Anderson (b. 1824) and Elizabeth Carey (b. 1842) had eleven children: Ella (b. 1860), Mary (b. 1862), Pattie (b. 1864), Wash (b. 1865), Lee (b. 1867), Willie (b. 1869), Lucy (b. 1870), Mittie (b. 1872), James (b. 1874), Bettie (b. 1876), and Andy (b. 1882). Anderson Carey worked odd jobs at the college, as Robert Brock described in his Record article, “Some Colored Celebrities of the By-Gone Days:”
I suppose that every student of Hampden-Sydney from the period of 1875-1915 will recall Anderson Carey…a familiar figure on the campus and about the store and post office…He would do odd jobs, carrying messages for the students and waiting on them. He will be well remembered as one who had about five birthdays a year, at which time he would solicit birthday gifts from the College boys. His broad grin and high cackling laugh will be recalled by many who spent their days here.
Carey’s daughter Lee married George Venable (b. 1863), likely another descendant of Venable slaves. George and Lee had fifteen children, several of whom are buried in the Mercy Seat cemetery today.
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