the Pamunkey and Tottopotamys Creek, just south of the land of Cornelius Dabney. Nadine Campbell Gregory, Some Ancient Landowners in Saint Martin's Parish, Hanover County, Virginia, Hanover County Historical Society (2015). Gregory describes his land (p. 212) as on a “high plateau above and S. of Cornelius Dabney’s original home tract “Spring Garden.”

Richard appears regularly in the St. Paul Vestry processioning records between 1709 and 1719 along with neighbors Henry Chiles, Paul Harroldson, Richard Corley, John Snead and others (see chronology below). The precinct numbers change almost every year, but the names are quite consistent indicating that the location of Richard’s land did not change. Richard Sr. last appears in the 1719 processioning in Precinct #25 with neighbors Paul Harroldson, Widd: Chiles, John Giles, John Ray, Henry Bourne, Widd. Snead, John Killcrease, Rich. Corley, Hen: Sned, and Tho. Tinsley. Richard was overseer. The Vestry Book of St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County, VA, 1706-1786, p. 257, tr. and ed. by C.G.Chamberlain, Clearfield Pub. 1940[5]

The next full processioning is not until 1731, when Richard’s widow Charity appears in this precinct, similar neighbors. See below under children for the remaining processioning records after Richard’s death.

Marriage and Children

The only evidence of Richard’s spouse is the appearance of Charity in the processioning records in 1731, presumably after Richard’s death, indicating that he married a woman named Charity and she survived him as his widow. Many researchers have concluded with some confidence that this is Charity Pouncey, the daughter of Anthony Pouncey and unknown spouse. See, e.g., Colonial Virginia Anderson Families on Rootsweb, site created by Pat Anderson, “Richard Anderson,” and sources cited[6]

The evidence that Richard's wife was Charity Pouncey is relatively strong. First, Anthony Pouncey regularly appears in the same processioning precinct as Richard, and thus they were neighbors . Richard would have known Anthony’s daughter Charity from this association. In addition, Richard named his second son “Pouncey” Anderson – a very unusual first name indicating a close family relationship with the Pounceys. Pouncey ancestries also attribute Charity to Richard Anderson. See sources under Pouncey-49; also internet Pouncey family sources located at Descendants of Anthony Pouncey[7],[8]. Anthony Pouncey apparently had a son also named Anthony Pouncey (1700/1710-1767) who died in South Carolina and left a will naming his daughter “Charity.” Abstracts of the Wills of the State of South Carolina 1760-1784, compiled + edited by Caroline T. Moore, will described at [9]. This Anthony is probably a younger brother of the Charity who married Richard Anderson.

Charity appears on her own in one record, on Oct. 10, 1743, a couple of decades after her husband’s death, as indebted to Neill Buchanan of London from Hanover County, 10/1/1743. “Mrs. Charity Anderson, 1743 – 1 pr womens shoes, 2 quarts rum, 3 pint mugs, 1 chamberpot, 2 sauce pans; 1744 Contra – 90 lbs beef. From Jerdone’s manuscripts, see Colonial Virginia Anderson Families on Rootsweb, site created by Pat Anderson, “Richard Anderson”[10]

Richard’s children must be considered somewhat uncertain, as no researcher has been able to prove that he was the father of the children listed in this profile. The profile uses the list as set forth in Pat Anderson’s Rootsweb analysis, include his first child Richard Jr. born about 1700; second son Pouncey before 1704; and third child Robert born about 1706. There is good circumstantial evidence that Richard I is the father of these three, as noted below, primarily the naming of the first of the three children and the first grandchild as “Richard,” plus the repeated appearance of the name Pouncey in this line.

The proof of Richard (Anderson-8090) as son of Richard Sr. is primarily derived from Richard appearing in the St. Paul Processioning records after the death of his father. The younger Richard first appears on his own land in a different precinct (1731 in #3). The Vestry Book of St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County, VA, 1706-1786, p. 273, tr. and ed. by C.G.Chamberlain, Clearfield Pub. 1940[11] Mother Charity appears twice in this processioning, first in Precinct 8, where her father Anthony Pouncey also appears for the first time in the St. Paul processioning records (id. p. 276); and second in Precinct #11, where her husband Richard Sr.’s neighbors from the 1719 processioning reside (id. p. 278). Thus, Charity appears to have taken over Richard’s land in #11, but also taken up a parcel of land near her father. Son Richard has his own land.

In 1735, however, things become confusing. Son Richard is not in this processioning at all. What happened to his land in Precinct #3? The other residents of that precinct in 1719 are scattered throughout the 1735 processioning. Richard’s mother Charity appears in the place of her deceased husband along with their old neighbors, now numbered as Precinct #1 (id. p. 292). But Charity does not appear in father Anthony Pouncey’s precinct in 1735, as she did in 1731.

In the 1739 processioning four years later, Richard the son reappears in his old precinct from 1731, and Charity continues to appear in the precinct of her deceased husband (id. pp. 292, 296). It is difficult to interpret all this except to conclude that Charity largely continued to possess her husband’s land, while son Richard obtained his own land nearby as early as 1731 and probably continued to live there despite his absence in the 1735 processioning. Charity last appears in 1755 (id. p. 339).

Richard Jr. continues to appear in the processioning until either 1763 (per Pat Anderson’s site) or 1779, when the last entry in which a Richard Anderson appears (Pat believes this may have been a son of Richard Jr.). Col. Richard Anderson, the son of Richard Jr., was a prominent figure in Louisa County – he served on the Virginia House of Burgesses in the runup to the Revolutionary War, alongside Jefferson, Washington, Henry, and others, and was on the Hanover Committee of Safety during the war.

Richard and Charity’s son Pouncey Anderson is a well-researched figure in Louisa County with a WikiTree profile at Anderson-8089. Pouncey married Elizabeth Holland, daughter of Michael Holland, and Pouncey also left a will. Pouncey had three sons, none named Pouncey, but that name appears in the grandchildren and greatgrandchildren of Pouncey and Elizabeth, solidifying Pouncey’s close ties to the Pouncey family, probably through his mother Charity.

Third son Robert also established himself in Louisa County, spouse unknown, and was the father of a well- known Louisa family, that of David and Judith Anderson. The couple may have had a fourth child Thomas who appears in some related records, but that relationship is unclear.

Death

No record evidence establishes when or where Richard died. From the Vestry entries, it appears he died after 1723, the last entry for him (recording his efforts to cure someone). He may have lived until 1730 or so, before Charity first appears as his replacement in the processioning records. It seems unlikely, however, that he would not appear in the Vestry notes for the full seven years in between, so he likely died closer to 1723. There is no known will, and it is unknown whether he held enslaved persons or willed them to his children.

Chronology of Life Events

• 1673 – Presumed birth year, as estimated by Pat Anderson’s Rootsweb analysis. Colonial Virginia Anderson Families on Rootsweb, site created by Pat Anderson, “Richard Anderson”[12]

• 1698/1699 – Likely year of marriage to Charity Pouncey. No record establishes this date, it is presumed from the birth years of the children, which are also uncertain.

• 1700 – Birth of first child Richard Anderson Jr., as taken from Pat Anderson’s site.

• 1704 – Birth of second child Pouncey Anderson, also taken from Pat Anderson’s site.

• 1704 – Richard is listed in the Quit Rent rolls for New Kent County, among the other Andersons, as owning 200 acres. Louis des Cognets, Jr., English Duplicates of Lost Virginia Records, p. 163, Clearfield Publishing 1958[13]; The Quit Rents of Virginia, 1704, by Annie Laurie Wright Smith, Virginia State Archives; 1957[14]

• 1706 – Birth of third child Robert Anderson. Date and relationship based on Pat Anderson analysis.

• 1706 – Richard’s first appearance in the St. Paul Vestry records, the Vestry provided money for unknown purposes. The Vestry Book of St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County, VA, 1706-1786, p. 14, tr. and ed. by C.G.Chamberlain, Clearfield Pub. 1940[15]

• 1709 – Richard appears for the first time in the St. Paul Vestry processioning in Precinct #4, along with Henry Chiles, Henry Bourn, Paul Harrold, and Richard Corley. Id. p. 209.

• 1711/12 – Richard’s second processioning Precinct # 26, generally the same names as 1709 plus some new ones: Henry Chiles, Paul Harrold[son], John Giles, John Ray, Henry Brown, John Snead, Widdow Austin, Richard Anderson, Richard Cawley [Corley], Henry Snead, Thomas Tinsley. Id. p. 220; same entry repeated at 243).

• 1716 – Richard appears in his third processioning (id. p. 245, 233), Precinct #20: Mr. Henry Chiles, Paul Harroldson, John Giles, Jphn. Ray, Henry Bourn, John Snead, John Killcrease, Richard Anderson, Richard Corley, Henry Snead, Thomas Tinsley. In Gregory (p. 232), these names are mostly located along Crumps Creek (from the earlier St. Peter’s processioning– Chiles, Harroldson, Rea, Snead, Nuckles, Moses Davies.

• 1717 – Richard provided funds for “keeping” Mary Clark and attempting to heal her foot. Id. p. 79.

• 1718 – Mary Clark died, the Vestry provided funds for Richard keeping her and burying her. Id. p. 82.

• 1719 – Richard’s last processioning before his death after 1723 (id. p. 256), in Precinct #25: Paul Harroldson, Richard Anderson, Widdow Chiles, John Giles, John Ray, Henry Bourne, Widdow Snead, John Killcrease, Richard Corley, Henry Snead, and Thomas Tinsley. Richard served as overseer in this one. Richard also appears in Precinct #34 (p. 265): Mr. Geo: Alves, Richard Anderson, William Clopton, John Lawson, Cicilia Anderson, Tho. Gibson. Richard was also the overseer for this one. Cicilia was the widow of Richard’s younger brother Matthew. Apparently, Richard now owned two parcels.

• 1723-1731 – Range of possible death dates for Richard Sr., as he ceased appearing in any record after 1723 and was replaced by widow Charity in the 1731 processioning.

• 1731 – Richard Sr. no longer appeared in the Vestry processioning records, indicating that he had died by this time. He was replaced in his normal precinct by his widow Charity (id. p. 276), #8: William Snead, Thomas Tinsley, Jun., Ralph Hunt, Marshall Degge, Anthony Pouncey, William Nuckols, Charity Anderson, Mr. Terrel, Joel Terrel, John. Blalock, Manoah Chiles, John Joyner, Phillip Joyner, Abram Phenix, William. Bounsher, Col. Bird’s back line, no one appeared for Mad. Littlepage, William Jennings, Matthew Jennings, Mr. Hickman, Mr. Meriwether, John Gibson and Butler. Richard the son appeared for the first time in this processioning in the 3rd precinct (precincts are not numbered until 4 but assume this is 3): Michael Holland, Wm McGehee, James M’Cloughland, Sam Gentry, John. Lovewell, William. Macon, John Haden, Cornelius Tinsley, Richard Anderson, John Ragland, William Merideth, Thomas Lacy Jun., Roger Williams, Michael Holland [repeat?] and Sam Gentry. Id. p. 273. Charity also appeared in 1731 in a second precinct, #11 (p. 278): Widow Chambers, John Tinsley, Ambrose Hundly, James Hopper, John Rea, Thomas Tinsley, Paul Harroldson, Edward Lewis, William Snead, Charles Bostick, Sarah Bourn, John Giles, Michael Holland, William Chambers, Henry Chiles, John. Jones, Joseph Gentry, John Jones and Henry Chiles.

• 1735 – Charity appeared in the old precinct as Richard’s widow (p. 283), now identified as Precinct #1, along with Tinsley, Hundley, Hooper, Rea, Haroldson, Lewis, Snead, Bostick, Bourne, Chiles, Jones, Gentry – clearly same as #11 in 1731. Richard Jr. was not in this processioning.

• 1739 – Charity appeared this year (p. 292) with the same group as 1735 in Precinct #1. Son Richard appeared in Precinct #11 with the same group of names as in the previous Precinct #3: Michael Holland, William McGillaray, James McLoughland, Samuel Gentry, John Lovewell, William McKain, John Haden, Cornel Tinsely, Richard Anderson [her son], John Ragland, William. Merideth, Thomas. Lacy Jun., Roger Williams.

Sources

• Edward L. Anderson, The Andersons of Goldmine, Hanover County Virginia, published 1913[16]

• William P. Anderson, Anderson Family Records, published by W.F. Schaeffer & Co., 1936[17]; also at[18]

• W.P. Anderson, The Early Descendants of Wm. Overton & Elizabeth Overton of Virginia and Allied Families, 1938[19]

• William Pope Anderson, Anderson - Overton, A Continuation of Anderson Family Records (1936) & Early Descendants of William Overton & Elizabeth Waters of Virginia & Allied Fa, (Cincinnati, Ohio; 1945)

• Louis des Cognets, Jr., English Duplicates of Lost Virginia Records, p. 163, Clearfield Publishing 1958[20]

• Colonial Virginia Anderson Families on Rootsweb, site created by Pat Anderson, “Richard Anderson”[21]

• Tobacco Letterbook kept by Robert Anderson, 1698-1717, located in the Tracy W. McGregor Autograph Collection, ca. 1599-1947, Accession #10547, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, VA.

• Nadine Campbell Gregory, Some Ancient Landowners in Saint Martin's Parish, Hanover County, Virginia, Hanover County Historical Society (2015) at 212-213 and other references.

• The Quit Rents of Virginia, 1704, by Annie Laurie Wright Smith, Virginia State Archives; 1957[22]

• The Vestry Book of St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County, VA, 1706-1786, pp. 1-55, tr. and ed. by C.G.Chamberlain, Clearfield Pub. 1940[23]