The Story of a Kansas Pioneer

EXCERPT:
The Anderson family is traced back to John Anderson, born December 22, 1759. His birthplace is unknown, but from his youth he lived near Greenville, North Carolina. He was married to a young lady whose Christian name was Tarley, but whose family name has been lost. He enlisted on May 7, 1776, at Martinboro (afterwards Greenville), North Carolina, and served three years for the cause of American Independence. Part of this time he was in Captain Euloe's company, under Colonel Edward Buncombe of the Fifth North Carolina, Continental Line, and part of the time with Captain Armstrong under Colonel Patton, of the Second North Carolina. He engaged in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth.
For many of the facts concerning his later life, we are dependent upon the Pension Bureau. He first applied for a pension on June 16, 1819, and was allowed $8.00 a month. Evidently pensions were considered in those days as a form of charity, for only one payment was made when his name was stricken off the list on account of property. In 1832, at the age of 73, he again applied, being in ""reduced circumstances."" Several of his neighbors made affidavits at that time that he did serve in the war, and that he needed the pension. (Copies of these affidavits are now in the possession of Mrs. Agnes Anderson Murray, a great great granddaughter.) This time he was granted $80.00 a year, which was paid until his death, September 20, 1842. He was then 83 years old. According to the pension record, he left no widow, but was survived by the following children: Allen Anderson, Asa Anderson, Charlotte (Mrs. John Evans), and Elizabeth (Mrs. Adey Slaughter). Benjamin T. Smith, who married Nancy Evans, a granddaughter of Charlotte Anderson, states that Tarley Anderson died in 1846; but if the pension record is correct, this statement is in error.