William Anderson (abt. 1700 - aft. 1781)

Born about 1700 in New Kent County, Colony of Virginia

Ancestors

Descendants

Died after 1781 after about age 81 in Hanover, Virginia, United States [uncertain]

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Biography

This William Anderson was the child of John and Sarah Waddy Anderson of Hanover County, VA, probably the second born son after older brother Nelson. William's grandfather was Robert Anderson, Sr., 1642-1712, the first Anderson born in the Colonies. William was the second Anderson with that name, the first being his uncle Capt. William Anderson, the younger brother of John, who died about 1717. He is often confused with a younger William, also known as Old Field Billy, who was in fact this William's nephew - the proofs on that set forth under Research Notes below.

There is little information on William's life in the historical record, and not much more in the family histories. In fact, his existence is a bit uncertain, given that he does not appear at all in sites such as Pat Anderson's Rootsweb Colonial Virginia Andersons. There is sufficient evidence in the record, though, to include William as a son of John and Sarah, see Research Notes for that evidence.

William the elder as we will call him to distinguish him from his nephew Old Field Billy, was probably born around 1700, although no record exists documenting that birth year. The birth year is derived derived mostly from the birth year of his older brother Nelson Sr. (Anderson-4535), assuming Nelson was the first born (Nelson was the executor of his father John's will) - John and Sarah marrying probably 1696, Nelson born 1697, William born 1700. There is no record of William's wife or marriage. William's first son Nelson Jr. (the Jr. designation given him in several records to distinguish him from his uncle Nelson Sr.) was born about 1735, which would indicate a marriage year of about 1734 - rather late in life (age 34) but not inconceivable.

The first record potentially identifying this William Anderson is in the St. Paul Vestry records, where a William Anderson was paid in 1762 for keeping a child Christian Murphy in 1762 (p. 404.) The same 1762 entry also states that this William kept "Sarah Green's children", for reasons unknown (p. 404). A subsequent entry in 1763 repeats this information (p. 408), and entries in 1764 and 1765 state that William continued to keep Christian Murphy (p. 435). The St. Paul record does not identify who this William is, but there is no other William Anderson of the right age among the New Kent/Hanover Andersons to fit this role in 1761/172. He would have been about 62, whereas the younger William (his nephew) was only 18 in 1762. William likely still had several children at home given the birth years of his children (see below).

Oddly, William Anderson did not appear in the 1763 Tithables Hanover County, in which a number of his relatives are named, including his uncle Nelson Sr. and his mother Sarah Anderson. See Colonial Virginia Andersons for John Anderson on Rootsweb at[1]. This absence is hard to explain, as William apparently did own land in Hanover based on the story of Tarleton crossing William's land in 1781 discussed below. In addition, a William Anderson (potentially the Elder) appeared in 1771 in the St. Paul processioning records in Precinct #13 (Chamberlain, St. Paul Vestry p. 486). His neighbors included Rev. M. Henry, Smith along with Tinsley, Pierce, Hundley, Clarke, Lewis, Green, Hooper others. 486. A William Anderson again appeared in the 1779 processioning in the same group with Patrick Henry's uncle the "late" Rev. P. Henry (p. 555). He did not appear again, indicating he probably died between 1779 and 1784, although the 1784 precinct report is incomplete.

The 1771 processioning includes no neighbors consistent with other Anderson family processionings. Who is this William Anderson? William the Elder was still alive, given that he still owned his land in 1781 when Tarleton came through. But the processioning could also be the nephew, William Old Field Billy, who was 28 and old enough to own and and participate. This William is almost certainly the other William Anderson in Hanover at this time - the William Anderson son of David Anderson m. Elizabeth Mills and who married Maria Gist. That William was old enough born 1739 age 32) and had not yet moved to London. But William of London appeared separately in the Vestry processioning between 1778 and 1786 in a different precinct, near his father-in-law Samuel Gist (#17 in 1779).

The last record referencing William the elder is a story from the grandson of this William, who remembered Cornwallis marching troops through his grandfather's land after Yorktown. The story is reported in William Pope Anderson 1938 p. 590, who took it from from William P. Anderson's 1938 volume, p. 50 and repeated in Larus Crawfordiana 1883 at[2]. The full text is as follows:

"William Anderson (he lived in Hanover Co.,Va.) - Cornwallis' Army after surrendering at Yorktown, was marched through Mr. William Anderson's plantation on its way to Winchester to be kept until the soldiers could be exchanged. Rev. Wm. Crawford, grandson of Wm. Anderson (and grandfather of Mrs. Vanderbilt), was then nearly ten years old, and was visiting at his grandfather's, and saw the troops pass. This plantation was in the lower part of Hanover Co.,on the Pamunkey River, Pattatotomoi (l) Creek, and a few miles above Hanovertown-LC88). m. — Issue (LC89)."

Thus, after Yorktown, Cornwallis’s troops were marched to their prison through William Anderson’s fields in lower Hanover a few miles above Hanovertown on the Pamunkey and Tottapamoy Creeks. The grandson, William Crawford, reported that he was 10 years old at the time. The 8000 or so surrendered English troops would have passed the Anderson land probably on Oct. 26, 1781. In William Pope Anderson's 1938 volume at p.42, one William Crawford is named as the son of Judith Anderson and Nathan Crawford, This is very likely the grandson who reported the story - he was born 1772, so about age 9-10 in 1781. His mother Judith was the 2d child of old William, younger sister of Nelson Jr. so William Crawford was in fact William Anderson’s grandson. (No other William Crawfords fit the William in this story, born too early or too late.) This story, and the clear evidence of a grandson of the right age and name to be the source of it, helps corroborate the existence of the older William his grandfather.

he story of Cornwallis gives the location of William’s plantation. Lists the children of William the elder, including Nelson Jr. but no William.

No William Anderson appeared in Cocke’s property tax records in 1782 or 1783, and there is no further record elsewhere of this William . Thus, he likely died in late 1781 or early 1782, shortly after the Tarleton troop passage.

William was never called Sr. in any existing record. But the records mentioning him are sparse, and his nephew William (Old Field Billy) was definitely referred to as "Jr." in several places. It is thus likely that the older William was known as William Sr. after junior came of age and we do not have any record of it.

Research Notes

Several Anderson histories and profiles have confused this older William Anderson with his nephew Old Field Billy, the son of William's older brother Nelson Sr. Old Field Billy was sheriff of Hanover County in 1787-1790, when this older William was 80+ years old - the older William was surely not sheriff at that age. See the profile for Old Field Billy for more information.

Given the lack of historical sources clearly identifying this older William it is worth asking the question whether he actually existed. Here is that evidence:

• This William is clearly named in Larus Crawfordiana 1883 at p. 88[3] but no sources are given. This book is the source of WPA’s references to LC (e.g., LC88) in the 1938 Anderson book at p. 50 discussing William's father John and his children.

• William Pope Anderson repeated the Larus record in his 1938 volume, apparently giving it some credibility (p. 35) but he cited to no source otherwise.

• The Cornwallis story has a certain credibility - it came from an eyewitness, the grandson of this William, who was also the grandfather of a descendant Ms. Vanderbilt who herself was living at the time of her report in Larus Crawfordiana p. 88-89. The name of William Crawford and his age were accurately reported, and Cornwallis's troops did in fact pass over or very near the Anderson property. William & Mary Scholar Works online, "The Yorktown Prisoners: A Narrative Account of the Disposition of the British Army Which Capitulated at Yorktown, October 19, 1781" (1950) by James Linwood Carpenter at pp. 16-17[4]

• Giving more teeth to the William Crawford story, the family of Crawford has a strong link with John Anderson and his wife Sarah’s line, including many repetitions of the names Anderson, Agnes, Judith, Nelson, Nathan in the Crawford line. See Larus Crawfordanius, e.g., at 68. The Crawford link lends some credence to the Larus Crawfordinius story of old William and Cornwallis.

• The "Old Field Billy" sheriff William Anderson was called "Jr." in several records - pointing to a William "Sr." in the same family/area. The first reference to Old Field Billy as a Jr. is in 1789 (Cocke), somewhat consistent with existence and death of William Sr. in perhaps 1782 or 1782.

The evidence is not terribly solid but does seem reasonable to conclude that two Williams who were part of the line of John/Sarah did exist, and that one was an older son of John and Sarah and the other was a younger nephew of the first.

Sources

• Everett Anderson Memorial Collection of Colonial Virginia Anderson Families, York River Watershed, Descendants of John Anderson[5]

• Early Descendants of William Overton and Elizabeth Waters, published 1938, by W.P. Anderson, page 35[6]

• Larus Crawfordiana 1883 at[7]

• William Eugene Anderson site on Ancestry, John Anderson bio, history, family[8]

• St. Paul’s Parish - The Vestry Book of St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County, VA, 1706-1786, tr. and ed. by C.G.Chamberlain, Clearfield Pub. 1940[9]

• W.P. Anderson, The Early Descendants of William Overton and Elizabeth Waters of Virginia and Allied Families (1938), on-line version available. [10]