John Wesley Anderson (abt. 1821 - 1859)

Born about 1821 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah Jane (Clark) Anderson — married 25 Apr 1840 in Sydney, NSW, Australia

Descendants

Died 4 Sep 1859 at about age 38 in Wormbete Forest, Victoria, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Stewart McConachy [send private message]

Emigrants of African Ancestry to 19th Century Australia

Biography

Wesley Anderson has African ancestry.

Wesley Anderson, an American Negro who came to Australia in 1839. Wesley, the son of a Negro slave, was born in Pennsylvania about 1821.

He went to sea and spent some time in England. At the age of 18 he landed in NSW, Australia. The following year he married ... Sarah Jane Clark on 25th April 1840. Sarah was twelve years older than her husband. Wesley came to this area about 1850. He decided to settle at Loutit Bay, now Lorne, and set off from Moriac with his family in a wagon pulled by a team of bullocks. Being unable to cross the valley and river he lowered his wagon, family and bullocks down the cliff on ropes and drove the team around the beach at low tide. He later selected land at Bambra and Wormbete.

The many Anderson descendants have often wondered just where Wesley’s parents originated from. With the development of DNA testing they asked one of the direct male descendants of Wesley to agree to be tested. Neville Anderson happily cooperated with the procedure. From the testing done on a sample provided by Neville, they discovered what they had assumed. Wesley’s parents had come from Africa.

REPORT FROM DNA SOLUTIONS (extracts)

By profiling Neville Sherwood Anderson’s Y Chromosome, the part of DNA that only men have and is passed on from father to son, we can identify key markers that are passed down from generation to generation, allowing us to trace his ancestors and reveal their epic journeys. Neville’s DNA indicate he is from what is known as the Haplogroup Eza.

It is the most common haplogroup in Africa today.

This dominance in African genetics is thought to have occurred during the spread of the Bantu people of Western Africa approximately 3,000 years ago.

They are thought to have brought the knowledge of early agriculture to the rest of Africa as they spread eastward and southward. Remnants of their language was spread to many parts of Africa.

People of Haplogroup Eza who are outside Africa have ancestors taken from the western part of the continent where the slave trade was at its most prominent. Slaves were taken to America, Puetro Rico and many South American nations.

This report certainly confirms what the Anderson family knew of their ancestor. Wesley Anderson was indeed an interesting character. Not only did he carve roads out of the bush and clear land for agriculture but he also discovered coal in this area.

James Bonwick described in 1857(1) his visit to Wormbete:

“Accompanied by Mr. Hopkins, the son of the benevolent Henry Hopkins Esq., of Hobart Town, I paid a visit one forenoon to the Reservoir and the Coal Field of Wormbete. The Wormbete Coal was discovered last year by Wesley Anderson, an intelligent man of color, in Green Gully, or Black Diamond Creek, divided from Retreat Creek by a range of hills."

Wesley died on the 4th of September 1859,at the age of only 38. His body was taken to the Winchelsea Cemetery for burial; however the trustees of the cemetery decreed that he could not be buried in the cemetery, no doubt because he was black. As aboriginals were not allowed to be buried in their relatively new cemetery and as Wesley was black like aboriginals, it seems he also was banned from being buried there and was not allowed to have a headstone. He was buried just outside the cemetery. The actual site of Wesley’s remains can no longer be identified. Some say it is beside an unnamed tombstone just outside the perimeter road. Others claim he was buried further beyond the cemetery in what is now a reservoir. Although his burial site has been lost his name is recorded on the Winchelsea Cemetery index.

When his wife died forty years later, she was buried in the cemetery and has a headstone to mark her resting place. Sarah Jane's grave is near the top of the hill in the cemetery. All the other graves face down the hill but hers faces up the hill. It is thought that this is because she requested to face in the direction of where Wesley was buried. A further interesting point - people at the Winchelsea Historical Society speak of human bones being unearthed when the Winchelsea Dam was being constructed next to the cemetery. Those bones were left in that location. Perhaps this adds weight to the theory of where Wesley was buried.

Shortly after 2000, descendants of John Wesley & Charles Wesley restored Sarah Jane's weathered grave headstone & added a commemorative plaque to honour Wesley's memory.

Jack Wesley and Mary Anderson, with their children, including John (Jack) Wesley Anderson, moved to Aireys Inlet from Bambra, where the children had attended school.

Jack's son, Albert Wesley, was to build the Inlet Hotel and Mountain House, and became heavily involved in business and community life, starting the Post Office and store. After the death of Mary Anderson, another of their properties, Kingsford Cottage, was sold to Mr and Mrs H Sutherland, who also purchased the leasehold of the general store and milk bar on the Great Ocean Road. The remaining Anderson estate, consisting of the house, and five blocks, was offered for auction on 27 December 1958.

Wesley’s many descendants can now be sure of their ancestry and they know just why some of them have a darker complexion.^[1]

Occupation

WORMBETE COAL.-It is the intention of Mr. Wesley Anderson to bring to town a ton of this coal from off the Government land round Wormbete, to be exposed for inspection at the forthcoming exhibition at the Mechanics' Hall. By the last accounts Mr. Anderson states that the coal is much improving in size and quality, and that he has hit upon a seam of considerable thickness. ^[2]

-The Argus 14 Mar 1857

FREESTONE.-One of the most remarkably fine samples of freestone combined with slate was shown by Mr. Wesley Anderson at the Horticultural Show on Saturday. He states that abundance is to be found cropping out of tha coal-bed at Wormbete Forest.^[3]

- The Argus 18 Mar 1857

Burial

African-American. Emigrated to Australia aged 19. Not buried in the family plot in Winchelsea Cemetery due to racism.

Sources

• Rootsweb

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=marycotter&id=I95522182

• History of the Australian Bushrangers

Page 85 http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks12/1201551h.html Text only html version http://www.apfa.esrc.unimelb.edu.au/objects/pdfs/UDS2011128-38.pdf Scan pdf of original book Title: History of the Australian Bushrangers Author: George E Boxall A Project Gutenberg Australia eBook eBook No.: 1201551h.html Language: English Date first posted: March 2012 Date most recently updated: March 2012

Excerpt: On October 24th, 1852, Henry Johnston, John Finegan, John Donovan, Charles Bowe, and John Baylie, known as the Eureka gang, were tried for highway robbery in Melbourne. William Cook said he was riding from Melbourne to Bendigo, on August 4th, when near Aitken's Gap he was bailed up by Finegan and Donovan. Three other men sat on their horses some distance away along the road, but did not interfere. One of the bushrangers held a pistol to his head, while the other stripped him naked and searched his clothes. He also felt him all over, under the armpits and elsewhere. They took £2 14s. and a pistol from him. Finegan wanted to take everything, but Donovan would not agree to that, but gave him back his clothes. Then he returned one of the £1 notes and the fourteen shillings in silver. Wesley Anderson identified Baylie and Donovan as the two men who had robbed him on a Sunday in August, near Buninyong. The proceedings were very similar to those in the first case. All the other prisoners were identified in a similar way by other witnesses. The robberies were effected over a wide range of country, and were all of a similar character. When asked what they had to say in defence, one of the prisoners asked the Judge whether he thought they were crows? "Here's one man," he continued, "says we stuck him up at Aitken's Gap, another at the Porcupine, another near Mount Egerton, and others at other places, and the police says they caught us in the Crown Hotel, Buninyong. Why, your Honour, horses couldn't get over the ground in the time." The jury, however, seemed to have formed a better opinion of the power of the bushrangers' horses than the bushranger himself. Perhaps this was due to the fact that some of them at least had exchanged horses with their victims. However that may be, they were all found guilty. Finegan and Donovan, who appeared to have been the leaders, and to have taken part in the majority of the robberies, were sent to gaol for twelve years, and the others for six years each.

• Three Times Blest

Page 21 Griffiths, Peter M & Buninyong & District Historical Society (1988). Three times blest : a history of Buninyong and district 1837-1901 (1st ed). Buninyong & District Historical Society, Buninyong, Vic http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/19197318

• Freestone

REVIEW. (1857, March 18). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 6. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7146408

• Wormbete Coal

ST. KILDA NOMINATION. (1857, March 14). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 6. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7146174

• Freestone

• Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/153793631/wesley-anderson: accessed 05 February 2023), memorial page for Wesley Anderson (1821–4 Sep 1859), Find A Grave: Memorial #153793631, citing Winchelsea Cemetery, Winchelsea, Surf Coast Shire, Victoria, Australia; Maintained by Ron M (contributor 48458376).

• Winchelsea Cemetery Index]

No. 879

Name: ANDERSON, Wesley

Born: 1821

Died: 4 Sep 1859

Aged: 38

Notes: Hus of Sarah Jane. Born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.; died Wormbete Forest, Vic.

• Incoll Family Genealogy

Name Wesley ANDERSON Born CIRCA 1821 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Gender Male Died 1859 Winchelsea Last Modified 21 Feb 2009

Family Sarah Jane CLARK, b. CIRCA 1809, d. 1899, Winchelsea, Victoria Married 25 Apr 1840 Presbyterian Scots Church, Sydney

Children 1. John Wesley ANDERSON, b. 25 May 1844, d. 1915, Geelong Last Modified 21 Feb 2009 Family ID F7155 Group Sheet

http://family.incoll.org/getperson.php?personID=I5335&tree=LMIncell

• The Surf Coast Family History Group

Vol. 38, Winter - June 2010 edition http://home.vicnet.net.au/~angen/fh_journal/inverlochylog38.pdf

Article by JM

• Genealogy Trails

ANDERSON

I live in New South Wales, Australia and have been trying to do research into the origins of my Great, great grandfather, Wesley ANDERSON for many years now. The only information that I have about him is that he was born in about 1821, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. His parents are not known. He was married in Sydney and died in Victoria. He may have been of African American origin as his death certificate (September 1859) has the word “negro” written on it. In photos his children have long narrow faces with fine narrow features but their skin appears darker than that of their spouses. My great grandmother, Mary Ann Anderson, looks to be of darker skin tone than her husband who was born in England. Wesley married an English woman, Sara Jane Clark. The family folklore has it that Wesley was in some way connected to the men who started the Wesleyan religion. He may have travelled to England with them as it is said that he arrived in Sydney from England but no record is available to support that. An ornate silver spoon, held by family members in Victoria, is said to have been given to Wesley by the Wesley brothers. All of this is rather sketchy but it is all I have to help in my search for the origins of Wesley Anderson, any and all help appreciated. MARGARET

http://genealogytrails.com/penn/philadelphia/phlqueries.html

*Descendants of Joseph Clark

• Births, Deaths & Marriages NSW

V1840565 73A/1840

1. ↑ The Surf Coast Family History Group
2. ↑ Wormbete Coal
3. ↑ Freestone