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ANDERSON ABERCROMBIE
BIOGRAPHY and GENEALOGY
(1786-1867)
Russell County, Alabama
Maj. General Anderson Abercrombie was born Aug. 28, 1786 in Hancock County, Georgia. the son of Maj. Charles Abercrombie and Dicey Edwina (Boothe) Abercrombie (q. v.) and brother of James Abercrombie.
In 1818, at the age of thirty-two he married Miss Sidney Grimes, daughter of John Grimes, of Sparta, Georgia. She had the reputation of being the “handsomest lady of her day in Greene County.”
Maj. General Anderson Abercombie was an extensive planter and slave owner. He enlisted as a private in the War of 1812, rose to the rank of adjutant-general and was in the battle of Ottosee and Calebee. He was wounded in the left arm at the battle of Calebee by a rifleshot. The Indians were his friends on account of his kindness to them, and when hostilities broke out between the settlers and Indians, the Abercrombie home was not molested.
He represented Hancock County, Georgia 1826 and 1827, in the House. In Feb. 1832, he moved to Russell County, Alabama, where he settled on a large plantation and with his brother Charles Abercrombie, purchased a large tract of land on Coweta Bend embracing the Indian town of Coweta, part of which purchase money was paid to the Indians and part to the Columbus Land Company. This was a few miles from Fort Mitchell. In 1836, he was again in the military service and became the first president of the Mobile and Girard Railroad, but later resigned due to increasing farming interest.
He was a Presbyterian and a Democrat. Maj. Gen. Abercrombie was listed as foreman of the first Grand Jury ever empaneled in the Russell County Circuit Court in 1833. After his father’s death, General Abercrombie was appointed administrator of his large estate. “The venerable Judge. G. D. Hooper, of Opelika who in his prime was a contemporary and a warm friend of General Abercrombie, regarded him as a man for whom nature had done more and education less, than any man in Russell County and the County recognized this fact, regarding him as the only peer of ex-Governor Hamilton, of South Carolina, who settled on the Oswichie Bend in 1842, and afterwards moved to Texas and died.”
The children of Gen. Abercrombie and Sidney Grimes were:
- Elizabeth Abercrombie, (Nov. 30, 1819 – Nov. 20, 1892) m. Judge Nicholas Howard lied in Wynton, Georgia.;
- John Grimes Abercrombie, (March 8, 1821 GA – Mar. 17, 1884) m Sarah Tabitha Crowell they lived in Russell County, Alabama.
- Dr. Charles Thomas Abercrombie, (Apri 18, 1824-1873 AL) m. Virginia Gordon
- Sarah Abercrombie,(1824-1882) m. her cousin, James Abercrombie, of Pensacola, Fla.
- Judge James Jackson Abercrombie, (August 28, 1826 – May 18, 1901) m. Eliza Parthenia Ross – they lived in Opelika.
- Everard H. Abercrombie, (1827 AL – Aug 2, 1902) m. Pauline Lewis – they lived in Russell County
- Josephine Abercrombie, m. Edwin Belser
- Louisa Abercrombie, m. John R. Berry – they lived in Orlando Apopka,, Florida;
- Robert S. Abercrombie – Adju. Gen. of Cavalry, was killed in battle at Greensport, on the Alabama and Tennessee line, during the Civil War.
- Mary F. Abercrombie, (Dec. 18, 1837 – May 16, 1900) m. Maj. Gen. Samuel Gibbs French, of the C. S. Army – lived in Wynnton, Georgia and Florida.
- Florida Abercrombie, (Feb. 1, 1840 – Dec. 15, 1925) m. (1) S. M. Wellborn, (2) Gov. James M. Smith, of Georgia- lived in Columbus, Georgia.
- Major Wiley W. Abercrombie, m. Nettle Spear – lived in Orlando and New Smyrna, Florida.
“The Abercrombies were said to be as quiet as lambs in peace and safety, and bold as lions in war and danger. They were a wealthy family and gathered around them the most intelligent and refined Society in the State, dispensing a hospitality, bounded only by good taste and sound judgement, consequently it was as durable as their lives were long. Their social position was the highest and in the latter years of their lives was tempered to a still higher refinement by the potent influences of the Christian religion. The family connexion of today is the most extensive in Russell, Lee and Macon counties. By blood and by Marriage they are connected with the Bellamys, Crowells, Nesbits, Lindseys, Lewises, Martins, Grants Claytons, Clantons, Belsers, Halls, Rosses, Slenus, Gordons, Fraders, Hurts, Davies, McDonalds, etc.
In the olden days, gala days were frequent on the Bend, “Abercrombie Bar” being the favorite picnic ground. It was when the great oaks put on their autumn livery of crimson and gold just after the hoar frost glittered upon the distant terraced hills, and the proverbial Southern Indian summer was in its glory, when the partridge answered its mate in the russet meadord, when the black birds whistled in the hazel copprice and the wild turkeys were piping in the deep woods and the hurry and flurry of the crop season was over and general relaxation for man and beast followed, that the youthful manhood and maiden beauty, the reigning belles and beaux, both rustic and refined, from city and country on both sides of the river would gather in hundreds at this favorite resort to enjoy a day of recreation and indulge in sports, amusements and pastimes of the old, old days.”
General Abercrombie died suddenly while visiting his daughter, February 21, 1867, Elizabeth Howard at the age of 82 years. He was buried in the family burying ground in Russell County, Alabama. His wife, Sidney, died in 1876.
SOURCES:
- findagrave.com # 6404437 # 14560482 # 34723039 # 44794852 # 74769718 # 74777063 # 14560437 # 74776370 # 74776536 # 21842797 # 4532 # 34628726 # 7960864 # 14560400 l# 14560388 # 103192269 # 14538231
- History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume 3 By Thomas McAdory Owen, Marie Bankhead Owen
This biography is included in the Book Biographies of Notable and Not-so-Notable Alabama Pioneers Vol. III along with several other Abercrombie families in Alabama.
Gen. Anderson Abercrombie’s ancestors as well as his descendants can be found in the book Some Descendants of Charles Abercrombie (1742 -1819) with Notes & Sources
Biographies of Notable and Not-so-Notable Alabama Pioneers Volume III (Kindle Edition)Donna R Causey
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About Donna R Causey
Donna R. Causey, resident of Alabama, was a teacher in the public school system for twenty years. When she retired, Donna found time to focus on her lifetime passion for historical writing. She developed the websites www.alabamapioneers and www.daysgoneby.me All her books can be purchased at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. She has authored numerous genealogy books. RIBBON OF LOVE: A Novel Of Colonial America (TAPESTRY OF LOVE) is her first novel in the Tapestry of Love about her family where she uses actual characters, facts, dates and places to create a story about life as it might have happened in colonial Virginia. Faith and Courage: Tapestry of Love (Volume 2) is the second book and the third FreeHearts: A Novel of Colonial America (Book 3 in the Tapestry of Love Series) Discordance: The Cottinghams (Volume 1) is the continuation of the story. . For a complete list of books, visit Donna R Causey
