John Dunbar Anderson

John travelled to Australia with his family when he was 8. They sailed aboard the ship Asia which arrived in Sydney on May 10th 1839. On the same ship was a Cartwright named Alexander Sutor (sp. Suttor) who was travelling with his wife Anne and two young children, a son named Alexander, almost 5, and a daughter named Barbara, aged 2 and a half.

We can wonder if they made the decision to travel together, which is likely given that Donald Anderson and Alexander were 1st cousins, their mothers were sisters. The two families were most likely close to each other in Scotland, their children were baptised in the same church at Croy and Dalcross, Inverness.

There is no doubt the cousins stayed in touch once they arrived in the colony of NSW as well, especially in the first few years when Donald and Margaret resided in Sydney before heading south.

Aside from being cousins and travelling together from their homeland, the families were again linked forever together when Donald’s son John Anderson aged 28 would marry Alexander’s daughter Barbara Sutter, then aged 22 in 1859 (2109/1859).

They were to have no children and few records survive to tell their story.

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Both John and Barbara are listed on the death and probate notices for Barbara’s father in April 1884.

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Both Alexander and Ann, Barbara’s parents, are buried in the Presbyterian section of Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney, NSW. They were both re-interred here from Devonshire St Cemetery.

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John passed away at home, aged 84. The informant on his death certificate was a Robert Mitchell, friend, of 2 Francis Street. He was buried on the 10^th May 1915 in the Presbyterian section of Rookwood Cemetery, having spent about 76 years in NSW, and outliving all of his siblings. His occupation was listed as a public servant.

Barbara would pass away at home almost two years later to the day in 1917.