Tag Archives: Andersons

Revisiting the Andersons of Holmes County Ohio

EDITED to indicate John Anderson’s (Jr.) proper lineage.

Among the things that getting a DNA test has done  to influence my research–I discover ancestors I skipped over when I wrote about members of their family. That has been the case with both my maternal line of Andersons and my paternal line of Kasers.

DNA strand

DNA strand from pixabay

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Last week I remedied an oversight in the Andersons by talking about my great-uncle William McCabe Anderson. (My attention had been drawn to Will because of a DNA match.) William, second son of the 2nd marriage of John Anderson—to my grandmother Isabella McCabe—survived the experience of a P.O.W. during the Civil War.

As I looked at Will Anderson, I realized there were other Andersons that I had missed.

A Recap of the Andersons I Have Introduced

Caroline Anderson Bird

Family portrait Anderson and Stout, 1909

For identification of everyone in the Anderson and Stout family picture above, follow this link.

Leonard Guy Anderson, my maternal grandfather. You can see “Daddy Guy” in the photo at the top of the page–an ancestor in an apron. I have written about Guy’s second wife, Vera Stout Anderson many times. I was named for her and spent a great deal of time with her when I was young.

Bernard Franklin (Ben) Anderson, great-uncle, was Guy’s brother. I wrote about the tragic loss of his young wife and his family, which presented quite a tangle. His descendants included his nephew Telmar, Guy’s son by his first wife and brother to Rhema Anderson Fair (below); Estil Anderson Sr., Ben’s only son; and Estil Anderson Jr.

Mary V. Brink Anderson and Joseph J. Anderson, my grandfather’s parents. Joseph was the next to youngest son of Isabella McCabe  and John Anderson, and died young.

Isabella McCabe Anderson and her husband John Anderson, my great-great grandparents moved the Andersons from Ohio to Pennsylvania. Isabella lived a long time– long enough that my mother knew her great-grandmother, who sits in the center of the family picture above.

Great-Great Uncle Erasmus Anderson (actually a half-uncle of my grandfather), a soldier in the Civil War had a series of posts dedicated to his letters from the front and description of his service and death during the Civil War.

Margaret Anderson Lisle, great-great aunt. Margaret, the first child of John Anderson and his second wife, Isabella McCabe, played the role of family caretaker.  It was Margaret who wrote to Erasmus during the war. It was Margaret who kept a family scrapbook with locks of hair and obituaries. It was Margaret who raised her own family and the grandchildren who needed a parent.

Franklin Anderson, great-great uncle– my grandfather’s uncle who raised him when his father died. Franklin was the youngest of the Andersons family.

Caroline Anderson Bird, great-great aunt.

Amy Anderson Roof, great-great aunt.  Caroline and Amy were the two youngest children of Isabella and John Anderson, and close in every way for the rest of their lives.

I also wrote about the generations after my Grandfather–

Rhema Anderson Fair, my mother’s half sister.  The daughter of Guy Anderson and his first wife, Lillis Bird.

William J. Anderson. My Uncle Bill could be a rascal, as in the story I told about his running away, but my mother’s older brother held a place in my heart as a favorite relative.

Herbert Guy Anderson, son of Guy Anderson and his 2nd wife, Vera Stout Anderson. My uncle Herbert was my mother’s younger brother.

And I have written many times about my mother, Harriette Anderson Kaser. (I’ll let you use the search function to find those articles and pictures.

Andersons in Waiting

Which Andersons still wait to have their stories told?  Well, I am currently working on Sarah Jane Anderson McDowell and her family.

I have not written about John Anderson, first child of John Anderson and his second wife, Isabella McCabe  I have a puzzle to solve about John’s possible service in the Civil War before I can write about this man who died from a farm accident in his 30s.

The first child of John and Emma may have been a girl named Mary who married before the Andersons left Pennsylvania. But information on Mary is scarce.

And of course, each time I research a great-great aunt or uncle, I discover their children and grandchildren, new cousins galore.

Are You an Anderson?

Anderson is such a common name that even in the small county of Holmes in Ohio, I find Andersons that are not visibly related to my John Anderson line.  I keep hoping to meet someone who holds the key to where John Anderson (1795-1879) came from and who his parents were. Perhaps there is a family Bible. Perhaps an earlier Anderson wrote a family history. Until then, John Anderson is one of my brick walls, and I will continue to explore the families that came after him.

 

Anderson and Stout Family Photo

I’ve been sharing mostly pictures of individuals here, with the exception of some group school pictures, and that great finger-lickin’ chicken eatin’ picture— but one family photo in particular is a real  treasure.  So many stories. The stories these people knew, the stories that were unfolding even as the itinerant photographer took their picture. And the stories they had not yet lived, but we can look at them from the future and see what was coming. (For specific identities of each person, see this Identification post.)

Vera and Guy Anderson and families 1909

Vera and Guy Anderson and families 1909

Twenty-eight family members–all gone now, some of whom died within a very few years of this picture being taken. Several things appeal to me about this photo. It was taken about 1909. My mother thought it was probably in May on my grandmother Vera Stout Anderson’s birthday, so it gives me an image of my mother and her parents’ early life.

Herbert Anderson and family.

Guy Anderson and Vera (holding Herbert).

The ages of the people in the family photo range from barely one-year-old (Herbert Guy Anderson, 1908-1963) held by my grandmother Vera in the center of the picture)—to 91 years old (Isabella McCabe Anderson 1818-1912). She is seated in the center in the large wicker chair, and forms the focus of this four-generation picture.

Herbert Andrson in rare four- generation family picture. Front Grandma Isabella McCabe Anderson, left her son Frank Anderson, Back her grandson Guy Anderson and his wife, Vera holding great-grandson Herbert, far right, dtr-in-law Mary Brink Anderson, Guy's mother. 1909

Front Grandma Isabella McCabe Anderson, left her son Frank Anderson, Back her grandson Guy Anderson and his wife, Vera holding great-grandson Herbert, far right, dtr-in-law Mary Brink Anderson, Guy’s mother. 1909

The names were written on the back of the family photo by my mother and her half sister Rhema Anderson Fair (both of them in the picture as little tykes). The sisters also made an audio tape talking about their recollections of the people in the picture, but, alas, that is lost.  I keep hoping that one of the Fair clan will spot this website and write to tell me they have that audio tape.  Here we have Rhema looking quite unhappy with the whole affair and Harriette sitting with her brother Bill on the lap of “Doc” Will Stout.

Rhema Anderson (Fair)

Rhema Anderson (Fair)

Doc Stout, Harriette and Bill

Doc Stout, Harriette and Bill Anderson

Mother (Harriette Anderson Kaser), in her 90s, reviewed the names and stories with me, filling in a lot of family history. As I research the ancestors in the picture, I keep running into little tidbits that mesh with the stories mother told us.  For instance she talked about the wonderful apple orchids and other fruit trees on the farm she remembered seeing as a little girl. And sure enough, in a slightly later census, I run into a notation that Ben Anderson (Bernard Franklin Anderson), my “Daddy Guy’s brother is a fruit farmer!

The house in the picture, very recognizable, still stands on the same spot — a hill outside Killbuck, Holmes County, Ohio.

Old Anderson Farm

Old Anderson Farm, Photo courtesy of Herb Anderson

Back in the nineties, when my mother talked to me about this picture, she pointed out the wide cement sidewalk in front that circled the house–a rarity at a farm house.  She had a playhouse out back.  She said the house had beautiful woodwork and a front and a back staircase (that one for maids).  There was a large barn, “way off from the house”. Behind the house was a brick spring house where they kept food.  The house sat on a hill with a beautiful view.

I will tell you the stories from time to time of the two childless sisters who were inseparable. Of the couple who raised his younger brother and then raised his two brother’s two children. Of  the two brothers who married two sisters. Of the family members who were not in this picture. Of the men in the picture who went to war. And of course, of those who donned aprons–and what they cooked. Thanks to this family photo I feel I know them well.