This is but a brief history of the Anders, and Andrews
families that migrated from Orange County North Carolina to Ashe County North Carolina and
Grayson County Virginia in the early 1800's. In the records we find the name spelled
several different ways: Anders, Andres, Andres, Andrews - but we find they were all
related.
In the early records of Virginia we found where a William
Anders who was of Scotch Irish descent landed there in the late 1600's and settled near
Hopewell, Virginia. He had a son, Thomas Anders, who migrated from Virginia to North
Carolina in the early 1700's and settled in the Hillsborough district, his will probated
in 1737 mentioned children Bell, Robert and Penelope. Robert's will was probated in
Orange County North Carolina in 1793. As far as we can ascertain he had only one
son, William Anders. The information we have on William is as follows:
William Anders, son of Robert Anders, born in Orange
County, North Carolina in 1750, died in Orange County, 1824. No information on his
wife. They are buried in a family cemetary on their old home place near Haw Rivert.
William was appointed Constable in the Saint Thomas district of Orange Count on
April 2, 1777. He was listed as doing patriotic service in the Revolutionary War.
His will probated February 2, 1924 and mentioned 10 children: Laborn, Mark,
John, Elizabeth, Henry, Patsy, Starling, Jennie, William Jr., Archibald. Five of
these children lived in Ashe County North Carolina at some time between 1800 and 1859.
As far as we can ascertain, William Jr. was the first Anders to settle in Ashe
County. Most of these families changed the spelling of the name to Andrews, in the
early 1800's. William Sr. also mentioned three grandchildren in his will:
Millie, William and Polly Cate. No other information on them.