Great Great Grandfather William M. Anderson
By Peggy Lou Anderson Caldwell

My Great Great Grandfather William M. Anderson and his wife Jane (Scruggs) Anderson came from South Carolina to Cole county Missouri in 1832 (that part of Cole Co. is now Moniteau Co.). They had 3 sons and a daughter, John Henry, Francis Marion, Mary Ann (Polly) and David Q. born in Pendleton District South Carolina. Their other children, Parsedda, Martha Ann, James Noble, William Columbus and Elizabeth were born in Cole County. In 1844 they moved to the horseshoe bend of Crane Creek and settled. He built a long one room log cabin with a door on east and one on the west. Two windows one on the north and one on the south. They carried their drinking water from a spring on the side of the hill. Later they built a trough that the water ran down and all you had to do was set a bucket under to fill it. My brother Howard said when he was a little boy he carried lots of water from that spring. My Dad and Mom used this spring when they lived there, also my brother Howard and wife did to when they lived there right after they first married.

William and Jane left in 1860 and moved to Texas to Brownwood in Brown County. William had a brother Moses who was the city clerk there. William’s daughter Polly Ann married David Parker and had several children. John Henry my Great Grand Father stayed here, he and his wives are buried in Anderson Cemetery.

James Noble went to Texas, he was noted as an Indian fighter. When they moved there it was still a wild and unsettled place.  They had many run ins with the Indians and outlaws. James and his wife are both buried at Staley cemetery along with my Great Great Grandmother Jane.

William Columbus was known as Bloody Bill Anderson and rode with Quantrill. Bill left Missouri when another man borrowed his horse and was shot in the face and Bill decided to leave. He also settled in Brownwood, built a big house and married his Uncle Moses daughter Martha Elizabeth and raised ten children, they have great great grand children there which David and I have visited.

William and Jane were farmers and had land patents in Cole and Stone County. William was a Justice of Peace and served on the first Grand Jury when Stone County was cut out of Taney Co. in 1851. John Henry said his father died at Fort Griffin, Texas in 1883. Fort Griffin Texas was an army outpost where many buffalo soldiers (blacks) were stationed after the war and was where the last buffalo hunts took place. Many wagon loads of hides were shipped from Fort Griffin, I do not know what William did there. I may never know as there wasn’t much information there.

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