For a number of years I have been researching the Anderson Family in British Ceylon.
Any Anderson name found in Ceylon or Indian records was a potential clue. My goal was to discover the original birthplace and parents of my wife’s ancestor, Captain James Thomas Anderson, who married a Dutch Lady – Adriana Toussaint – in Jaffna, in 1803.
We now know that James Thomas Anderson was born in Scotland in 1779. This information is gleaned from Allens Indian Mail which reported his age at death as 68, in 1847. The Jaffna Dutch Church records found in The Hague, Holland, had his marriage entry as of “Schotland”, but shows no age.
I was lucky enough to be able to photograph the Church book entry, and most of the rest of the entries in 2010.
When I visited The Family History Library in Salt Lake City in the same year, I discovered the Widow and Orphan Fund Applications for the Ceylon Civil Service. I was immediately entranced by the amount of valuable family information contained in such a small document.
My search for the Anderson family documents has thrown up some interesting evidence of how family history can get distorted by time.
Our Anderson Family has a pedigree in the Dutch Burgher Union Journals, which has been used by descendants since the 1920s as the gospel of our family history. Civil Registration did not start until 1897, and only the Dutch Church records have been photographed by the LDS.
The Anderson, Kriekenbeek family shown in the record above is my wife’s paternal Great Grandfather, Alfred Edwin Anderson.
The 5th child has always been known as Ethel Louise, but on closer examination it is not Louise, but Ethel LEWIS Emiel. As this document is written by the father, who is an educated man, a closer study of the name Lewis in British Ceylon brought me to John Penry Lewis, who researched and wrote the book “Tombstones and Monuments in Ceylon”.
As I searched the Widow & Orphans Fund documents, I found the first entry for John Penry Lewis as a bachelor, and then a later entry for him marrying Violet Marion Eindine Anderson in 1894.
John Penry Lewis was the Government Agent in Jaffna and Negombo, where our Anderson Family had resided for 3 generations! John Penry Lewis was appointed from England, but where did Violet Anderson come from?
We have still have not found a connection, but deeper research MAY break down a brick wall in our ongoing ancestral search!
Such great clues from an application to the Ceylon Civil Service Widow and Orphans Fund!
Search our Ceylon Civil Service Widows & Orphans Fund Application Index for your British Ceylon ancestors!
Larry Andresen (is that a spelling mistake?) I’m researching our family history, in particular my mother’s grandparents, John Penry Lewis and Violet Marion Eindine Anderson. Their twin daughters were Gwyneth and Violet Elise. Violet was my mother, Peggy (later Laws), mother.
So no sign of Violet Marion anywhere in your researches?
Kind regards,
Bill
I was delighted to hear from Emma, John Penry Lewis’ granddaughter, through this blog. Even more moved to receive photos of my parents wartime marriage in Calcutta, taken by her grandfather. What a wonderful resource!
Bill Laws (Leech/Lewis/Anderson)
Hi. We share the same Anderson history. My direct descendant is Thomas Richard – Alfred Edwins younger Brother. Amazing picture. If you have anymore pictures of extended family I would love to see!