Vital Information
| Field | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Full Name | Col. John Anderson | FaG #9178807; Lockhart (2008) |
| Born | c.1665 | FaG tombstone: "Aged 71 years" at death 1736 |
| Birthplace | Fortrose, Ross-shire, Scotland (on the northern shore of the Moray Firth; originally known as Chanonry) | Lockhart (2008); Gilbertson (2019) |
| Died | 28 Mar 1736 | FaG #9178807; Wikipedia |
| Death Place | Manalapan, Monmouth County, New Jersey | FaG #9178807 |
| Burial | Topanemus Episcopal Burial Ground, Marlboro, Monmouth County, NJ | FaG #9178807 |
| Father | James Anderson, Bailie of Fortrose (alderman-magistrate) | Lockhart (2008); Gilbertson (2019) |
| Mother | Unknown | |
| Brother | Rev. James Anderson (b. 17 Nov 1678; d. 16 Jul 1740, Donegal, PA) | Webster (1857); Egle (1886); Stewart (1907) |
| Spouse | Anna Reid (b. 24 Jan 1679, Lawers, Perth, Scotland); m. 7 Dec 1701, Shrewsbury Township, NJ | FaG #9178807; Wikipedia |
| Children | John Anderson II (b. c.1704), James (b. 7 Jul 1708), Helena, Jonathan, Margaret, Anna, Elizabeth, Isabella | Wikipedia |
| Religion | Church of England ("baptized and educated in the communion of the Episcopal Church") | FaG #9178807 |
| Offices | President of NJ Provincial Council; Acting Governor of NJ (18 days, Mar 1736) | Wikipedia |
Their Story
Fortrose and the Move South
John Anderson was born around 1665 in Fortrose, a small town on the northern shore of the Moray Firth in the Scottish Highlands. His father, James Anderson, was the town's bailie, a magistrate who served for many years as alderman. Around 1675, when John was about ten, his father moved the family south to Edinburgh and then to Glasgow, likely seeking better prospects in Scotland's largest commercial city. His younger brother James, the future Presbyterian minister, was born there in 1678.
The Darien Expedition
In July 1698, John Anderson left Scotland as part of the Darien Expedition, one of the most ambitious and catastrophic ventures in Scottish history. The scheme, backed by the Company of Scotland, sought to establish a trading colony on the Isthmus of Panama (then called Darien) to break into the lucrative trade routes between the Atlantic and Pacific. Nearly a quarter of Scotland's liquid capital was invested. Five ships sailed with about 1,200 colonists.
Anderson sailed aboard the Unicorn, commanded by Captain Robert Pinkerton. The expedition was a disaster. The colonists had chosen a swampy, disease-ridden site. The English government, protective of its own colonial interests, refused aid. The Spanish were hostile. Hundreds died of fever and dysentery.
After Pinkerton was captured by the Spanish, John Anderson was made captain of the Unicorn. In June 1699, the surviving colonists abandoned the settlement. Anderson sailed for New York, saving the ship through what one contemporary account called "his skillful seamanship" during a tempestuous crossing. The Unicorn arrived in New York on August 14, 1699. After the survivors were put ashore, the ship, too damaged to repair, was stripped down and eventually sank in the Arthur Kill at the foot of Fayette Street in Perth Amboy.
The failure of the Darien scheme was one of the catalysts that led Scotland to accept the Act of Union with England in 1707. For Anderson personally, it was the beginning of a new life in America.
New Jersey
Anderson settled in the Matawan area of Monmouth County, New Jersey. On December 7, 1701, he married Anna Reid, daughter of John Reid, at Tintern Manor in Shrewsbury Township. The day after the wedding, his father-in-law granted him land in Manalapan. The Reids were also of Scottish origin.
In 1713, Anderson was appointed to the New Jersey Provincial Council for the Eastern Division, a position he held for the rest of his life. The appointment was not without controversy: an effort was made to discredit him by accusing him of being a Presbyterian, which would have disqualified him under the laws of the time. He was also accused of having looted the Unicorn during its final days. Both accusations were proven false; Anderson had in fact been baptized and educated as a member of the Church of England. Governor Hunter defended the appointment, explaining that he had displaced "an obstinate Churchman to make way for a man of sense who was a Dissenter." (The irony of this defense, given that the charge of being a Dissenter was the very one raised against Anderson, is left unresolved in the record.)
Acting Governor
By 1735, Anderson had become the senior councillor residing in New Jersey, which made him President of the Council. When Governor Sir William Cosby died on March 10, 1736, Anderson automatically became acting governor of the province.
He served for exactly eighteen days. On March 28, 1736, John Anderson died at his home in Manalapan, at about the age of 71. He was buried at the Topanemus Episcopal Burial Ground in Marlboro.
His brother, Rev. James Anderson, the strict Presbyterian minister at Donegal, survived him by four years. The two brothers, one Episcopalian and one Presbyterian, had followed very different paths from their father's house in Fortrose: one to the helm of a doomed ship in the Caribbean, and the other to a pulpit on Wall Street.
Legacy
Anderson's son, John Anderson II, Esq., was one of the nine incorporators of the Synod of New Jersey in 1749 and a judge in the county courts. He died in his 90th year on July 19, 1793, and is buried in the Tennent graveyard. Several of Col. John's descendants served in the American Revolution.
Document Sources
| Document | Type | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Lockhart, "Scottish Origin of Col. John Anderson," American Genealogist 83 (2008), 1-12 | Peer-reviewed article | Cited via secondary sources (Gilbertson, Wikipedia) |
| Gilbertson, Ancestry of Lucia Hull Fish (2019), pp89-91 | Published genealogy | Consulted |
| FaG #9178807 (Topanemus Episcopal Burial Ground) | Cemetery/memorial | Consulted |
| Wikipedia: "John Anderson (New Jersey politician)" | Encyclopedia | Consulted; cites Anderson (1938) and Lockhart (2008) |
| Webster, History of the Presbyterian Church (1857), p332 | Published church history | Consulted (identifies John as James's brother) |
| Egle, Pennsylvania Genealogies (1886) | Published genealogy | Consulted |
| Stewart, Colonel George Steuart (1907), p26 | Published genealogy | Consulted |