Rebecca (Leyburn) Anderson (abt. 1815 - aft. 1850)

Born about 1815 in Lexington, Rockbridge, Virginia, United States

Ancestors

Daughter of John Leyburn and Jane Isabella (McDowell) Leyburn

Wife of Luke Anderson — married 1832 in Virginia, United States

Descendants

Died after 1 Aug 1850 after about age 35 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States [uncertain]

Biography

Rebecca (Leyburn) Anderson was born in Appalachia, in Virginia.

Native Virginian

Rebecca (Leyburn) Anderson has Scottish Ancestors.

Rebecca (Leyburn) Anderson has English ancestors.

Rebecca was born in Lexington, Virginia about 1815^[1] the daughter of John Leyburn and Jane McDowell.^[2] Her mother died shortly after her birth.^[3]

Her father had been a captain in the militia and a businessman of some means who provided for the education of his three sons (a doctor and two clergymen) and although he helped found a girl's school, the death of her mother might have prevented her from attending as it is alleged that she could not read or write.

It is not clear who was responsible for rearing Rebecca, but likely it was her sister Alice (for further details, see the research notes).

John Leyburn Home (1814-1838) - built 1778,

Around the time of his death in 1831, she married Luke Anderson^[1] and had two sons, Luke, jr (around 1833) and Lyburn (around 1837). Luke was from Loudoun County and Rebecca from Rockbridge County and how they met is not recorded. Rebecca's first cousin Alicia married a John Fowler whose surname matched that of Luke's mother Eleanor Fowler), so possibly this was the source of their acquaintance.

They lived initially, starting no later than 1835, in Aquia in Stafford, Virginia where Luke was working as an overseer building roads and later in the stone quarry.^[4] Around 1845 they moved to Washington, D.C. where the third son Albert was born (1847).

1850 - 7th Ward, Washington, D.C.

The family was living in the 7th Ward of Washington when the census was taken on 1 Aug 1850. After that date, there is no information on either Rebecca or her husband but it should be noted that in 1860, their youngest son, only 13 at the time, was living with his brother and his family rather than with his parents^[5] . . . one is tempted to infer that they had passed away sometime in the 1850s.

Research Notes

Documentation on Rebecca is very limited. From the 1850 census, we know her first name, approximate year of birth, that she was born in Virginia, and that she could not read or write. That she was born in Virginia is confirmed by the death certificates of her three children but in her youngest son Albert's death certificate,it is declared that she was born in Richmond. The veracity of this document is suspect given that it also claims his father was born in Scotland.

The census records and death records of the children do not reveal Rebecca's maiden name but one can infer that with the first born male child named after his father, the second-born male child was named after the mother using her maiden name as naming him 'Rebecca' would not have been appropriate. The /LYBURN/ or /LEYBURN/ family is a somewhat rare name. In England, it was found mostly in Kent and North Yorkshire. In America, in Pittsburgh, PA, and Rockbridge, VA.

The Last Will and Testament of her father was written on 7 May 1827 (a codicil was added in 1831). Rebecca is not listed in that will putting some doubt as to her relationship. The possibilities are (1) she is not related, (2) she is a daughter who, for some reason, fell out of favor before 7 May 1827, (3) she is a granddaughter rather than a daughter.

1. That Rebecca named her second born son Lyburn goes a long way to say that there is an affliliation with that family and this has lead to discovering 91 DNA matches of descendants of this family or their pedigree including two triangulated matches through the Jane (McDowell) Leyburn line
2. That Rebecca might have been spurned for some reason is highly conjectural. The youngest sibling documented is John, born in 1814. Rebecca is recorded as born in 1815 but census records are commonly off by up to three years. Although one is tempted to infer 1815 +/- 3 years, it is doubtul that she was born before 1815 so one is left with the range 1815 - 1818. Certainly, she was not born after the death of the mother, Janes, who died 12 Jul 1818. With her eldest estimated to have been born in 1833, her marriage can be estimated at 1832 putting her age between 14 and 17. Her husband was not of the same social standing as the Leyburn family and her youth and his modest standing might have worked against her.
3. Working from the evidence of her genetic relationship to the family and her approximate age, one finds that at the death of Jane McDowell, there was an infant aged anywhere from newborn to three years old and there must have been someone who cared for this infant after Jul 1818. If the caretaker was from the John Leyburn household, it was likely a female where, with Elizabeth deceased and Jane too young, one finds only Mary and Alice. Mary married in 1919 and census records seem to preclude any young femal in the family other than Sarah born 1826. Alice, however, did not marry until 1842 by which time Rebecca was already married with children. The question remains whether Rebecca was the sister or natural daughter of Alice.
4. Alice and John (who was the minister officiating Alice's marriage in 1842, both lived in Petersburg in 1840. Petersburg is in the greater Richmond area. The death certificate of Rebecca's youngest son Albert claims that Rebecca was from Richmond. In 1845, John had married in Fredericksburg, VA. in 1845. Fredericksburg neighbors Stafford County where Rebecca lived from about 1835 until that time (moving to D.C. by 1847).
5. From the age of the other children and their respective marriage dates, Rebecca could not have been a legitimate child of any of them. The eldest surviving daughter, Mary, married in 1819 at the age of 20 but she was certainly old enough to have had a child before that marriage. If one refers to Rececca's estimated birth in 1815 and converts that to the range of 1812 to 1818, one can see that Mary would have been 12 to 18 at conception.

Albert was born 14 Nov 1847 making it clear that the family had moved to Washington by that date. The death certificate for eldest son Luke indicates that he had been living in Washington for 35 years at the time of his death on 19 Oct 1880 implying that the family moved around 19 Oct 1845. The year 1845 is interesting in that Rebecca's brother John was married in nearby Fredericksburg.

No 1860 census has been found for Rebecca or her husband. In fact, no 1860 census has been found for her first child but we do see that her two other children are living at the same household. Lybrun is married and living with his mother-in-law and step-father-in-law. Albert, only 13, is single of course. The presence of Albert, still in his minority, lends one to believe that his parents were no longer able to care for him. This is pure speculation as being counted at a household is often simply a case of visiting when the enumerator came to the door. It does work to sway the odds towards the parents being departed - either from life or just the city.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MX6M-BZ5 : 9 November 2014), Lyburn Anderson in household of Luke Anderson, Washington, ward 7, Washington, District of Columbia, United States; citing family 332, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
2. ↑ DNA matches:
   • MRCA: Robert Irvine/Margaret Wylie

   Maternal relationship is confirmed with a MyHeritage test match of 7.4 cM on chromosome 16 between Polly Watkins/PHC: 8c2r, Jimmy Anderson/PHC: 7c2r; Polly Watkins/Jimmy Anderson: 10c

   • MRCA: Archibald Campbell/Margaret Campbell

   Maternal relationship is confirmed with a MyHeritage triangulated test match on chromosome 1 for 14.3 cM between TAL, NWR, and Thom Anderson;TAL/NWR: 14c1r; Thom Anderson/NWR: 10c; Thom Anderson/TAL: 9c3r

3. ↑ There is some indication that Rebecca's brother John,born on 25 Apr 1814 , was older that Rebecca placing her birth after Mar 1815 but before her mother's death on 12 Jul 1818. Although the 1850 census gives the year as 1815, it might have been later and might have been 1818 and related to the death of her mother. This assumption might be incorrect as it would imply she was no more than 16 when married. Although possible, that would be very young and it is thought her birth was closer to 1812.
4. ↑ Email from Jerrilynn MacGrego, Stafford County Historian to Thomas Anderson on 29 Aug 2021

   I did find Luke Anderson’s name in the 1835 court records at which time he was appointed overseer of the road for an unspecified section of road. I did not find him listed in the militia records (though those are also incomplete). I also looked at the online index to the Fredericksburg Circuit Court records but didn’t find him. Nor did I find him in the Stafford-Fredericksburg-Spotsylvania marriage records. Lyburn (or variations thereof) is not what I consider to be a “local” surname, so I can’t connect Rebecca to anyone else here with whom I’m familiar. The position of his name in the 1840 Stafford census suggests that he resided near Aquia Creek and somewhere in the vicinity of the town of Aquia, now gone, but being part of Aquia Harbour subdivision. Perhaps of the most interest to me, Luke was included in a ledger kept by quarrier John Catesby Edrington, Jr. (1800-1879). That area of Stafford abounded with what is known as Aquia freestone, a type of sandstone that was used in the construction of the early public buildings in Washington, DC. Between 1837 and 1838, Luke was listed as one of the quarry workers at Edrington’s facility. Also on that list is William Anderson who may be the same one included on the 1840 census. That information comes from: John C. Edrington Acount Books, 1836 - 1838, Mss 1. Ed 745a 252-262

5. ↑ "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCVS-SKG : 30 December 2015), Albert Anderson in entry for Henry Burkman, 1860.

See also:

• Yarker, John, "Genealogy of the Surname Yarker; with the Leyburn and Several Allied Families; Resident in the Counties of Yorkshire, Durham, Westmoreland, and Lancashire, Including All of the Name in Cumberland, Canada, America, and Middlesex", Manchester: A.M Peters & Co., 1862