George Anderson, my 3rd great-grandfather, has been a mystery to me ever since I saw the chart on the left for my father showing his ancestor was Major George Anderson. I've been very curious about his title for 25 years.I've traced George's ancestry from his 1784 New Jersey birth back four generations. I know the names of his three wives and his nine children. This information was rather easy to find, thanks to 3 federal censuses, a state census, a book on his ancestors called, A Genealogy of the Reyniersen Family, several historical books, and the selfless help in 2008 from Dorothy Koenig, editor of the New Netherlands Connections. He died at age 94, so there was a lot of information out there, but not what I'm looking for.
The one thing missing is actual proof that George Anderson was a Major. As mentioned above, he was named Major George Anderson in many sources I used. Such as: a small genealogy outline done by my mother, a death notice in a book I located in Salt Lake City, various pages from a manuscript I obtained from Rice University in 2009 (the word Major was written three times), a brief mention from an index card in the file of the Wisconsin Historical Society. Written on the card was, "Silver hilted dress sword worn by the grandfather of Maj. George Anderson." All these sources were useful, but I still don't know why he was called a Major.
When three new sources came my way this year, I decided my challenge would be to find proof if George was really a Major. My blog played a big part in getting help because of two new readers who helped me. The first reader was a distant cousin who googled our shared ancestor's name; the second reader enjoyed something I had written and left a comment (it had nothing to do with genealogy). Our correspondence led to my accepting a subscription to GenealogyBank.com. The third source involved George's will (I saw a better copy than the awful one I had received several months prior, thanks to Ancestry.com). Below, are the three steps I took to find information from my new sources.
In March, I received an email from Mattie, inquiring about my Adams line. As fate would have it, she is my third cousin and I was very familiar with her family. I never contacted anybody on that line because I felt I had all I needed. She mentioned a manuscript her grandfather had written and there were parts about Major George Anderson in it. Within a week, I had her typed 28 page booklet. I quickly made copies and sent it back to her. That information, though didn't solve my question as to why he was a Major, set me on the path to once again work on his line.
The next logical step was to try and find a will. The next month, I contacted the Deputy Clerk Dane County Circuit Court Record Center in Madison, Wisconsin to inquire about a will, then to get copies of it. The clerk called me after they received my written request, because the probate packet was so large. She needed to discuss what I wanted, since I had no idea, I decided on the first 14 pages (neither of us knew how large the packet was.) I paid $1 a page for an electronic image. The images were horrible and so were the copies I printed outs. I put the will matter aside until one day in September I received notice that Ancestry.com released the Wisconsin, Wills and Probate Records, 1800-1987. Within minutes of putting in his name and state, there was his file, a file with 101 pages!
Name: George Anderson
Probate Date: 6 Feb 1879
Probate Place: Dane, Wisconsin, USA
Inferred Death Year: Abt 1879
Inferred Death Place: Wisconsin, USA
Item Description: Probate Records, Box 266, T-W - Box 268, Anderson, George
Table of Contents 101 images
All the probate records turned out to be crisp and clean and I could read about 99% of it. I was lucky George had a will and a codicil. The contents won't be discussed because I plan on doing a post covering two interesting I discovered. What I was happy to find were the words Major Anderson written twice, as seen below. Only 2 pages out of 101 pages has this title.
Seeing Major written in the above snippet for the Wisconsin State Journal was like finding the pot of gold, and it confirmed my other notice of his title and death which is shown below. As I mentioned, I also found death notices for two of his wives. The first wife, my direct line ancestor died in 1840, but I had no idea in which state, until I saw the notice. (Her children were born in 4 different states.) The notice also provided me with her father's name by printing she "was the daughter of, Capt. Jeremiah Ten Eyck of Middlesex co., N. J."
In 2008, while at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, I found the following information: "Maj. George Anderson died at Madison, Jan 10th in the ninety-fifth year of his age. He was born on the banks of the Raritan, New Jersey, March 8th 1784; and after residing successively on Staten Island, in Pennsylvania and Illinois, he settled in Dane County in 1839 and spent most of his life as a farmer. While residing in Madison, he served two years on the Board of Aldermen, and several years as Supervisor in the County Board, serving in the latter capacity at the time of his death. He survived his third wife two weeks. He was a gentleman of the old school, enjoying good health and a bright intellect almost to the last."
From: Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. 1882 Vol. 9: 429. Wisconsin Necrology, 1879. (Book at FHL at Salt Lake City books.) I wrote a blog post about this in 2010, and it may be seen HERE.
Was George in the military? I still don't know, but I doubt it because over the course of many years, I haven't found any indication that he was. As you can see, it often takes many years and many sources to get a pretty good picture of somebody's life, but until you know everything about the person, the research should continue. It also helps to have an interested cousin and a helpful reader, thank you both.
As an after thought, I've decided to show his marriage record for 1841, when George married his second wife.
Disclosure: GenealogyBank.com has provided me with a subscription to their product, a newspaper subscription to use and I am under no obligation to write a review. The product was mentioned in this post because I tried it out and was more than happy with the results.
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To those who kindly responded with helpful ideas.
I re-read the will of George's father, Simon and it mentions son George four times. It also said, :Sons, George and Cornelius lands whereon I now live that my father bought of Albert Voorhees (315 acres). Son, Georege, negro man, Nene, my silver hilted sword, silver watch and 6 silver tea spoons." (His other son also received a negro man.) Now I know where the "silver hilted sword" came from.
I also put in the name of Major Anderson (as his first name) on Ancestry.com and he didn't come up. My finding, he was named George, not Major.
There is also a write-up about him, and in-part, it reads," Major Anderson has held several offices, the duties of which he has faithfully and honestly discharged. He was for several years supervisor of the town of Sun Prairie, chairman of the county board, under-sheriff three years, collector of taxes of Dane and Sauk counties, and settling his accounts without making a mistake. He was also deputy United States marshal. He is now living in comfortable retirement upon the interest of the money his industry and economy have enabled him to accumulate. Major Anderson's natural capabilities enabled him to enjoy the full benefit of the society of such cultivated gentlemen as Nicholas Biddle, John C. Craig and W. R. Johnson of Virginia, with whom he was intimately connected in business for five years, and his retentive memory enables him to narrate many interesting incidents characteristic of those gentlemen. In illustration of the ready wit and imperturbable self-possession of Colonel Johnson he relates that on his return to Philadelphia from New Jersey, when the great race between Mr. Johnson's horse Boston and Mr. Gibbon's mare Fashion had just been run, and while still on the crowded ferry-boat, Colonel Johnson felt some one's hand in his pocket, and instantly clasping and holding it, turned his head and said, "My friend Mr. Gibbon won the race to-day." Although Major Anderson is in his ninety-second year, his bodily health is I good, his mind cheerful, his manners easy and dignified, and looks very like, as he is, a gentleman of the olden time. His present vigor of mind and body is an eloquent commentary upon temperance, industry, and cheerfulness, that badge of a gentleman. If the prayers of his friends avail he will complete a century."
Was George in the military? I still don't know, but I doubt it because over the course of many years, I haven't found any indication that he was. As you can see, it often takes many years and many sources to get a pretty good picture of somebody's life, but until you know everything about the person, the research should continue. It also helps to have an interested cousin and a helpful reader, thank you both.
As an after thought, I've decided to show his marriage record for 1841, when George married his second wife.
Disclosure: GenealogyBank.com has provided me with a subscription to their product, a newspaper subscription to use and I am under no obligation to write a review. The product was mentioned in this post because I tried it out and was more than happy with the results.
----------------------------------------------------
To those who kindly responded with helpful ideas.
I re-read the will of George's father, Simon and it mentions son George four times. It also said, :Sons, George and Cornelius lands whereon I now live that my father bought of Albert Voorhees (315 acres). Son, Georege, negro man, Nene, my silver hilted sword, silver watch and 6 silver tea spoons." (His other son also received a negro man.) Now I know where the "silver hilted sword" came from.
I also put in the name of Major Anderson (as his first name) on Ancestry.com and he didn't come up. My finding, he was named George, not Major.
There is also a write-up about him, and in-part, it reads," Major Anderson has held several offices, the duties of which he has faithfully and honestly discharged. He was for several years supervisor of the town of Sun Prairie, chairman of the county board, under-sheriff three years, collector of taxes of Dane and Sauk counties, and settling his accounts without making a mistake. He was also deputy United States marshal. He is now living in comfortable retirement upon the interest of the money his industry and economy have enabled him to accumulate. Major Anderson's natural capabilities enabled him to enjoy the full benefit of the society of such cultivated gentlemen as Nicholas Biddle, John C. Craig and W. R. Johnson of Virginia, with whom he was intimately connected in business for five years, and his retentive memory enables him to narrate many interesting incidents characteristic of those gentlemen. In illustration of the ready wit and imperturbable self-possession of Colonel Johnson he relates that on his return to Philadelphia from New Jersey, when the great race between Mr. Johnson's horse Boston and Mr. Gibbon's mare Fashion had just been run, and while still on the crowded ferry-boat, Colonel Johnson felt some one's hand in his pocket, and instantly clasping and holding it, turned his head and said, "My friend Mr. Gibbon won the race to-day." Although Major Anderson is in his ninety-second year, his bodily health is I good, his mind cheerful, his manners easy and dignified, and looks very like, as he is, a gentleman of the olden time. His present vigor of mind and body is an eloquent commentary upon temperance, industry, and cheerfulness, that badge of a gentleman. If the prayers of his friends avail he will complete a century."