Robert Anderson (b. 1743) had opened a public house near the College of William and Mary in the fall of 1769 but in March of this year had moved to the Wetherburn Tavern, succeeding James Barrett Southall as its innkeeper. Anderson leased the tavern from Wetherburn’s heirs and operated it until 1779 (GIBBS description begins Patricia Ann Gibbs. “Taverns in Tidewater Virginia, 1700–1774.” Master’s thesis, College of William and Mary, 1968. description ends , 145–47).