John Anderson

Absentee slave-owne in Jamaica, inheriting Flower Hill from his father c. 1798. Awarded part of the compensation for Flower Hill in St James Jamaica as owner-in-fee; the same John Anderson who counterclaimed unsuccessfully as mortgagee and in right of his wife as annuitant on Lethe estate, also in St James which had belonged to his brother Robert until c. 1816

1. Duncan Anderson, born in Tranent, East Lothian, in 1747, emigrated to Jamaica and died on Flower Hill 09/08/1796.

2. Duncan Anderson was owner of Lethe estate in St James at the time of his death in 1793 [sic]. He left the estate to his eldest son Robert (born 14/06/1791) with a 500l Jamaican annuity to his wife. His widow remarried, to William Carter. The Chancery case Carter v. Anderson gives details of her claim for non-payment of the annuity.

3. Duncan Anderson and his wife Catharine had at least 4 children baptised in St James: Jane (born 29/06/1789 and baptised 06/01/1790), Robert (born 14/06/1791 and baptised 30/11/1791, the same as Robert Anderson in 2., above), John (born 08/10/1793 and baptised 06/01/1794) and Catharine Mary (born 11/12/1796 and baptised 13/08/1797). Although the Law Journal cited above states that Duncan Anderson died in 1793 it must have been at a later date given the births of his two youngest children. The Law Journal does not give the name of Duncan Anderson's wife but states her marriage settlement was dated 16/06/1803: William Carter, Bachelor, married Katharine Anderson, Widow, in St Pancras, London, 18/06/1803 when they were both of St Pancras Parish.

4. John Anderson, aged 57, widower, 'no profession', born Jamaica, was living at Kenton Devon in 1851 with his sister Jean age 62 born St James Jamaica, son Robert aged 36 born Marylebone and daughter Anne [or Anna] aged 30 born Burstead [?] Sussex with 3 servants, 2 from Southampton. None of the family has been further traced to date.

T71/873 St James no. 544 (Flower Hill); T71/873 St James no. 29 (Lethe). The two are linked by the presence in both of Robert Shedden & Son, the London merchant, as co-awardee and party of a Chancery suit. The latter gives John Anderson's address as Anspach House, Southampton.

1. David Dobson, Scots in the West Indies 1707-1857 (2 vols., Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1998/2006), Vol. I, p. 5.

2. The Law Journal for 1830 (James Holmes, London, 1830), Vol. 8 pp. 91-93.

3. Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880, St James, Baptisms, marriages, burials 1770-1809, Vol. 1, images 30, 36, 43 and 51 of 168. Law Journal Vol. 8 pp. 92. Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database online].

4. 1851 census online.