James Monroe Anderson: Bloody Bills Brother

Borderruffian

1st Lieutenant
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Location
Marshfield Missouri
Jim Anderson is less well known than his older brother Bill, but his exploits were equally violent, and continued long after Bill's death.

The Andersons lived in Randolph County, Missouri, where most of the children were born. In 1850, the father went to California in search of gold. He came back empty handed and later moved his family to Kansas about 1855.

The Anderson brothers were teenagers living on Bluff Creek in Breckenridge County, Kansas in 1862 when their father was murdered in a dispute with a neighbor. Bill and Jim Anderson fled immediately to Missouri, later sending a man to retrieve their three sisters. A few months later, the boys went back to Kansas and killed the man who had killed their father.

They drifted into Lafayette County, formed a Partisan band and raided Union Forces and sympathizers through the summer and fall of 1862. In the Spring of 1863, they joined William Quantrill’s guerrilla band. The Andersons rode with Quantrill during the infamous sacking of Lawrence, Kansas, in August and during the massacre at Baxter Springs, Kansas, in October.

The Andersons’ three sisters Josephine, Mary Ellen, and Martha, along with some other female relatives of guerrillas, were arrested and held by Union forces in Kansas City. The building serving as the jail collapsed. Josephine was killed and Mary was maimed. Mollie and Mattie Anderson were kept in jail for another 12 months after the collapse.

A few days after the collapse, Quantrill’s forces raided and burned Lawrence, Ks. The collapse of the jail was allegedly one of the reasons the group attacked Lawrence. From that day forward, throughout the War, the Andersons killed, and often scalped and mutilated every Federal Soldier they could get their hands on.

The invading Federal troops came from Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. They raped, pillaged, burned and destroyed much of Western, West Central and South West Missouri. The Partisan Rangers were at times the only defense the people of Missouri had from these savage invaders. They were given no quarter when they were captured. And in return, none was given to their enemy.


http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jrbakerjr/provost4/jimanderson.htm

found Jim Anderson and 6 of his gang on the route give him chase killed him and 5 of his men, Jim is a brother of Bill the great thief and the daring chief of his Bushwhackers…. If billy Anderson gets me and this Book he will Scalp me
Alfred D. Morgan, 1864 Diary, pg 3


http://www.ozarkscivilwar.org/archives/3367
 
Bloody Bill Anderson’s sisters were imprisoned in Kansas City in a building that had apparently been weakened by alterations made so as to able to accommodate more prisoners within.

The building collapsed and killed Josephine Anderson aged about 14. She is buried in Union Cemetery in Kansas City, MO.

Mary Ellen (Mollie) Anderson aged about 16 was crippled and disfigured for life in the collapse. Martha Jane (Janie or Mattie) Anderson aged about 10 years, was with her sisters at her own request. She had no other place to go, because her mother had died in about 1860 (apparently after the 1860 Census was taken as she shows up on the Census at age 36) and their father was killed in 1862 near their residence in Breckenridge County, Kansas. Martha Jane Anderson was severely injured with two broken legs, an injured back and a lacerated face.

Mollie and Mattie Anderson were kept in jail for another 12 months after the collapse. At some point their brother, Jim Anderson, gathered them up and took them to Sherman, in Grayson County, Texas.

Bill Anderson had married a girl by the name of Mary Erwin Bush Smith in Sherman, Texas in 1863 and built a house for her there in 1864 before he went back to Missouri to be killed on October 26, 1864. After he was killed, his brother Jim, went to Sherman and married his brother’s widow on October 21, 1868. He was killed by a man who cut his throat sometime between November, 1869 and August, 1870 as his widow had a child, Jimmie Maude Anderson on August 21, 1870 as a posthumous child.

It is said that Mattie Anderson married and went back to Missouri to live in the Kansas City area. Perhaps she married one of the old guerillas who rode with Quantrill and Anderson who were known to frequent the area near Sherman. Mollie Anderson disappears from the records. Perhaps, they both can be found in the 1870 census records of Grayson County, Texas. Or perhaps, Mattie’s marriage record could be found in Grayson County, Texas.
 
Anderson, James (Jim) + Anderson Survived war
Brother of "Bloody Bill" Anderson. Killed in Texas after the war,
by George H. Shepherd to avenge his part in the murder and robbery
of Ike Flannery, Shepherd's nephew. Jesse James and Anderson
killed Flannery for his inheritied money. Shepherd slit Anderson's
throat on the lawn of the state capital building in Austin, TX.


http://www.kansasheritage.org/research/quantrill.html
 
Bloody Bill Anderson’s sisters were imprisoned in Kansas City in a building that had apparently been weakened by alterations made so as to able to accommodate more prisoners within.

The building collapsed and killed Josephine Anderson aged about 14. She is buried in Union Cemetery in Kansas City, MO.

Mary Ellen (Mollie) Anderson aged about 16 was crippled and disfigured for life in the collapse. Martha Jane (Janie or Mattie) Anderson aged about 10 years, was with her sisters at her own request. She had no other place to go, because her mother had died in about 1860 (apparently after the 1860 Census was taken as she shows up on the Census at age 36) and their father was killed in 1862 near their residence in Breckenridge County, Kansas. Martha Jane Anderson was severely injured with two broken legs, an injured back and a lacerated face.

Mollie and Mattie Anderson were kept in jail for another 12 months after the collapse. At some point their brother, Jim Anderson, gathered them up and took them to Sherman, in Grayson County, Texas.

Bill Anderson had married a girl by the name of Mary Erwin Bush Smith in Sherman, Texas in 1863 and built a house for her there in 1864 before he went back to Missouri to be killed on October 26, 1864. After he was killed, his brother Jim, went to Sherman and married his brother’s widow on October 21, 1868. He was killed by a man who cut his throat sometime between November, 1869 and August, 1870 as his widow had a child, Jimmie Maude Anderson on August 21, 1870 as a posthumous child.

It is said that Mattie Anderson married and went back to Missouri to live in the Kansas City area. Perhaps she married one of the old guerillas who rode with Quantrill and Anderson who were known to frequent the area near Sherman. Mollie Anderson disappears from the records. Perhaps, they both can be found in the 1870 census records of Grayson County, Texas. Or perhaps, Mattie’s marriage record could be found in Grayson County, Texas.
*****
Jim Anderson and Bloody Bill's sisters
Jim Anderson did bring his sisters, Mary Ellen and Martha Jane to Grayson County, Texas.

A. V. Doak and Molly Anderson were married in Grayson County 28 June 1865. Alexander V. Doak and Mary Ellen Anderson Doak were in Refugio County, Texas, in the 1870 census; Grayson County, Texas, in the 1880 census; and in Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, in the 1900 census. Mary Ellen Anderson Doak died 7 November 1903, and is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Ardmore, Carter County, Oklahoma.

E. G. Douglass and Mattie Anderson were married in Grayson County 20 February 1867. Elbridge Geary Douglass and Martha Jane Anderson Douglass were in Refugio County, Texas, in the 1870 census; Grayson County in the 1880 census; Fort Bend County, Texas, in the 1900 census; and Martha was in Murray County, Oklahoma, in the 1910 census. Martha Jane Anderson Douglass died 30 January 1926, and is probably buried in the Oaklawn Cemetery, Sulphur, Murray County, Oklahoma, where her son William Douglass is buried.

There is an 1864 Grayson County, Texas, marriage license for Lieut. William T. Anderson and Miss Bush Smith. They were married 3 March 1864. There is a Grayson County, Texas, marriage license for James Anderson and Mary Erwin. They were married 21 October 1868. They were the parents of one child, Jimmie Maude Anderson, born 21 August 1871, died 6 September 1966 according to the Texas death certificate. James Anderson was killed in 1871. The family Bible (on-line) of Mattie Erwin Maxwell, sister of Mary Lucy Erwin Anderson, shows the death date of James Anderson as 5 May 1871. This Bible also shows that Mary Lucy Erwin was born 27 March 1852, and the 1900 census of Grayson County, Texas, also shows the birth date of M. L. Smith as March 1852 (Mary Lucy Erwin married Burrell P. Smith Jr. after the death of Jim Anderson). Mary Lucy Erwin was almost 12 years old when William T. Anderson married Bush Smith. The family Bible also indicates that the Erwin family arrived in Texas in 1861, and came to Grayson County in 1865 or 1866. From this information, it appears that Bush Smith and Mary Lucy Erwin were two different young women, and that the almost 12 year old Mary Erwin was not in Grayson County when William T. Anderson married Bush Smith.
 
Thanks for sharing, Census Reader. Your information on the postwar history of the Anderson sisters is the first I've read. I have never been able to find anything concerning whatever happened to Bush Anderson. I did read somewhere that Bill Anderson had a hostler for his band, "Uncle Charlie" Baker, who claimed that he spent a year watching over Bush and the horses she and her husband owned for a year after Bill's death. Why he left after a year wasn't stated. Did he leave or did she? Or perhaps she remarried and his services were no longer needed. Either way it's been a dead-end trying to find out anything more about her.
 
Thanks for sharing, Census Reader. Your information on the postwar history of the Anderson sisters is the first I've read. I have never been able to find anything concerning whatever happened to Bush Anderson. I did read somewhere that Bill Anderson had a hostler for his band, "Uncle Charlie" Baker, who claimed that he spent a year watching over Bush and the horses she and her husband owned for a year after Bill's death. Why he left after a year wasn't stated. Did he leave or did she? Or perhaps she remarried and his services were no longer needed. Either way it's been a dead-end trying to find out anything more about her.

At present, there is insufficient information to conclusively determine the parents, siblings, or fate of Bush Smith.

The oft told story that Jim Anderson married Bill's widow certainly implies that Bush Smith and Mary Erwin were different names for the same young woman. Sufficient information exists to disprove that assumption. There is no conclusive proof which identities the parents or siblings of Bush Smith, or even hints at her fate. However, an argument can be made that she was Malinda Smith, born about February 1850 in Red River County, Texas, to Burrell Perry Smith Sr. and Sarah Henderson. Burrell P. Smith moved his family to Grayson County about 1851 (according to his obit, and later became mayor Sherman before he died in 1859). Malinda Smith would have been a Sherman resident in 1864. She would have been 14 years old at the time of William T. Anderson's marriage. There is no doubt that this Smith family was in Sherman when William T. Anderson was married. There were other females named Bush in this Smith family. Malinda Smith had a first cousin, Bush Smith (1870-1896), daughter of Robert Meek Smith. After the death of Jim Anderson, his widow, Mary Lucy Erwin Anderson married Burrell Perry Smith Jr. They named their first child, Virginia Bush Smith.

One other record of interest. There is a Grayson County, Texas, marriage license for J. M. Anderson and Malinda Anderson, married 22 August 1866. I have speculated that this might be James Monroe Anderson, brother of William T. Anderson, and Malinda, the widow of Bill Anderson. That would support the story that Jim married Bill's widow. It is a fact that when widows remarried, their late husband's surname was usually on the marriage license rather than the widow's maiden name. There is no doubt that James Anderson married Mary Erwin 21 October 1868, which raises the question, if Jim Anderson did marry William T. Anderson's widow, (Malinda) Bush Smith Anderson, what was the fate of Bush Smith Anderson? There is yet another marriage license in Grayson County where a Malinda Anderson married Andrew Ross 2 January 1870. If Bush Smith Anderson died in Grayson County, no cemetery marker has been found. If Jim and Malinda divorced, or separated, and Malinda Bush Smith Anderson married Andrew Ross, no cemetery or census record has been found for either of them.
 
A lot to consider in your last post! It's a reasonable assumption that Bush would have become close with her Anderson sisters in law after the war and it's possible when they left the state, so did she. Since Texas wasn't the safest place to live right after the war one can't help but wonder if having been the wife of Bloody Bill Anderson didn't put her life in danger. It wouldn't surprise me if she dropped the name Anderson or perhaps even changed her surname altogether making it even harder to track her down.

So as not to be jumping back and forth, I copied the following from your Bush Smith thread.

"Historian J. R. Baker is grossly in error. Mary Lucy Erwin (married James Monroe Anderson) was the oldest sister of Sterling Price Erwin. Mary Erwin was never an orphan, for she married Jim Anderson in 1868, and her father was killed in Grayson County in 1869. Mary Lucy Erwin was born in Missouri, not Tennessee. Mary Lucy Erwin was born 27 March 1852, not in 1848. No Grayson County adoption record has been found for any of the Erwin children, and Erwin children were only in the household of Sarah Henderson Smith Erwin in the 1870 census.

As for "toys for her babe", that can also be construed to mean that she knew she was pregnant and was letting Bill know the exciting news. Others may know the arrival date of the guerrillas in Sherman; some stories indicate that Bill Anderson met Bush Smith at a Christmas party; and the marriage date of March 1864 is known. Nothing definitive will ever be known about the outcome of the implied pregnancy."

If J.R. Baker is wrong then another wall has been run into. It seems to me if nothing new arises concerning her we're left to speculation about who she was and whatever became of her.

Had Bush conceived on her wedding night she would not have known the following month that she was with child and even when she did know, toys for this unborn child wouldn't have even been on the radar so to speak. There's no doubt in my mind she was speaking of an already born child.
 
At this time, there is credible information about the spouses and children of James Monroe Anderson and his sisters, Mary Ellen and Martha Jane. The death of Josephine in the collapse of the Union jail is known. There is only sketchy hearsay regarding Ellis Anderson, and conclusive information regarding his fate may never be found. Since there was no mention in any story of Jim Anderson bringing the 12 year old Charles with his sisters to Texas, Charles had either died during the Civil War, or perhaps had been taken in by neighbors or relatives.

As you say, credible information about Bush Smith is lacking. The only records are the Grayson County marriage license and the April 1864 letter, and Jim Cummins book relating her grief when told of Bill's death. She almost certainly had one pregnancy, but there are no conclusive facts whether the pregnancy resulted in a spontaneous abortion, a stillbirth, or an infant that died. The comment about toys is the only clue. If she did have a child in April 1864, I would have expected a proud mother to at least mention something about the child's development. For Bush to be a mother in April 1864 means that William T. Anderson was in Grayson County during the winter of 1862 and 1863. I have not found any information regarding the whereabouts of William T. Anderson after he and Jim killed Judge Baker in 2 July 1862 in Council Bluff, Kansas. Larry Wood, in "The Civil War Story of Bloody Bill Anderson", 2003, on page 22 said this: "In early 1863, William and Jim Anderson traveled to Jackson County, Missouri, to join him (Quantrill). William Anderson was initially given a chilly reception from other raiders, who perceived him to be brash and overconfident.[28]". I am not familiar with the timeline of William T. Anderson, but from this it appears that William T. Anderson did not join Quantrill 1863 and would not have been in Grayson County, Texas, in the winter of 1862-1863.

Neither Baker nor Petersen appear to have researched Mary Erwin. Reliance on stories rather than records is not the hallmark of a competent historian.
 
I will have to take your word for all this, Census Reader. You obviously are meticulous when it comes to your research. James Baker doesn't cite his source concerning Mary Erwin being an orphan from Tennessee before she was supposedly adopted by the Smith family. Paul Petersen is the only historian I've come across who has attempted to piece together the mystery of the relationship between William Anderson and Bush Smith from its inception. He claims that, according to the recollection of a Sherman resident from that era, they met at a Christmas party in 1862 and Bill pursued a relationship with the young woman hoping it would culminate in marriage. Obviously it did not and he was still a bachelor when he left Sherman the following spring for the 1863 campaign. Even if his sources are somewhat vague, Mr. Petersen's account is more believable than the writers who have dismissed Miss Smith as a prostitute, which seems to me to be more of a backhanded insult to Bill Anderson than to her, anyway.
 
Tumbleweed, fact and hearsay are not the same. Stories tend to be repeated as fact. I seriously doubt that Bush Smith was a prostitute.
If there is no credible record or evidence that William T. Anderson joined Quantrill in 1862, or if there is no credible record or evidence that Quantrill wintered in north Texas in the winter of 1862 and 1863, then William T. Anderson must have met Bush Smith until the winter of 1863 and 1864.

Anderson, Erwin, and Smith Families of Grayson County

During the Civil War, Missouri Partisan Rangers, also known as guerrillas, wintered in north Texas in Grayson and Fannin counties. Brothers William T. and James Monroe Anderson, sons of Kentuckians William C. and Martha Jane Thomason Anderson, were among the guerrillas. Lt. William T. Anderson married Miss Bush Smith in Sherman 3 March 1864. Soon after the death of Bill Anderson 26 October 1864 in Ray County, Missouri, Jim Anderson brought his surviving sisters, Mary Ellen (Mollie) and Martha Jane (Mattie) from Missouri to Grayson County. There are Grayson County marriage records for all three siblings. J. M. Anderson married Malinda Anderson 22 August 1866. James Anderson married Mary Erwin 21 October 1868. Mollie Anderson married A. V. (Alexander V.) Doak 28 June 1865. Mattie Anderson married E. G. (Elbridge Geary) Douglass 20 February 1867.

ANDERSONS
There were no known children of William T. Anderson and Bush Smith. Bush did imply that she was pregnant in a letter she wrote to Bill, found on his body after he was killed.
Jim Anderson and Mary Lucy Erwin were the parents of one child, Jimmie Maude Anderson, born 21 August 1871 in Sherman, died 6 September 1966 in Dallas. She was born after Jim was killed 5 May 1871. J. M. and Mollie were in Refugio County in the 1870 census.
Mary Ellen Anderson and Alexander V. Doak were the parents of three children, Edith, William, and Claude. Mollie and A. V. Doak were in Refugio County in 1870, Grayson County in 1880, and Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory in the 1900 census. Mollie died in 7 November 1903, and both she and A. V. are buried in the Rose Hill Cemetery, Ardmore, Carter County, Oklahoma.
Martha Jane and Elbridge Geary Douglass were the parents of five children, William M., Ida L., Elbridge H., Lula M., and Edith Marian. Mattie and E. G. were in Refugio County in 1870, Grayson County in 1880, and Fort Bend County in 1900. Mattie was a widow in 1910, living in the household of her married daughter Edith Emanuel, in Murray County, Oklahoma. Mattie died 30 January 1926.
In the 1870 census of Refugio County, Mattie Douglass and husband are in the same household, with J. M. Anderson, teamster.

ERWINS
The Erwin family arrived in Grayson County in 1866 or 1867 according to an entry in the Bible of Mattie Erwin Maxwell, and their arrival in Texas was recorded as 1861. The parents were William Hugh Erwin and Lucy Moore. William H. Erwin was commissioned 1 September 1861 as a Colonel, 8th Division, Missouri State Guard, at Harrisonville, Cass County, Missouri. Find A Grave memorial #83175056 shows that Lucy Erwin, wife of W. H. Erwin, died 21 September 1863, and is buried in McLennan County, First Street Cemetery. Mary Lucy Erwin married James Anderson 21 October 1868. William Hugh Erwin was killed 15 February 1869, only a year after he had married the widow Sarah "Sallie" Henderson Smith.
Lucy Moore and William Hugh Erwin were the parents of seven children, William Joseph, Mary Lucy, Martha (Mattie) E., Charles Henry, James Samuel, Eugene Adair, and Sterling Price Erwin.
William Joseph Erwin married Virginia Ann Tuttle in Grayson County 13 January 1873. Their children were Claude, Grace, Wilma Mildred, and Mary Ann. William and Virginia died in Grady County, Oklahoma, and are buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Chickasha, Grady County, Oklahoma.
Mary Lucy Erwin married first, James Monroe Anderson, and they had one child, Jimmie Maude. Mary Lucy Erwin Anderson married second, Burrell Perry Smith Jr. They had eight children, Bush Virginia, Lucy Hardin, Willie Eugenia, Mattie, Burrell Perry III, Pandona Josephine, Ervin H., and S. Imogene. Mary Erwin and Burrell both lived and died in Sherman, and are buried in West Hill Cemetery.
Martha "Mattie" E. Erwin married Thomas Theodore Maxwell 25 January 1871. They had no children of their own, but raised Jimmie Maude Anderson, daughter of Mary Lucy Erwin and James Monroe Anderson. Both Mattie and Theodore lived in Sherman and are buried in West Hill Cemetery.
Charles Henry Erwin apparently died during childhood. No record of Charles has been found after he was named in the February 1867 petition for guardianship filed in Grayson County by W. H. Erwin.
James Samuel married Ella Dewett in Sherman 29 October 1887. They had one daughter, Isla, who married Guy Hudson. James died in 1917, and is buried in West Hill Cemetery.
Eugene Adair Erwin married Mollie Susan Douglas in Sherman 12 September 1880. They had ten children, John H., Charles B., Mattie F., Joseph A., Richard M., Samuel, Burrell, Mary L., Eldon G., and Eugene. Eugene and Mollie died in Roosevelt County, New Mexico, and are buried in the Elida Cemetery, Elida, Roosevelt County, New Mexico.
Sterling Price Erwin married Mary Anne Richardson. They were the parents of two children, Samuel Eugene and Mary Price Erwin. Sterling died 28 February 1896 in Canadian County, Oklahoma, and is buried in Union City Cemetery. Mary Ann Richardson remarried, first Robert Lane Search, then Mr. Kenney. She died 25 October 1966, and is buried in Woodland Memorial Park Cemetery, Sand Springs, Tulsa County, Oklahoma.

SMITHS
Sarah Ann Henderson and Burrell Perry Smith were in Red River County, Texas, in 1850. The family moved to Grayson County in 1852, and Burrell became the first mayor of Sherman. Burrell died 11 August 1859, and is buried in West Hill Cemetery. On 17 August 1859, Sarah H. Smith and James H. Tuttle filed a petition stating that Burrell P. Smith departed this Iife 15 August 1859. Four children are listed under the age of 14; Malinda A. Smith, B. P. Smith, Paulina Smith, and Virginia H. Smith.
No Grayson County marriage license for Malinda Smith has been found.
Paulina Smith married Charles J. Whitehurst not long before the 1870 census was recorded when they are in Grayson County with no children. They were in Grayson County when the 1900 census was recorded. They were the parents of 5 children at that time; Arthur Clinton, Sallie R., Lillian, Jot Gunter, and Charles Johnson Whitehurst.
The death date and place of Paulina Smith Whitehurst is unknown. Her husband, Charles J. Whitehurst, died in Lubbock, Texas, and is buried in the City of Lubbock Cemetery, Lubbock, Texas.
Burrell Perry Smith Jr. married the widow of James Monroe Anderson, Mary Erwin. Her name on the marriage license is Mollie L. Anderson, not Mollie L. Erwin. See preceding paragraph for names of children.
Virginia Smith married A. A. Burney 21 February 11875 in Fannin County where they lived until they died. Almarine A. Burney died 11 June 1926, and Virgie died 28 June 1937, and both are buried in Willow Wild Cemetery in Bonham, Fannin County. They were the parents of 6 children; Robert Henderson, Mary B., Lula, Sallie V., Grace C., and Clara.

After the death of Burrell Perry Smith, Sarah Ann "Sallie" married 2nd, Isaac Hudson as Sarah H. Smith. After his death, she married 3rd, William Hugh Erwin as Sallie A. Hudson. After his death, she married 4th, Finis D. Piner in Fannin County as Sallie Erwin. In the 1900 census, Sallie was reported to be the mother of 5 children, and 3 were still living. Those were Burrell P. Smith Jr., Paulina Smith Whitehurst, and Virginia Smith Burney. F. D. and Sallie remained in Fannin County until their death, and are buried in Willow Wild Cemetery, Bonham, Fannin County. This indicates that Malinda A. Smith died prior to 1900.

It is widely believed that Jim Anderson married Bill's widow. Since there is a marriage license for Lieut. William T. Anderson and Miss Bush Smith, and another marriage license for James Anderson and Mary Erwin, it is easy to assume that Bush and Mary were same person.

The preceding family information is supported by a paper trail of census and other records. Mary Lucy Erwin was born 27 March 1852. She was not quite 12 years old when William T. Anderson married Bush Smith. The family Bible of her sister, Mattie Maxwell, dates the arrival of the Erwin family in Grayson County to 1866 or 1867. The marriage license of James Anderson and Mary Erwin reads Mary Erwin, not Mary Anderson as it probably would in the case of a widow. William Hugh Erwin lived until 1869, and Mary Lucy Erwin was never an orphan to be adopted by a Smith family. Jim Cummins, in his 1903 book, referred to the mother of Bill's widow as Mrs. Smith.

CONCLUSION: Mary Lucy Erwin was not the same young woman as Bush Smith.

The 22 August 1866 marriage license of J. M. Anderson and Malinda Anderson is probably the marriage license of James Monroe Anderson and the widow of William T. Anderson, Malinda (Bush) Smith. When widows remarried in Grayson County, there are several examples where the surname of the bride is not her maiden name, but the name of her late husband. Malinda Smith and Burrell P. Smith Jr. had a first cousin named Bush Smith. Mary Lucy Erwin and Burrell P. Smith Jr. named their oldest daughter, Bush Virginia Smith. Malinda's full name was probably Malinda Bush Smith.

James Anderson married Mary Erwin in 1868. Either Malinda (Bush) Smith Anderson had died, or there was a divorce. There is no listing for Malinda Anderson in West Hill cemetery. If they were divorced, both would be free to remarry. There is a second marriage license for Malinda Anderson and Albert (or Andrew) Ross in Grayson County dated 2 January 1870. For marriage records, Malinda Smith would be known as Malinda Anderson after the death of William T. Anderson, and would remain Malinda Anderson after a divorce from Jim Anderson. So far, so good. What happened to Malinda Ross and Albert (or Andrew Ross)? Not found in the 1880 census records, and Malinda died before 1900 according to the response given by her mother, who reported two children deceased prior to 1900.

CONCLUSION: Mary Lucy Erwin was NOT the bride of Lieut. William T. Anderson. The most likely but unproven bride of Lieut. William T. Anderson was Malinda (Bush) Smith, born about February 1850 in Red River County, and who was 14 years old in March 1864. James Anderson married Malinda Anderson, who was probably Bill's widow (UNPROVEN), in 1866, before marrying Mary Lucy Erwin in 1868.
 
I will have to take your word for all this, Census Reader. You obviously are meticulous when it comes to your research. James Baker doesn't cite his source concerning Mary Erwin being an orphan from Tennessee before she was supposedly adopted by the Smith family. Paul Petersen is the only historian I've come across who has attempted to piece together the mystery of the relationship between William Anderson and Bush Smith from its inception. He claims that, according to the recollection of a Sherman resident from that era, they met at a Christmas party in 1862 and Bill pursued a relationship with the young woman hoping it would culminate in marriage. Obviously it did not and he was still a bachelor when he left Sherman the following spring for the 1863 campaign. Even if his sources are somewhat vague, Mr. Petersen's account is more believable than the writers who have dismissed Miss Smith as a prostitute, which seems to me to be more of a backhanded insult to Bill Anderson than to her, anyway.
Tumbleweed,
This is the way it looks to me. Bush Smith and Mary Erwin were definitely two different young women.

The following facts do not prove that Bush Smith was Malinda A. Smith, nor do they preclude that possibility.
The 17 August 1859 Grayson County petition filed by Sarah H. Smith and James H. Tuttle confirms that the Smith family was in Grayson County prior to 1864.
The petition identified the Smith children as Malinda A. Smith, B. P. Smith, Paulina Smith, and Virginia H. Smith, all under 14 years of age.
Marriage records or census records have been found proving B. P. Smith, Paulina Smith, and Virginia Smith had married.
No marriage record has been found for Malinda A. Smith.
Malinda Smith was 14 years old when William T. Anderson married Bush Smith 3 March 1864.
Malinda Anderson married J. M. Anderson 22 August 1866 in Grayson County.
Malinda Smith had a first cousin named Bush Smith.
Malinda Smith's brother, Burrell P. Smith Jr., and Mary Erwin Anderson Bush named their first child, Bush Virginia Smith.
Only 3 of Sarah Henderson Smith Hudson Erwin Piner's children were still alive in 1900.

After the death of James Anderson in 1871, Grayson County probate records show that B. F. Christian a creditor, was the administrator of the estate. The only asset identified was Lot 2, Block 2, of the original platt of Sherman. No heirs were identified in the probate records.

There is an oft repeated story that Bill Anderson built a house in Sherman on Cherry Street for his bride. There is also a story that Jimmie Maude Anderson lived in that house until shortly before her death. The only way to determine the accuracy of those stories would be a search of Grayson County property records, starting with the house in which Jimmie Maude Anderson was known to reside and trace ownership back to construction of the house.
 
I will have to take your word for all this, Census Reader. You obviously are meticulous when it comes to your research. James Baker doesn't cite his source concerning Mary Erwin being an orphan from Tennessee before she was supposedly adopted by the Smith family. Paul Petersen is the only historian I've come across who has attempted to piece together the mystery of the relationship between William Anderson and Bush Smith from its inception. He claims that, according to the recollection of a Sherman resident from that era, they met at a Christmas party in 1862 and Bill pursued a relationship with the young woman hoping it would culminate in marriage. Obviously it did not and he was still a bachelor when he left Sherman the following spring for the 1863 campaign. Even if his sources are somewhat vague, Mr. Petersen's account is more believable than the writers who have dismissed Miss Smith as a prostitute, which seems to me to be more of a backhanded insult to Bill Anderson than to her, anyway.


There are a few credible records of Jim Anderson after the war.

Jim brought his surviving sisters, Mary Ellen "Mollie" and Martha Jane "Mattie" to Grayson County, Texas, before June 1865, for A. V. Doak and Mollie Anderson were married 28 June 1865.

Jim Anderson married Mary Erwin 21 October 1868. She was NOT Bush Smith.

J. M. Anderson, age 26, Mollie Anderson, age 18, were in a household headed by his brother-in-law, James (Elbridge Geary) Douglass, age 26, and Mattie (Martha Jane Anderson), age 20, in the 1870 census of Refugio County, Texas, dated 30 July 1870. James was reported to be a teamster.

The 1966 death certificate of Jimmie Maude Anderson lists her parents as James Monroe Anderson and Mary Erwin. Jimmie was born 21 August 1871 in Sherman and died 6 September 1966 in Dallas. Jimmie Maude Anderson was raised by Mattie Erwin Maxwell and her husband, Theodore Maxwell.

The family Bible of Jim's sister-in-law, Mattie Erwin Maxwell, shows that Jim died 5 May 1871. No particulars were given.

Grayson County probate records have a death date of 14 April 1871. This death date was provided by the administrator of the estate, B. F. Christian, who was a creditor of the deceased. The Grayson County sheriff was commanded to summon Ebb (Elbridge) Douglass and Wm. (William Joseph) Erwin, two brothers-in-law of the deceased. No heirs were named in the probate records.

The Bible record and the probate record confirm Jim Anderson was killed in the spring of 1871. The death date of 5 May 1871 found in a family Bible seems more credible.

J. M. Anderson married Malinda Anderson 22 August 1866. The individuals named in this record MIGHT BE James Monroe "Jim" Anderson and Malinda "Bush" Smith, but this is only speculation at present. IF this speculation could be confirmed, it would verify the story that Jim Anderson married Bill's widow.
 
There is an oft repeated story that Bill Anderson built a house in Sherman on Cherry Street for his bride. There is also a story that Jimmie Maude Anderson lived in that house until shortly before her death. The only way to determine the accuracy of those stories would be a search of Grayson County property records, starting with the house in which Jimmie Maude Anderson was known to reside and trace ownership back to construction of the house.

The only thing I have read concerning any house Mrs. William Anderson lived in was written by one of Bill Anderson's men, Jim Cummins. After Bill was killed by militia in Ray county, Missouri, his men returned to Texas. Mr. Cummins and a few men went to Mrs. Smith's house, Bill's mother-in-law, where his young wife was living with her mother. Mr. Cummins doesn't mention a father and Mrs. Anderson's first name isn't disclosed, she is only described as Bill's wife. They delivered the news of Bill's death to the women and stayed there for an undisclosed amount of time.

Jimmie Maude Anderson, James Anderson's only child, was the great-aunt of the woman who posted this photo of Ms. Anderson and her sister on her blog although no date or address is given. If this is the original home built by William Anderson for his bride he certainly didn't cut corners. I'm quite certain this would have been an exceptional home for young newlyweds.

Aunt-Jim-L-Aunt-Lucy-R-1213-Cherry-St-Sherman-TX-001-1024x838.jpg
 
I believe you are referring to a description in Jim Cummins book.

"Prof. Dunn came along then and as he was a friend of Anderson, he placed stones on his grave and caused me to think when I arrived in Sherman, Texas with three or four of Anderson's men in advance of the company and went to Mrs. Smith's house, the mother of Bill Anderson's wife. and when Mr. John Moppin, who had been wounded in the fight in which Anderson was killed and we had taken through to Sherman, told Mrs. Smith and Bill's wife of the death of Bill Anderson, the wife cried all night and almost went into hysterics. After the long and tiresome traveling which we had just done, we were very dirty and tired and some of the men were even lousy and so we told Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Smith that we would go because we were not fit to sleep in her house.But they would not let us leave and soon had beds made down on the parlor floor for us and made us sleep there in the house, as dirty as we were. They were even then afraid we would getup and leave so they locked all the doors."

I have corresponded with a woman who grew up in Sherman, who was born about 1940, and has been inside the house, and knew Miss Jimmie. Supposedly, Miss Jimmie was born in an upstairs bedroom. The photo must have been made many years ago, judging from the dresses the women are wearing. There is an underlying caption, sometimes briefly visible on Heather's website, that identifies the woman on the left as Aunt Jim, and Aunt Lucy on the right, 1213 Cherry Street, Sherman Texas 001. The 3 digit postal code indicates the photo was made after 1943. I am not yet convinced that this house was built in 1864, but maybe it was.

Move your cursor over the lower right portion of the photo on Heather's website and the caption should appear.
 
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I believe you are referring to a description in Jim Cummins book.

"Prof. Dunn came along then and as he was a friend of Anderson, he placed stones on his grave and caused me to think when I arrived in Sherman, Texas with three or four of Anderson's men in advance of the company and went to Mrs. Smith's house, the mother of Bill Anderson's wife. and when Mr. John Moppin, who had been wounded in the fight in which Anderson was killed and we had taken through to Sherman, told Mrs. Smith and Bill's wife of the death of Bill Anderson, the wife cried all night and almost went into hysterics. After the long and tiresome traveling which we had just done, we were very dirty and tired and some of the men were even lousy and so we told Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Smith that we would go because we were not fit to sleep in her house.But they would not let us leave and soon had beds made down on the parlor floor for us and made us sleep there in the house, as dirty as we were. They were even then afraid we would getup and leave so they locked all the doors."

I have corresponded with a woman who grew up in Sherman, who was born about 1940, and has been inside the house, and knew Miss Jimmie. Supposedly, Miss Jimmie was born in an upstairs bedroom. The photo must have been made many years ago, judging from the dresses the women are wearing. There is an underlying caption, sometimes briefly visible on Heather's website, that identifies the woman on the left as Aunt Jim, and Aunt Lucy on the right, 1213 Cherry Street, Sherman Texas 001. The 3 digit postal code indicates the photo was made after 1943. I am not yet convinced that this house was built in 1864, but maybe it was.

Move your cursor over the lower right portion of the photo on Heather's website and the caption should appear.

Yes, Jim Cummins book was the source. I didn't post a link because I assumed (correctly) that you were already familiar with it. I wasn't too sure about Heather's blog, though. It's a shame someone didn't sit down with Mr. Cummins and interview him rather than his jotting down a paltry sixty-four somewhat disjointed pages on his own. After spending two and a half years in the company of Bill Anderson, the record of his/their adventures could have filled volumes. I did find another blog with him relating some circumstances about being part of the James Gang after the war but there's little about his being a guerrilla. (It would be quite exciting if the lost manuscript he supposedly wrote about his post war activities with the James' was found and published.)

Having been born in 1940, I suppose by the time your Texas correspondent was old enough to ask any worthwhile questions of Jimmie Anderson, the latter was probably already in the Dallas home for the elderly. One would think that a woman who lived to such an advanced age would have taken the time to write a memoir or at least keep a diary that could have answered a number of questions historians would like to know. Having never married she certainly had plenty of time to do it.

If it is true that Miss Anderson was born in that house in 1871, it's almost certain to be the one built in the spring of 1864. Of course, it is possible the original was destroyed for whatever reason before her birth. As you mentioned in a previous post, until a search of the records is done it's only speculation that William Anderson ever owned the property.

I did return to Heather's website and the caption appeared on the photo. I don't know how I missed it when I copied it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
 
Tumbleweed, the story that Jim Anderson brought his surviving sisters to Texas is true. Marriage and census records provide conclusive proof. The story that Jim Anderson married Bloody Bill's widow may be true. The 1866 Grayson County marriage license of J. M. Anderson and Malinda Anderson raises that possibility, but is definitely not proof. Maybe some type of record exists somewhere that would provide more information. The story that George Shepherd slit Jim Anderson's throat on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol is nothing but hearsay. Granted, Jim Anderson was killed in 1871, but by whom and where? Has an 1871 newspaper account of the incident been located by a diligent author? It could have been Austin, for Jim Anderson was in Refugio County, Texas, in the 1870 census. His route to and from Refugio County could easily include Dallas and Travis Counties. Since Jim owned property in Sherman, and his wife was from Sherman, it is also possible that the murder occurred in Sherman on the Court House lawn. Quantrill's guerrillas had been in Grayson County in the 1863-1864 winter, and I believe quite a few left Missouri and came to live in north Texas after the end of the war.

Find A Grave is a valuable genealogy resource. Many times, it is the only place where a death date is found.
Usually, owners of Find A Grave make a conscientious effort to provide accurate information, and make revisions when accurate information becomes available. There are exceptions: Find A Grave Memorial# 65718679 for James Anderson. At least Jim's name, probable birth date, and birthplace, and parents' names are correct. Are there any known photos with provenance of Jim Anderson? Is there any credible record of his place of death, or his killer? The death date is obviously wrong. The owner acknowledges my messages, but has not corrected the death date.
 
That looks like a much later house than one built in the 1860s or even 1870s.

About mid-teens or 1920's, IMO. Is that what you were thinking? That's a pretty typical home of the period. That being said, I can imagine the possibility of remodeling at some point--taking a much smaller structure and "modernizing" it....I've run into that before, where a truly historic home was buried within the walls of a remodel to the extent one wouldn't recognize it. Not that I blame folks for adding a real kitchen and bathrooms....:smile:

As a matter of fact, imagine it without the front porch and second story structures, and particularly the skirting around the base.....and it becomes a typical "central hall" type home very typical of Texas in the 1860's or '70's. It just expanded. Now that I look at it, I'd almost swear there's an older home under all the early-century "foo-foo."
 
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There is no doubt that William T. Anderson married Bush Smith 3 March 1864. Various publications repeat the story that William T. Anderson had a house built for Bush in 1864. It is doubtful if there was indoor plumbing in 1864, or natural gas for heating. No chimney is visible in the photo, although there might be one. No power lines are visible, but there must have been electrical service in the 1940s. If this house was built in 1864, I would agree that major remodeling has been done. The exterior appears to be in very good condition for a house that was 80 years old at the time the photo was made, a further indication of remodeling.

This house was built on a very large acreage which was later subdivided.
 
You say above that a probate record shows James Anderson owning Lot 2, Block 2 on the original platt of Sherman. Is it likely that Bill Anderson would have owned something nearby? Because if this property was at 1213 Cherry Street, that would have been pretty far out from the center of town in 1864.

Also, TSA history says there was a fire in the 1870s that burned most of the structures east and south of the County Courthouse and that the town was rebuilt with much improved structures.
 
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