A 1742 map of the Southern colonies. Courtesy of Rootsweb                
     

Research over the past fifteen or more years has provided us with a good outline of the origins of our Sanders and associated lines. Y-DNA evidence and family tradition leads us to believe that our line came from Ireland (or Scotland or both) and that the earliest representatives of this family were in what is now Fairfax County Virginia by the early years of the eighteenth century. We know that four brothers(William Aaron, Moses, Isaac, and Francis) left Virginia in the late 1760s and moved to Anson County North Carolina, settling in what eventually was the counties of Randolph and Montgomery. Other branches of the line moved to Spartanburg, South Carolina and areas in what is now West Virginia. Some branches are related only through Y-DNA evidence; for others we have a plausible paper record all the way back to Lewis Sanders, supposedly a schoolteacher who was the immigrant ancestor. 

I have also been able to trace all of my known ancestral lines back to the ancestor who lived here before the founding of the American constitution in 1789. Only one ancestor who was living in the year 1800 is unknown. There are still many mysteries, of course, and many individuals whose personal histories are vague and uncertain.

In this part of the Web page, I am posting brief biographies of individuals. Not everyone in the family tree will be included, of course. Some will be included because the previous research on these people has led to confusing results; others because I hope to correct errors that are common on the Web; still others because of  something really different or unique in that person's life.  The postings will not be limited to the Sanders family but will include related families  and in some cases, individuals who are not related at all but whose genealogy may have some significance in relation to Sanders genealogy. I have not tried to do this systematically but will add names from time to time as the need arises. For alphabetizing the surnames, I have used the maiden names of the women and I have used "Sanders" or "Saunders" as the surname according to the prevailing usage among researchers, as it is often difficult to determine which variant of the name the individual used originally.

--Gary B. Sanders

Joan Bailey Saunders
Birth:  1745
Fairfax County, Virginia?
Virginia
Death:  about 1810
Montgomery County
North Carolina 

Said to have been of the "famous old Bailey family of Virginia." What they were famous for is unknown, except perhaps that the Barnum and Bailey Circus was once located in Fairfax County, where many of the Sanders lived. (The Bailey family of the circus was not related to the Sanders, though).

Joan is sometimes called Joanah or "the widow Sanders" in land records of Montgomery County, North Carolina. The exact dates of her birth and death are unknown but she was probably born in the 1740s and she appears to have been still alive at the time of the 1810 census.

Spouse:
William Aaron Saunders (1735 - 1782)  

Weldon K. Burton

  

Born:

April 29, 1919

Columbia County, Arkansas

Died:

October 29, 1944

Adriatic Sea, World War II

 

From Military record:

World War II and Korean Conflict Veterans Interred Overseas

about Weldon K Burton

Name: Weldon K Burton

Inducted From: Arkansas 

Rank: Major 

Combat Organization: 779th Bomber Squadron 464th Bomber 

Death Date: 29 Oct 1944

Monument: Florence, Italy 

Last Known Status: Missing 

U.S. Awards: Purple Heart Medal

Air Medal

Distinguished Flying Cross

Additional Army Awards 

Foreign Awards: French - Croix De Guerre, with Palm 

 

From the newspaper "Greenville Post," Greenville, Mississippi, June 10, 1942:

 

Two brothers, Captain Paul T. burton, right, and First Lieutenant Weldon K. Burton, left, are flying planes of the Unites States Army Air Forces now after spending two years in the royal Canadian Air Force.  both were in commercial aviation flying in the New York area before joining the RCAF.  They are attending the instructor school at the Greenville field.  The brothers are graduates of Magnolia, Arkansas High School.

 

From a New York newspaper, possibly the "Times," April 20, 1945:

 

2 U.S. AIR LEADERS ESCAPE NAZI CAMP

 

CREGLINGEN, Germany, April 18 (Delayed)--Two Unites States Eighth and Ninth Air Force commanders who had been prisoners in Germany almost a year stumbled into the American lines early this morning, bringing to a successful climax their escape from a prison camp twelve days ago as the Germans began a mass evacuation of their camp in western Germany.

     The officers are Col. Kenneth R. Martin of Kansas City, Mo., commander of the 354th Mustang Fighte Group and Lieut. Col Paul T. Burton of 215 West 109th Street, New York city, commander of a bomber squadron in the 389th Liberator Group.  both were in good health, although Colonel Martin was near exhaustion because of injuries he recieved before his capture.

    Colonel Burton, whose parets live in Magnolia, Ark., was flying as a command pilot on the Hamm attach of April 22, 1944, when his plane was crippled by flak.  He hailed out over Antwep and was captured.

     "Tell my wife and family I'm ok," Colonel Martin said.  "I still love them and I hope I'll be with them soon."  He is the father of a son, Bill, 6, and a daughter, Myrna, 3.  "And tell mine the same," Colonel Burton said.  "I haven't seen them in two years."  He has two sons, Richard, 9, and Donald, 2.

     Colonel burton's wife, Katherine, who lives at 215 West 109th Street , with her mother, Mrs. Mary O'Shea, said she had last heard from him in December, when he wrote her from a German prison camp.

     In the summer of 1940, Colonel Burton, who had owned a flying school in Queens, joined the Royal Canadian Air Force.  Shortly after Pearl Harbor, he transferred to the United States Army Air Forces with the rank of captain.  Before he was shot down, his wife said, he had completed more than twenty bombing missions over Europe.  He is the holder of the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal, both with clusters.

     One of the colonel's three brothers, Capt. Weldon Burton, has been mising in action since Oct. 29, when his plane went down in the Adriatic Sea during a storm. 

Absalom Cox

Born:

before 1775
Virginia
Died:

between 1823--1830
Smith County, Tennessee

This Absalom Cox is often confused with the Absalom Cox who died in Whitley County, Kentucky, about 1846. The fact that one man is listed on the 1820 census of Smith County, Tennessee, and appears in subsequent records of Smith County, while the other is mentioned in record of Whitley County, Kentucky for three decades, through the 1820s, 1830s, and 1840s, is proof that they are two different individuals. They may, however, have been cousins but we do not know for certain.

The Absalom Cox who died in Smith County, Tennessee, married Judith Moore October 1, 1798, in Campbell County, Virginia.

On February 12, 1820, Absalom Cox bought 25 acres of land from John Duncan in Smith County.

Absalom and his family appear on the 1820 census of Smith County:

Male over 45 (before 1775):  Absalom
Female over 45 (before 1775): Judith

There are three males under 10 in the family; one male 10-15; one male 16-18; and two males 16-25. There are two females under 10 and one 26-44 years of age.  Obviously, the household includes more than just the children of Absalom and Judith.

I am unable to identify all of these children but I think two of them are as follows:

1. George Washington Cox, born about 1811. He married an unknown woman about 1832 and had three children: Drury, Caroline, and John. On January 15, 1851 he married Frances Frankie Lue Bradley in Wilson County, Tennessee.  They had three children born in Smith County, Tennessee, before they moved to Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.

2. Absalom Cox, Junior, born 1819. He married Susan R. Bradley on March 16, 1841 in Wilson County, Tennessee. Susan was the sister of Frances Bradley.

The Absalom Cox who married Judith Moore probably died between 1823 and 1830 in Smith County. There are no Coxes on the 1830 census of Smith County. The children may have been living in other households.

In 1840, both George Washington Cox and Absalom, Jr., have households of their own in Smith County. In the household of Absalom, Jr. is living a woman, aged 60-69. This may be his widowed mother, Judith Moore Cox.

This Absalom Cox in Smith County is often confused with the one in Whitley County.  See, for example, the discussion at the RootsWeb file of Norvan Johnson.

What follows is the the information I have about the other Absalom Cox, the one who lived and died in Whitley County, Kentucky:

Absalom Cox

Born:  about 1767,
Cane Creek, Orange County, North Carolina
Death: before August 23, 1846
Whitley County, Kentucky


This Absalom Cox was the son of Solomon Cox and Solomon’s wife who is believed to have been Naomi (or Amy) Hussey. The first reference to the him and his parents is the June 1781 records of the New Garden Quaker Meeting in North Carolina.

The following material from the Rootsweb file of Norvan Johnson is a quotation from the research of Mary Lou Hudson:

“Wanda Kaucher interviewed her Aunt Rachel Cox Cordell about 1974 and Rachel was very insistent that the Cox and Bird family moved to the Whitley Co., KY area from Mossy Creek in Jefferson Co., TN. Rachel also stated her Jefferson Co. , TN ancestor was a wagon maker. The Cox, Moore and Prigmore families have been found in Jefferson Co., TN public records. Deed records of Jefferson Co., TN mention a Dudley Cox who lived in the Mossy Creek area. It is not known if Dudley Cox is related to Absalom.”

There is therefore family tradition that Absalom moved from Jefferson County, Tennessee, to the Knox/Whitley County, Kentucky area.

More direct quotation from the Mary Lou Hudson material:

1802 - The first mention of Absalom Cox on the Knox Co., KY tax list is in 1802. He is listed as age 21 and up, owning one horse.

1803 - Absalom is again listed on the tax list for Knox Co., KY, but listed under delinquent tax. Nathan Cox is also listed as delinquent.

1805 - Absalom listed on the 1805 tax list for Knox Co., KY.

1806 - Absalom listed on the Knox Co., KY tax list.

1807 - Absalom Cox, John Cox and Osborn Cox listed as delinquent on the Knox Co., KY tax list.

1812 - Absalom Cox deed transaction - Jefferson Co., TN. 14 0 acres to Joseph Bates. The record where Absalom received the land - not found at this time. (Source: Jefferson Co., T N Deeds, Vol. K 1811-1814, Roll# 132, on file at Ft. Wayne , IN Public Library)

1819 - Absalom Cox is listed on the tax list for Whitley Co ., KY.


1821 - Absalom Cox is listed on the tax list for Whitley Co ., KY. Is this Absalom Jr., or Absalom Sr.? Jr.

1823 - Not listed in Whitley Co., KY

1824 - Absalom Cox is listed on the tax list for Whitley Co., KY

1825 - Absalom Cox Sr. listed on the tax list for Whitley Co., KY. Watercourse is listed as Wolf Creek. 125 acres. The land was entered in the name of J. Murphy. Absalom Cox Jr. is listed on the tax records of Whitley Co., KY.

1830 - Absalom Cox listed on tax list for Whitley Co., KY. It is not known if this is Absalom Sr., or Absalom Jr. [Both were listed in the 1830 census for Whitley Co., KY.-gs]

Census for Whitley Co., KY (Transcribed by Sybil Metcalf) Absolum Cox age 60-70 (b. 1760-1770) 1 female age 50-60(b. 1 770-1780) 1 male age 20-30(b. 1800 - 1810) 1 female age 15- 20(b. 1810-1815) 1 male age 5 -10(b. 1820-1825)


1833 - Absalom Cox Sr. not listed on tax records. Absalom Cox Jr. listed on tax list for Whitley Co., KY. Watercourse is listed as Clearfork. The land was originally entered in the name of James Davis.


1837 - Absalom Cox listed on the tax list for Whitley Co., KY. 115 acres on Wolf Creek. Not sure if this is Jr., or Sr.

1840 - Absalom Cox, Sr. listed on the tax list for Whitley Co., KY.100 acres, watercourse listed as "Gelico." Absalom Cox Jr. is listed on tax list - 170 acres, watercourse listed as Wolf Creek. It appears that Absalom Cox Sr. moved across the mountain to Jellico Creek.

Absalom hasn't been found on the 1840 census for Whitley Co ., KY. I am using a transcribed copy and the actual census need to be checked. [Actually, both Absalom Senior and Absalom Junior are listed-gs]

1841 - Absalom Cox Sr. not listed on the tax list for Whitley Co., KY. Polly Cox is listed.

1845 - Absalom Cox Sr. not listed on the tax list for Whitley Co., KY. Polly Cox listed with 100 acres on Jellico Creek.

1846, Aug 23 - Absalom Cox Sr. died. He is buried in the Jellico Creek Cemetery, Whitley Co., KY. Polly Cox is buried beside him. Someone has put a funeral home marker in front of the gravestone of Absalom Cox. The marker says "Nathan Cox." If Absalom's name was Nathan Absalom, I have been unable to prove it.

End of quotation from the research of Mary Lou Hudson and RootsWeb file of Norvan Johnson.

The Polly Cox mentioned by Mary Lou Hudson as buried beside Absalom Cox was Absalom's wife. The 1860 federal mortality census schedule states she died in December 1859, that she was born in Pennsylvania, and that she was eighty-six years old.

More from Mary Lou Hudson:

“Mary "Polly" Prigmore was born about 1771 (Source: The Journal of the Predmore/Pridemore/Pridmore/Prigmore Association , Vol. 3, No.1,February 1988, page 4 - on file at the Ft. Wayne, IN Public Library).A death date isn't given for Polly Prigmore. The Journal states she married 1st to Absalom Co and and 2nd to Barton Johnson. Polly was the daughter of Joseph Prigmore who was born about 1721. Prigmore researcher's state Polly Prigmore Cox divorced Absalom Cox "for being dishonest" and married Barton Johnson. It has been mentioned by Prigmore researchers that Elizabeth, sister to Polly, divorced her husband (John Smith) and married Barton Johnson. Elizabeth Prigmore m John Smith in 1801, Jefferson Co., TN. A marriage record, nor a divorce record, has been found for Absalom Cox and Polly Prigmore.”

There are several problems with the preceding statements from the article. As Mary Lou Hudson mentioned, Polly Cox did not divorce Barton Johnson; it was the sister of Polly Prigmore Cox, Betsy Prigmore Smith, who divorced her husband, John Smith, and married Barton Johnson. So far as I can tell, there is no record of the marriage of Absalom Cox and Polly Prigmore, but the mariage must have happened about 1789, most likely in the part of North Carolina that would become Tennessee. All the children of Absalom and Polly were probably born between 1790 and 1814. There does not seem to be any evidence that either of them ever had a second marriage.  Although the names of the children of Absalom and Polly are not certain, I am tentatively regarding the following as some of the likely children:

1.John Cox, about 1796, Jefferson County, Tennessee, died before 1840 in Arkansas. His widow, Sarah Cline Cox, appears on the 1840 and 1850 census of Murray County, Georgia.

2.Daniel Cox, born January 19, 1800, in Knox County, Kentucky; died 1875 in Douglas County, Missouri. My sister married a descendant of Daniel.

From the research of Ladean Bowman, as recorded by Norvan Johnson, we know for certain that Daniel was a son of Absalom:

Ladean Bowman received this mail from J Lee Sharp on September 22, 2000.

Ladean, Here is a copy of the letter I sent to Jan Ronnow. ...I hope it is of help. J Lee Sharp

"mailto:ronnowS@worldnet.att.net">Jan Ronnow Sent Friday, September 22, 2000 12:59 PM Subject: Re: Cox Family Jan, Sorry for the delay in answering you, but it has been a while since I have worked on our Cox line and I wanted to go back through my files before I answered. As I noted on my sources that I took the fathers' names from their marriage records, I wanted to see what form this information was in and I wanted to get you a date that I had obtained the information. After going through several folders on the family, I found that while I was visiting Whitley Co in the early 1970's, I didn't have the exact date, but it was when they were remodeling the courthouse and they had the clerk's office in a building on main street. It was not the best research conditions, they didn't have a copy machine available, so I had to copy by hand a note I found attached to Daniel and Amy's marriage bond....The note said, "I do hereby give permission for the clerk to issue license for my daughter Amy to marry her cousin Daniel Cox, the son of my brother Absolom.
Signed Stephen Cox" I hope this information will put to rest for you as it did for me as to who their parents are. Concerning pictures and information on Daniel and Amy, I would be delighted to get any information and I would be delighted to get pictures of any of the Cox family. Your cousin, J Lee Sharp"

3. Absalom B. Cox, born January 1, 1802, in Knox County, Kentucky; died August 20, 1884 in Whitley County, Kentucky. 

4. Joseph Cox, March 18, 1806, in Knox County, Kentucky.

5. Mary Cox, February 11, 1809, Knox County, Kentucky.
She married Nathan Cox, a cousin, on August 24, 1826 in Whitley county.

6. Lydia Cox, September 14, 1814, Knox County, Kentucky.   
There is a girl age 15-19 on the 1830 census in Absalom’s household and this is probably Lydia. She married Samuel Manning in Whitely County, February 19, 1829. The marriage record gives her father’s name as Absalom.

There are many other children mentioned in Internet family trees and some of them may very well be children of Absalom of Whitley County.If anyone has documentation that proves or disproves my interpretation of the lives of these two individuals named Absalom Cox who lived in Tennessee and Kentucky, I would welcome additional information about the two Absaloms or their wives and children. In spelling the given name, I have consistently used “Absalom” even though we really do not know how these men spelled their own names or if they had any preference. Spelling was not standardized in those days, so one often finds Absolem, Absalem, Absulum, or other variants.

--Gary B. Sanders
March  11, 2019

Calvin Gage 
(not related to Sanders of Randolph and Montgomery)

Birth:  May 1, 1814
Location: Missouri
Death:  1847
Location: Texas 

This Calvin Gage is often confused with the Calvin Gage in Jack County, Texas, and the one in Caldwell County, Texas.

This is the one whoserved at the battle of San Jacinto. His father was Reuben Gage and his mother was Abigail Burleson Gage.

According to the 1849 settlement of his estate in Van Zandt County, Texas, and census records, his children were as follows:

James T. Gage, born 1841
Marion Gage, born 1843
Monroe Gage, born May 8, 1846

Calvin's widow Mary Polly Smith Gage married Thomas Alford about 1848 and they had these children:
Martha Jane Alford, born May 10, 1849
Hamilton Samuel Alford, born 1851
Charles Miller Alford, born 1853

After Mary Polly's death in 1853, Thomas Alford married again to, to Mary Ann Castleberry.

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:a40630&id=I1946
Land Grant 1835 Ruben obtained a land grant in Bastrop Co., TX 1 league of land see notes
•Note:
The Land Grant for 1 league of land (approximately 4,428acres). Abstracts of Original TX Land Grants, dated 10-25-1835 (written in Spanish). The grant signed by Reuben states that he was born in New York State in 1770 and was the son of David and Esther Gage. In 1840 Ruben was back in Saline Co., AR..

Reuben died in Saline Co., AR. His wife Abigail survived him by over 20 years and moved back to Bastrop Co., TX and died in 1865 at the home of their son Moses Gage.

http://www.sanjacinto-museum.org/Library/Veteran_Bios/Bio_page/?id=322&army=Texian

GAGE, CALVIN--Born in New York in 1814. He was a son of Reuben Gage who was born in New York in 1770 and who was issued a Certificate of Character by Talbot Chambers for Milam's Colony, September 16, 1835. In the Headright Certificate issued to Calvin Gage, February 1, 1838 by the Bastrop County Board for a league and labor of land, it is stated that he came to Texas in 1833.

Parents:
Reuben Gage (1770-1844)
Abigail Burleson Gage (1772 - 1865)
 
 Spouse:
 Mary Ann  Polly Smith Gage (1816 - 1853)


Calvin M. Gage 

Birth:  May 9, 1817
Tennessee
Death:  Dec. 1, 1851
Caldwell County
Texas

This Calvin Gage is not related to the Sanders of Randolph and Montgomery but is often confused with the Calvin Gage of Jack County, Texas who is related.

Calvin M. Gage of Caldwell, County, Texas is often confused with Calvin Gage of Jack County, Texas. This Calvin Gage never lived in Jack County and he did not serve in the Texas Revolution.

Calvin M. Gage was born May 10, 1817 in Tennessee. About 1836 he married Elizabeth (or Eliza) whose maiden name may have been Chaney. They lived in Madison County, Arkansas and in the late 1840s moved to Caldwell County, Texas. Calvin M. Gage was a highly respected minister in the Primitive Baptist Church. According to church records, he became sick in the autumn of 1851 and died on December 1, 1851.

Children of CALVIN GAGE and ELIZA CHANEY are:

i. SARAH ADELINE GAGE, b. August 20, 1837, Madison County, Arkansas; d. January 24, 1917, Eastland County, Texas; m. (1) JOSEPH BISHOP, June 25, 1855, Caldwell County, Texas; b. Abt. 1838, Madison County, Arkansas; d. 1862, Civil War; m. (2) ANDREW JACKSON FLEMING, July 01, 1866, Bell County, Texas; b. January 13, 1836, Georgia; d. February 01, 1879, Eastland County, Texas.

ii. ROBERT GARLAND GAGE, b. May 17, 1841, Madison County, Arkansas; d. January 16, 1898, Eastland County, Texas; m. EMILY TENNESSEE BISHOP; b. July 15, 1840, Texas; d. October 17, 1889, Eastland County, Texas.

iii. MARY E. POLLY GAGE, b. May 10, 1845, Madison County, Arkansas; d. November 13, 1922, Jackson County, Oklahoma; m. DAVID LUTHER ELMS, 1865, Texas; b. November 1845, Arkansas; d. 1932, Jackson County, Oklahoma.

iv. RHODA GAGE, b. December 05, 1847, Madison County, Arkansas; d. February 26, 1929, Eastland County, Texas; m. JEREMIAH JOSEPH ROBERTS, Abt. 1867, Bell County, Texas; b. January 11, 1848, Bell County, Texas; d. March 20, 1919, Eastland County, Texas.

v. WILLIAM GAGE, b. 1848, Madison County, Arkansas; d. Aft. 1860, Bell County, Texas.

vi. JOHN CALVIN GAGE, b. November 20, 1850, Caldwell County, Texas; d. May 17, 1916, Eddy County, New Mexico; m. (1) OPHELIA REBECCA WHATELEY; b. January 06, 1856, Texas; d. March 16, 1877, Eastland County, Texas; m. (2) MARY MOLLY ELIZABETH JOHNSON, March 09, 1879, Eastland County, Texas; b. December 16, 1860, Lauderdale County, Mississippi; d. December 03, 1928, Los Angeles County, California.

After Calvin M. Gage died in 1851, his widow Eliza Chaney Gage raised their children alone until she married Thomas Stayton (September 18, 1808--August 11, 1868) in the 1860s. His first wife had died a few years earlier. According to the settlement of his estate, he died in 1868, not in 1870 as stated on his tombstone. Elizabeth Chaney Gage Stayton died July 27, 1881 in Bell County, Texas.

Thomas Stayton's first marriage was to Martha Patsy Moore (1812-about 1855). His second marriage, which occurred prior to 1860 and appears to have ended in divorce, was to Nancy Jackson Pugh Stewart.
She was born July 11, 1830 and she died June 12, 1914 in McLennan County, Texas.

Nancy Jackson Pugh was married three times: first, to James Washington Stewart (1825-September 14, 1855). He died in Missouri and she then married Thomas Stayton about 1857 in Texas. Her last marriage was about 1868 to James Garrison (1823-October 28, 1885).

Frances J. Hankins Sanders

Birth:  1845
Jackson County
Alabama
Death:  Nov. 29, 1879
Jackson County
Alabama

Died from "childbed fever."

She and Henry A. Sanders were the parents of six children:
Joseph Monroe Greenberry, 1868
Deborah, 1873
Eliza S. Hunter, 1874
Phebe R., 1875
Stephen A. L., 1878
Felix Finus, 1879 (It was shortly after his birth that she died). Felix died in February of 1880.

 Spouse:
 Henry Sanders (1840 - 1940)

Mahala Harper Sanders

Birth:  Aug. 7, 1818
Tennessee
Death:  Oct. 28, 1885
Franklin County
Arkansas

http://www.rcasey.net/shelton/shenathl.htm
SHELTON FAMILY HISTORY 4-263

On March 12, 1839, Nathaniel Shelton married a second time to Mahala Harper in Marshall County, Alabama. Mahala was born on September 7, 1818 in Tennessee and is the daughter of Jacob Harper and Darkes (Davis) Harper.....Nathaniel and Mahala Shelton were the parents of six children:

Levi Shelton, b. 1839, Alabama
Mary Elizabeth Shelton (2.2), b. November 28, 1841, Jackson County, Alabama
John Harper Shelton, b. May 22, 1844, Jackson County, Alabama
William Martin Shelton (3), b. July 27, 1847, Jackson County, Alabama
Louisa Catherine Shelton, b. October 29, 1849, Jackson County, Alabama
Mahala Missouri Shelton (2.6), b. September 4, 1852, Jackson County, Alabama

From 1840 to 1850, Nathaniel and Mahala Shelton were living in Jackson County, Alabama. Nathaniel Shelton died on April 12, 1855 in Jackson County, Alabama. In 1860, Mahala (Harper) Shelton was living as head of household with her children in Jackson County, Alabama. On November 11, 1860, Mahala (Harper) Shelton married a second time to Joseph Sanders in Jackson County, Alabama. Joseph Sanders died on April 10, 1863. On January 16, 1866, Mahala Sanders signed away her dowry rights on the land owned by her deceased husband (Joseph Sanders) so that the buyers of the land in the estate would have a clear title to the land. The agreement was that the funds from the sale of the land and personal property would be set aside for her dowry rights. The probate judge failed to do this and on September 29, 1869, Mahala Sanders filed suit for her dowry. The final settlement of the Joseph Sanders’ estate was made on December 15, 1874, eleven years after his death. In 1870, Mahala (Harper) Sanders was living in Jackson County, Alabama. Mahala received for her dowry rights around $950.00 or about one-fourth of the distribution. Mahala (Harper) Shelton/Sanders died on October 29, 1885 in Franklin County, Arkansas.

Spouses:
Nathaniel Shelton (1806 - 1855)
Joseph Sanders (1793 - 1863)

Martha Jane Alisa Ailsey Isbell Sanders

Birth:  1808
Tennessee
Death:  between 1870-1880
Jackson County
Alabama

She was born between 1808 and 1814 in Tennessee and died between 1870 and 1880. The death certificate of her daughter Caledonia states that Martha Jane' maiden name was Isbell. She was the mother of at least ten children who survived until adulthood and probably of more who died young.

Her exact first name is not known. On various records she appears as M.J., Martha J. Alisa, Ailsey. That the J. in her name was for "Jane" appears to an assumption of researchers.

Parents:
Levi Isbell (1770 - 1850)
Jane Isbell (1775 - 1850)
 
 Spouse:
 Elijah Greenville Sanders (1804 - 1858) 

Sarah Jacks Sanders

Birth:  December 1827
Jackson County
Alabama
Death:  1909
Jackson County
Alabama

Sarah Jacks married Henry Sanders about 1849. By 1860, the family was in Wright  County, Missouri. After her husband died, she and her surviving children moved back to Jackson County, Alabama.

Sarah Jacks Sanders applied for Confederate pension in Jackson County in 1893. The final affidavit she filed was on May 3, 1909. Sarah stated she was born in December 1827 and she was 83 years old. (Actually, she would have been 82, but other records suggest she may have been born in 1828.) She did not know the exact year Henry died but stated that his death occurred while he was in the Confederate cavalry.

She also stated that she wrote a letter to her sister-in-law Mary Maldira Nancy Louise Sanders Dubois trying to find a more precise date when Henry died.Her sons Jeremiah M. Sanders and Benjamin Evan Sanders signed affidavits in support of her application). Mary Maldira wrote back that she thought that Henry died in 1862 (pages 6-7).

Since Sarah Jacks Sanders does not appear on the 1910 census, she probably died in 1909.

Parents:
Evan Jacks (1802-1892)
Rachel Cain (1798-1890)

Spouse:
Henry L. Sanders (1830-1862)

Elizabeth King Sanders

Birth:  May 22, 1817
Randolph County
North Carolina
Death:  between 1880-1900
Booneville
Prentiss County
Mississippi

Elizabeth King and Isaac Sanders were married September 18, 1836 in Jackson County, Alabama. This information comes from family records passed down in the family of her grandson Isaac Newton Sanders. She appears with her husband on the 1860, 1870, and 1880 census. The identity of her parents is not known. She may have been a sister to Isham King who married Annie Sanders.

In 1880 the census taker recorded that Elizabeth was in bed with dyspepsia (old-fashioned term for stomach troubles) on the day the census was taken. She may not have lived long after that.
 
Spouse:
Isaac Sanders (1817 - 1885)



Jesse King
 Birth:
1834
Jackson County
Alabama
Death:
1920
Stone County
Missouri

Jesse had a very interesting life but many of the details are still mysterious:

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:1947925&id=I199
 
"Jesse was the oldest of three boys of Isham King. Jessie was married once and then he and another lady eloped. He deserted his wife. I suppose they were divorced later. His first wife had one daughter, Jane King, who married a man named Duggar who was a school teacher. I remember seeing her when she was ill with rheumatism. Her arms, feet and legs were all drawn. She could not straighten tham out. By the second wife he had Isaac, Margaret, Annie, Grant, Jessie, Arthur, Elmer and Esther."
 
Actually, I believe Jesse had three wives. His first was Emily Sisk. They married in 1855 in Jackson County, Alabama. Their only child was Mabella Hallie Jane King who married James Dugger about 1878 in Madison County, Illinois.
 
Jesse left Emily and things did not go well for her. In 1870 she is a boarder with another family in Jackson County and she is listed as "insane."  Apparently, the child remained with Jesse when he moved to Illinois.
 
Jesse King married Nancy Adeline Davis in 1860 in Jackson County. She was dead, however, before April 1862 when a document relating to the estate of her sister's deceased husband  states " Jesse King who intermarried with Adeline Davis, now deceased."  I can't find any information on what happened with her. Perhaps she died in childbirth as many women did in those days. It does not appear that they had any surviving children.
 
His third marriage was about 1866 to Mary Paula Walburga Rauschmaier, daughter of a Prussian immigrant. They had at least nine children. 

Henry A. Kuhn

Born:  August 19, 1872
Location: Lampasas or Williamson County, Texas
Death: about 1929
Location:  Malakoff, Henderson County, Texas

Henry Kuhn is not a blood relative of mine, but he is the grandfather of my brother-in-law, Charles A. Beaird. For a long time, we were unaware of the parents of Henry A. Kuhn, but through autosomal DNA testing, I believe this mystery has been solved.  I believe he is the same Henry A. Kuhn who was born in Texas in 1872 to Joseph Kuhn, an immigrant to Texas from New York State. Joseph Kuhn's wife was Mary Baggett Kuhn.

Here is a brief summary of documents about Henry A. Kuhn:

1880 census shows he was born about 1872.

1892 marriage record gives his name as "Henry A. Kuhn."

1900 in Madison County, Texas, listed as Henry A. Kuhn, born April 1870

1910 in Leon County Texas with 1st wife and children, born 1870.

1920 in Henderson County, Texas with second wife, Dollie Smith Kuhn and children. Here he is listed as born in 1867. His occupation was coal miner.

From the Kuhn family Genforum posting:
Kuhn in Texas
Posted by: Ruby Fisher Date: June 20, 2000 at 10:19:49
  
“I am the granddaughter of Henry A. Kuhn and Dollie Smith Kuhn anyone having information please let me know.
Henry born Aug. 19, 1879 supposedly in Lampass,TX., died in the late 1920's in Malakoff, TX. married Dollie in Lamar County around 1909. Dollie was from Oklahoma and was of Indian descent.”

What follows is my reconstruction of the biography of Henry A. Kuhn.

The Remarkable Mr. Henry A. Kuhn

Other old timers may remember the 1950s Broadway play “The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker” about a respectable Victorian businessman who maintained two wives and their children in different cities in Pennsylvania with each household unaware of the existence of the other. What I have uncovered in the genealogy of my brother-in-law, Charles Beaird, may not be quite as entertaining as the play but it is a similar story. The new information came to light through the FTDNA autosomal Family Finder test.

Years of searching through paper records for information about Charles’ grandfather, Henry A. Kuhn, had revealed little beyond what was already known through family tradition, which we can summarize as follows:

Henry was born about 1878, maybe in Lampasas County, Texas. He had some kind of falling out with his family and moved to Henderson County, Texas, about 1912. He married Dollie Smith about 1911, possible in Lamar County, Texas. She was supposedly born in Oklahoma, maybe on an Indian Reservation, and adopted into her Smith family. Henry was a coal miner and he died about 1929 in Henderson County, Texas. The names and birthdays of all the children of Henry and Dollie are known, as are the names of their descendants.

I tried to find paper records on Henry and Dollie before their appearance on the 1920 census with their children, but nothing seemed to fit. There were Henry Kuhns in Texas on the 1870, 1880, 1900, and 1910 census but none of them appeared to be the right age or they were already married or they were accounted for in other ways. The 1920 Henderson County census had Henry’s birth year as 1867 and family tradition was that it was 1878, and therefore I recognized that any Henry Kuhn born between the mid-1860s and the early 1880s could be the right Henry—still, it was difficult to find any Henry Kuhn in Texas before 1920 who could be identified with Charles’ grandfather who mysteriously appeared on the 1920 Henderson County census with his wife of nine years, Dollie Smith.

Then about a year ago, as the contact person for Charles’ autosomal DNA test at FTDNA, I was notified that Charles had a shared centimorgans of 236 with another individual. That is a very close match and indicates they are only a few generations removed from the common ancestors—probably something in the range of second cousins. Armed with this new information, I looked at the family tree of the individual that Charles matched and found out that the other participant was a descendant of a John Kuhn who was born in 1884 in Texas and that John Kuhn had a brother named Henry A. Kuhn!

This is where it really got interesting because that Henry A. Kuhn had married a woman named Sarah Ellen Gage in 1892 in Williamson County, Texas. Henry and Ellen appear on the 1900 census of Madison County and the 1910 census of Leon County with their children, of whom there were seven in all, the last one having been born in 1910.

I looked at the family trees at Ancestry.com to see what I could find about this Henry A. Kuhn. It appeared that everyone assumed he died between 1910 and 1920, but no one had an authentic record of his death. Some trees stated that he died in 1920, but all of these had confused him with Andreas Kuhn of Comal County. In 1920, Henry’s wife, Ellen, is listed as a widow.

The conclusion seems inescapable that there was only one Henry A. Kuhn but that he had two families.

One Henry A. Kuhn was born about 1872 (according to the 1880 census where he is living with his parents Joseph Kuhn and Mary Baggett Kuhn), married Sarah Ellen Gage in Williamson County in 1892, appears on the 1999 census of Madison County with Ellen and children, and appears on the 1910 census of Leon County with Ellen and children.

The other Henry A. Kuhn is unknown before 1920 but appears on the 1920 census of Henderson County with his wife Dollie and children, the first child being born in 1911. That first child was my brother-in-law’s grandmother, Kathleen Kuhn.

My brother-in-law told me that his grandfather was considered the “black sheep” of the family. Charles and others in the family knew this bit of family lore but they didn’t know the circumstances or even the identity of the family from which their grandfather came. Now, I think we know the truth, that Henry A. Kuhn must have started his affair with Dollie Smith in the summer of 1910, at the same time Henry was still living with his first wife and his children in Leon County. Between the summer of 1910 and the spring of 1911 when Charles’ grandmother Kathleen was born, Henry A. Kuhn left one wife and children and married another woman and started another family in a distant county.

Whether there was a formal divorce or not is still unknown. Whether Sarah Ellen Gage, the first wife, or their children, even knew what happened to Henry after he left their home is also unknown. Perhaps someone in the first family had knowledge of all of this and passed the information down to younger generations. There is still a lot that is unknown about the mysterious and remarkable Henry A. Kuhn.

Still, the close match of 236 centimorgans between Charles, a descendant of Henry A. Kuhn, and another Family Finder participant who is a descendant of Henry A. Kuhn’s brother cannot be ignored. If my theory is correct, Charles and the other participant are second cousins, once removed. The Family Finder centimorgan match is almost exactly what would be expected in such a case, and I think this example illustrates the usefulness of autosomal testing in cases where paper records have been ambiguous and where only a few generations separate the tested individuals.

February 24, 2019
Gary B. Sanders

Nancy Jane Lovelady Sanders

Birth:  1826
Tennessee
Death:  1900
Wright County
Missouri

Nancy Jane Lovelady married Benjamin Franklin Sanders on April 15, 1852 in Jackson County, Alabama. She and Benjamin moved to Wright County, Missouri, where they appear on the 1860 census with their children, Sevier L. Sanders, Elizabeth Eliza London Sanders, and Sarah Katherine Sanders. Also living in the household are children by Benjamin's first wife, Mary Polly Moody: Phoebe Lydia, Joseph D. L., William N., and Rebecca. Benjamin and Nancy Lovelady had one other child, Anna Sanders, who ws born in 1864.

In 1868, some type of settlement was made between Nancy and Benjamin. It appears there was a divorce or separation and Nancy was given custody of Sevier and Sarah Katherine. Nancy appears on the 1880 Wright County census with only Sevier in her household(Sarah Katherine had married in 1875).

Part of the marital discord may have been due to mental illness. According to records found by Patricia Thomas, on August 11, 1870, Moses White and William S. Dennis were appointed as guardian and curator to Nancy Lovelady Sanders. A jury found “Nancy J. Sanders partially insane and unfit to manage her affairs." On November 18, 1887 Thomas H Musick, a lawyer, was appointed her curator, and she was again declared partially insane. In December 1891, her estate was appraised and Musick remained her guardian. On February 18, 1893, Charley Curtis was appointed her guardian. This is the last record yet found of Nancy, and she does not appear on the 1900 census.

Benjamin married a third time, to Nancy Billingsley Sanders (widow of William Walter Sanders) in 1874 and this union had two children: James Henry Sanders (1874-1948) and Amanda Sanders (1875-1958). The 1948 obituary of James Henry mentions Sevier and Amanda as half-siblings who had predeceased James Henry Sanders.

Nancy Lovelady Sanders died between 1893 and 1900 and is probably buried in Wright County. Her granddaughter, Bessie Calhoun Crabtree recalled her grandmother in a letter written in 1968:

"He[Benjamin Franklin Sanders]married my mother's mother,a girl by name of Nancy Lovelady. She had never been married yet. My mother Eliza London Sanders married my father John Calhoun. My mother was one of four children that was born to Doctor Ben Sanders and Nancy Lovelady who was all French nationality, a small woman, brown eyes and black hair, very long and very thick. She had a quick temper. She was a good and a neat housekeeper. I loved her a lot. Your sister Penny cooks a lot like little Granny, as we kids used to call her."

Nancy's Lovelady Sanders' husband, Benjamin Franklin Sanders, is often confused with his cousin Benjamin Sanders, Jr.(1804-about 1865) Both Benjamins lived in Wright County in 1860 and they were cousins. Benjamin, Jr. was married two times: to Liney Suggs in 1825, and then, after her death in 1849, to Intha Adeline Freeman, about 1852.

Benjamin Franklin Sanders died in 1874. According to a e-mail message from one of his descendants, Clifton Sanders, in 2007, Benjamin "was shot by a Indian while on a cattle drive and the horse brought him home.You could pull a rag through where he was shot and he died soon after getting home." [Rags were sometimes pulled through wounds in those days to remove possible infection.]

She is possibly buried in the Hensley Cemetery in Wright County but no marker has been found. 

Parents:
Sevier Lovelady (1797-1876)

Spouse:
Benjamin Franklin Sanders (1813 - 1874)
Children:
Sevier L Sanders (1853 - 1891)
Eliza London Sanders Calhoun (1854 - 1896)
Sarah Catherine Sanders Adamson (1857-about 1925)
Annie Davis Sanders Smith (1861 - 1920)


Daniel William Miller

Birth:  December 1853
Marion County
Alabama
Death:  1922
Arkansas

DANIEL DAN WILLIAM MILLER was born December 1853 in Marion County, Alabama, and died 1922 in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana or Hot Springs, Arkansas. He married ORDENA(ARDIENA) DEAN ELIZABETH PRESTRIDGE November 01, 1881 in Itawamba County, Mississippi, daughter of ANDERSON PRESTRIDGE and MARY RINGER. She was born Bet. August - October 1863 in Itawamba County, Mississippi, and died Bet. August 1902 - 1910 in Union or Ouachita County, Arkansas.

Children of DANIEL MILLER and ORDENA(ARDIENA) PRESTRIDGE are:

1. BURTON MILLER, b. Abt. 1882, Itawamba County, Mississippi.
2. NAPOLEON MILLER, b. March 1884, Itawamba County, Mississippi.
3. MYRTLE MAGGIE MILLER, b. January 12, 1886, Itawamba County, Mississippi; d. June 19, 1959, Longview, Gregg County, Texas.
4. JAMES HOUSTON MILLER, b. August 1890, Itawamba County, Mississippi.
5. LILLIE B. MILLER, b. June 20, 1893, Tupelo, Lee County, Mississippi; d. 1956, Ouachita County, Arkansas.
6. BAMMA HESTER BERNICE MILLER, b. Abt. January 1896, Haynesville, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana; d. December 24, 1934, City Hospital, North Little Rock, Arkansas.
7. ETHYL ELVIRA SAMMIE MILLER, b. Abt. August 31, 1902, Haynesville, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana; d. January 05, 1982, Warrenton, Warren county, Missouri; m. (1) WILLIAM  DON BOND, December 12, 1920, Haynesville, Clairborne Parish, Louisiana; m. (2) ROY SPURGEON "CHAN" CHANDLER, February 20, 1943 in Saline County, Arkansas. Roy Chandler was  b. December 27, 1893; d. June 1970, North Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas.
 
Parents:
John Miller (1817 - 1890)
Carrie Guyton Miller (1835 - 1903)
 
Spouse:
Ordena Elizabeth Prestridge Miller (1863 -about 1905)

Dorothy Elvira Ethel Sammie Miller Bond Chandler

Birth:  Aug. 31, 1902
Haynesville
Claiborne Parish
Louisiana
Death:  Jan. 5, 1982
Warrenton
Warren County
Missouri 

Parents:
Daniel William Miller (1853 - 1922)
Ordena Elizabeth Prestridge Miller (1863 -about 1905)

 Spouse:
William Don Bond  (1898-1921)
Roy Spurgeon Chandler (1891 - 1970)



John Miller
Born: July 28, 1817
Place: South Carolina
Death: January 16, 1890
Place: Haynesville, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana
Burial: Shady Grove Cemetery, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana

John Miller of Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, was my maternal great great-grandfather. My mother passed down a considerable amount of information about her mother, Myrtle Miller, and about my grandmother’s siblings but nothing about John or his children. Fortunately, the branch of the family that remained in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, had some useful records and it is from these and from other historical records that we have been able to reconstruct a biography of John Miller.

One of the first cousins I corresponded with about my Miller ancestors was Linda Stude who is descended from Bamma Hester Bernice Miller, a granddaughter of John Miller. As far back as 1999 Linda was doing genealogical research and posting on Genforum:

https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/miller/3378/
Re: MILLER,Jackson;1824-KY>Claiborne Par,LA
Posted by: traveler
Date: March 21, 1999 at 10:16:04
In Reply to: MILLER,Jackson;1824-KY>Claiborne Par,LA by Dennis Maguire, posting no. 3378
Dennis,
My great grandfather Daniel W. Miller was married to Ardeina Bell Prestage in Itawamba County Mississippi on 01 November 1881. I believe his parents John Miller and Cassandra Guyton moved to Itawamba County from Alabama between 1857 and 1859. John and Cassandra were married in South Carolina. John was born 28 July 1817. John's father’s name was John also and one of my conversations leads me to believe John Miller, Senior may have had a brother George who lived in Pendleton District (later Pickens County I believe) South Carolina. This George had sons named Morris and Michael. My John that was married to Cassandra died and was buried in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. His son Daniel also lived most of his adult life in Claiborne Parish and died there. One of Daniel's brothers (Hugh Miller) owned a mercantile store there for many years. Any connection? I do not believe my John is the same as your John but possibly a uncle/nephew relation? What do you think. Also have you seen Miller (Morris & Michael) posted by Jason on November 29, 1998. It seems to be your line.

https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/miller/3377/
GENFORUM  WEB POSTING
Posted by: Linda Stude    Date: March 21, 1999 at 09:52:19
In Reply to: Miller (Morris & Michael), SC>TN>KY>LA by Jason
 3377 of 13888
Dear Bruce,
My great grandfather Daniel W. Miller was married to Ardeina Bell Prestage in Itawamba County Mississippi on 01 November 1881. I believe his parents John Miller and Cassandra Guyton moved to Itawamba County from Alabama between 1857 and 1859. John and Cassandra were married in South Carolina. John's fathers name was John also and one of my conversations leads me to believe John Miller, Senior may have had a brother George who lived in Pendleton District (later Pickens County I believe) South Carolina. This George had sons named Morris and Michael. My John that was married to Cassandra died and was buried in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. Any connection? One major flaw in all this is that my John Miller, Senior was supposed to have immigrated from either Ireland or Scotland (per family oral history). Your family appears to have come from England.

As Linda suggested, although there was indeed another Miller family in Claiborne Parish that also came from South Carolina to Louisiana, the other family was of German origin and it does not appear to have been related to the John Miller family, which was of Scottish or Irish ancestry.

Later, in our correspondence in the year 2000, Linda sent me the following from her notes:

Biography Hugh Miller, p. 437, states that John Miller, father of the John Miller who married Cassie Guyton, was a native of Ireland and further that he came to America at an early age and settled in the Palmetto State (South Carolina).

Visit with Joe Sexton who met at Shreveport Library in 1986.  It was Joe Sexton's belief that the Millers came from Scotland originally, not Ireland.

Hugh Miller biography, p. 437, states that John Miller died in the month of January 1890. This biography was published in 1890 and would have been a contemporary source.  This source also says John was born in Alabama.

Hugh Miller Family Census Record 1880 Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, indicates that Hugh's father, John, was born in South Carolina.

John Miller family census record, 1860 Itawamba County, Missisippi, shows John born in South Carolina.

John Miller Family census record, 1850 Marion County, Alabama, indicates that John was born in South Carolina.

Hugh Miller biography (located vertical files Shreveport Library, Shreveport, Louisiana), p. 254, "The elder Millers (i.e. John and Cassie) were married in south Carolina.

Since 1998, I have been able to expand my knowledge of John Miller somewhat and what follows is a summary of his life story. He was born July 18, 1817 in South Carolina. Most likely his birth was in Spartanburg or one of the surrounding counties. At some point in the 1830s or early 1840s, he moved to Marion County, Alabama.  He may be the “J.L.” Miller listed as age 20-30 on the 1840 Marion County census, but the first certain documentary evidence for him is the 1850 census of Marion where he appears as follows:

1850 United States Federal Census
Name: John Miller
Age: 33
Birth Year: abt 1817
Birthplace: South Carolina
Home in 1850: Beat 4, Marion, Alabama
Gender: Male
Family Number: 14
Household Members: Name Age
John Miller  33
Frances E Miller  20
James I Miller  3
Margaret E Miller  1


The maiden name of John Miller’s first wife, Frances, is unknown. She must have died between 1850 and 1852 because he married Cassandra Cassie Guyton in Marion County in 1852. This is known from family tradition and from the 1860 census of Itawamba County, Mississippi, where John appears with his new wife, James and Margaret, the children of the first wife, and five new children by Cassie Guyton. He has not been located on the 1870 census but the 1880 census show him still in Itawamba County, Mississippi. Although the family was in Mississippi in 1880, apparently they had been moving back and forth among several states for several years because the three youngest children are shown as having been born in Louisiana and two of the children were born in Arkansas.

JOHN MILLER was born July 28, 1817 in South Carolina, and died January 16, 1890 in Haynesville, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. He is buried in the Shady Grove Cemetery in Haynesville.  He married (1) FRANCES E. UNKNOWN about. 1845 in Marion County, Alabama.  She was born about 1830 in Alabama, and died about 1850 in Marion County, Alabama.  He married (2) CASSANDRA CASSIE GUYTON about 1852 in Marion County, Alabama, daughter of JAMES GUYTON and SARAH WARREN.  She was born April 12, 1835 in Marion County, Alabama, and died September 17, 1903 in Haynesville, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana.
   
Children of JOHN MILLER and FRANCES UNKNOWN are:

1.    JAMES J. MILLER, born 1847, Marion County, Alabama; died after
1885, Itawamba  County, Mississippi or Claiborne Parish, Louisiana;
married PRUDENCE MELVINA MOLLY ATKINS, 1870, Claiborne Parish,
Louisiana. She was born July 23, 1849, in Henry County, Georgia, and
died November 11, 1921, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana.

2.    MARGARET ELIZABETH LIZZIE MILLER, born May 30, 1850, Marion
County, Alabama; died December 03, 1916, Claiborne Parish,
Louisiana; married JOHN L. THRASHER, 1880. He was born June 25,
1850, in Louisiana and died November 21, 1916, Claiborne Parish,
Louisiana.
  
Children of JOHN MILLER and CASSANDRA GUYTON are:

3.    DANIEL “DAN” WILLIAM MILLER, born December 1853, Marion County, Alabama; died 1922, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana or Hot Springs, Arkansas.; married ORDENA ARDIENA DEAN ELIZABETH PRESTRIDGE, November 01, 1881, Itawamba County, Mississippi. She was born between August - October 1863, Itawamba County, Mississippi and she died between August 1902 - 1910, Union or Ouachita County, Arkansas.

4.    HUGH MILLER, born December 20, 1854, Marion County, Alabama; died November 12, 1906, Haynesville, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana; married (1) MARTHA EADAH EDIE NEEL about January 07, 1879, Haynesville, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. She was born April 08, 1853, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, and she died September 01, 1887, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. He married (2) ANZONETTA HESTER MORGAN, January 01, 1888, Haynesville, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. She was born September 17, 1868, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, and she died April 12, 1957, in Haynesville,  Claiborne Parish, Louisiana.

5.WARREN G. MILLER, born April 1856, Marion County, Alabama; died February 16, 1944, Haywood County, Tennessee; married ELIZABETH BETTIE ELLIOTT, November 25, 1885, Lamar County, Alabama. She was born September 1865, Lamar County, Alabama, and she died after 1900, probably in Lamar County, Alabama.

6.    SARAH SALLY FRANCES MILLER, born January 27, 1858, Itawamba  County, Mississippi; died April 13, 1943, Sabine Parish, Louisiana; married JOSEPH HOUSTON ALLEN, 1882, Itawamba County, Mississippi. He was born July 11, 1859, Itawamba County, Mississippi and he died February 27, 1936, Sabine Parish, Louisiana.

7.    MARTHA D. MILLER, born December 31, 1859, Itawamba County, Mississippi; died September 08, 1901, Sabine Parish, Louisiana; married ALVIN WILTON MORGAN, 1888, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. He was born July 12, 1868, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana and he died January 03, 1902, Sabine Parish, Louisiana.

8     OLIVE MILLER, born about 1862, Arkansas.

9.    ALLIE ALICE MILLER, born about 1865, Itawamba  County, Mississippi.

10. REUBIN DESTMOND MILLER, born January 1870, Arkansas; died after 1930, Eudora, Chicot County, Arkansas; married LEONA HATTIE DICKINSON, July 14, 1892, Columbia County, Arkansas. She was born August 1873, Louisiana and she died after 1930 in Chicot County, Arkansas.

11. MARY MOLLY JANE MILLER, born June 02, 1873, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana; died August 24, 1904, Sardis, Sabine Parish, Louisiana; married JOHN H. SCRITCHFIELD, 1894, Louisiana. He was born February 01, 1871, Louisiana and he died April 13, 1906, in Sardis, Sabine Parish, Louisiana.

12. JOSEPH JOE W. MILLER, born May 25, 1874, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana; died September 06, 1901, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana; married BERTIE CLAYTON, March 04, 1896, Columbia County, Arkansas. He was born about 1874 1874, in Arkansas and died May 10, 1916, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana.

13. DAVID MILLER, born 1877, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana.

As previously mentioned, there is a strong family tradition that the father of the John Miller who died in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, in 1890 was also named John Miller. Family tradition maintains and census records confirm that John of Claiborne Parish was born in South Carolina. The tradition is also that the family was of Scottish or Irish ancestry. For a long time, I was unable to make much progress on identifying a possible father or parents for John, but I now believe that we can identify the Miller family to which he belongs and where they lived in South Carolina, though positive identification of his father remains elusive.

When John Miller was living in Marion County, Alabama in the 1840s, there were several other Millers in the county. Many of these were descendants of Nathaniel Miller, who appears on the 1850 census of Marion County with his third wife, Margaret Newton Miller. Nathaniel was originally from Spartanburg County, South Carolina, but had moved to Marion County by the time of the 1830 and 1840 census.

According to a family tradition, Nathaniel had a brother named John Miller. Apparently, nothing other than his name is known about this John. Family trees on the Internet identify him with various John Millers throughout the Southern states, but I have not seen any documentation that makes a reliable identification. This John would have been born in the 1780s or earlier and thus would be of the right age to be the father of my great great-grandfather. At the time of the 1820 census there were three John Millers living in Spartanburg County. Two of them have male children under ten and therefore one of the two John Millers residing in Spartanburg in 1820 is probably the father of my John Miller who was born in 1817.

I think there is a good possibility that John Miller, born about 1785 or earlier and brother of Nathaniel, is the same person as John Miller, father of my great great-grandfather John Miller (1817-1890). In addition to the similar pattern of migration, my main reason for this theory is that I have an autosomal DNA match of 60 shared cm, 20 on the longest block, with a descendant of Nathaniel Miller through one of Nathaniel’s sons. I also have a second autosomal match with a descendant of another son of Nathaniel. One of these matches may be through a Guyton surname connection, but the other one can only be explained through the Miller family relationship. 
Gary B. Sanders
March 24, 2019

 
Sarah Jane Mitcham Walker

Birth:  Nov., 1835
Clarke County
Alabama
Death:  about 1915
San Augustine County
Texas

Died between 1910 and 1920 in San Augustine County, Texas. On the 1900 and 1910 census she is using the surname of her first husband, Edmund Walker.  She applied for a Confederate widows pension based on Edmund Walker's service.

Spouse:
Edmund Walker (1833-1864)
Andrew Jackson Pickering (1829 - 1895)

Joshua Moses

Birth:

1748

Bladen County near Yadkin River, now in Anson County

North Carolina

Death:

February 21, 1836

Whitley County

Kentucky

 

Spouse:

Miss Deberry

Jane Pleasant

 

Joshua Moses, Revolutionary War patriot, was born in 1748 or 1749 in North Carolina. His pension application of 1833 in Whitley County, Kentucky, states he was born on the banks of the Yadkin River in North Carolina and that he lived in Buncombe and Anson counties after the American Revolution, though he spent some time in South Carolina during the war. The 1790 and 1800 census enumerations appear to confirm his residence in Anson County. Between 1800 and 1809 he moved to Knox County, Kentucky, part of which was split off in 1818 to form Whitley County.

Y-DNA testing of his descendants suggests he is most likely the same person as the Joshua Moses who was baptized with his siblings on December 11, 1753 in Prince Frederick Winyah Parish of the Georgetown District of South Carolina. The parents were John and Jane Moses and the children were listed as Betty, 11; Sarah, 9; John, 7; Joshua, 3; and Samuel, 7 months. Descendants of the brothers John and Samuel have participated in DNA testing and they match the descendants of Joshua.

Before the connection to John Moses of South Carolina was established, there had been much speculation about the ethnic origin of Joshua Moses. Some researchers thought he might have been descended from Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal. In fact, the DNA tests show his Y-DNA was most common in Scandinavia. If the surname Moses is actually derived from the Moselle region of France, as some believe, it is possible that Joshua was a descendant of one of the Vikings who settled in France and whose Norman descendants later moved to England. Efforts to trace the family beyond John Moses of South Carolina, however, have proved unsuccessful.

The best source for information about Joshua is the 1965 book by Richard A. Moses, “Moses-A Record of the Moses Tribe (Kentucky).” The author was a careful researcher, but he does not always separate what is family tradition from his own conclusions based on the records and evidence he had available. The following is from page two of the book:

“His U.S. Army record shows that during the Revolutionary War he volunteered as a private in Captain Williams' Company, which was under the command of Colonel Waid. He fought in the battle at Eutah Springs. His company routed a band of Tories at Browns Creek. He was captured by the British, was cut on the head, and in an effort to protect his head he was cut on both arms and pierced in the left shoulder with a sword, brought to the ground and bound. He was sent to Charleston, South Carolina, and from there to James Island where he was guarded by the British Waggoners. He remained a prisoner for nine months and then escaped and walked for three days without food, and joined General Green's Troops on the Ashley River and then permitted to return to his home because of his wounds and the advanced period of the War. He was allowed pension on Certificate NO. 35058 which was issued November 14, 1833. Rate $53.33 per annun, Act of June 7, 1832, Kentucky Agency.”

Joshua Moses died on February 21, 1836 and is buried in the Stanfill Cemetery in Pleasant View, Whitley County, Kentucky. His female descendants are eligible for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution. Several members have been admitted through descent from Joshua’s son, Joshua, Jr., and one has recently applied for membership based on descent from Joshua’s son John, a Baptist preacher whose son Joel moved to Ouachita County, Arkansas.

The two brothers, John, who married Polly Richmond in 1809, and Joshua, who married Anna Hackler in 1816, are the only two confirmed children of the senior Joshua Moses. Most researchers have thought they were half-brothers, but documentary evidence is non-existent, and it is not even clear whether there was a family tradition that they were half brothers.

 

Virtually all we know about the children of Joshua Moses comes from the 1965 book, "Moses-A Record of the Moses Tribe (Kentucky)," by Richard A. Moses and from other snippets of family tradition. Joshua did not provide any information about his wives or children in his pension application in 1833.

Richard A. Moses believed that Joshua was married at least two times and that his two sons, John and Joshua, Jr., were half-brothers. Unfortunately, he didn't state whether this conclusion was a family tradition or merely his own conclusion: "it appears from records I have found that these two boys are only half brothers."

The author also stated of Joshua that "between 1793 and 1800 he came to a place in Kentucky..he named the place Pleasant View after his wife Jane Pleasant." The dates here are probably not correct. The 1800 census appears to show that Joshua was still living in Anson County, North Carolina. We can, however, determine from this statement that there was a family tradition that Joshua had a wife named Jane Pleasant and that he named the place where he settled in Kentucky after her. What may be questionable is the year he moved to Kentucky, and, possibly, the year he married Jane Pleasant, even though Richard Moses stated: "It is certain that Joshua Moses, Sr., married Jane Pleasant in 1792." It would have been immensely helpful if the author had explained why he thought 1792 as the year of the marriage was certain.

Richard Moses also states there was a family tradition that Joshua at one time may have had a wife named Berry or Deberry. Other researchers, for reasons that cannot presently be determined, have suggested the given names of the Deberry wife were Eva and Rilla. The Deberrys were a prominent family in Anson and Montgomery counties, North Carolina, and Joshua, of course, lived in Anson for many years. Edmund Deberry of Montgomery County was a plantation owner, politician, and congressman; his niece, Mary A. Deberry, married Joel Moses, the grandson of Joshua Moses, Sr. It seems likely, therefore, that the Deberry wife of Joshua, Sr., was probably closely related to Mary Deberry and Edmund Deberry.
 

Joshua Moses died in Whitley County, Kentucky, in 1836. He had two known sons, John (born 1782) and Joshua (born 1793). Traditionally, researchers have assumed John was a son by Joshua's first wife who was a Deberry before her marriage and that Joshua was a son by Jane Pleasant. It is difficult to determine whether these assumptions are based on family tradition or were conclusions by researchers in the early twentieth century. Oddly, the name Deberry was passed down as a middle name among the descendants of Joshua, Jr., not among the descendants of John.

I have examined the 1790, 1800, and 1810 census to see what they reveal about Joshua's children and marriages. Before the advent of modern medicine, it was very rare for children to be born less than two years apart, hence I have assumed a minimum of two years separation in the birth years of any individuals who appear on the census and are presumed to be children. One caveat is that on these census enumerations, we cannot always assume that a minor living in a household is a child of the head of the household.

The 1790 census does not give an age range for the four white females who are living in Joshua's household in Anson County, North Carolina. We assume one of them is Joshua's wife and the other three may be their children. We can assume that the male over sixteen in the census is Joshua himself and that the male under sixteen is probably Joshua's son John who would have been eight years old in 1790.If John Moses was the last child born rather than the first, we could push the date of the first child (a female) back to about 1775 or 1776. If the girls were born before John, they would probably have been married by 1800, thus explaining why they are not on the 1800 census. It's also possible that some of the three unidentified females were adult relatives living in the household and not children at all

By 1800, the family has grown enormously. Joshua is referenced as "Joshua Mores" in the Ancestry.com census database of Anson County. Joshua himself is undoubtedly the male over 55 (born before 1755). His wife seems to be the female age 26-44 (born between 1756-1774). Their son John is the male who is age 16-25 and their son Joshua is one of the males age 0-10.

Difficulties arise in determining the status of the other individuals. There are two other boys age 0-10; there is one girl age 0-10; and there are two boys age 10-15. It's obvious that the boys who are age 10-15 were missing from the 1790 census. If they were children of Joshua, they should have been listed in 1790. Who were they? Stepchildren of Joshua's second wife? Or relatives living in the household? And what happened to the three girls who were in the household in 1790? They are missing in 1800.To assign all these children to one husband and wife would require the birth of one or more sets of twins or we would have to assume the two boys of age 10-15 in 1800 were missed by the census taker during the enumeration the 1790 census.

When we move to the next census, that of 1810, when Joshua had moved to Knox County, Kentucky, the most striking event is the disappearance of at least five children between 1800 and 1810. All of these should have been under twenty-five years old in 1810 and at least three of them would have been under 20 and presumably still living with their parents. In 1810 the only people in the household are Joshua (male over 45), his wife (female over 45), and presumably his son Joshua (male 10-15, though he was actually 17 in 1810).

There is a fragmentary family tradition that Joshua had a large family at one time but that his wife and children were either killed or died in a short period of time. Did this tragedy occur between 1800 and 1810 and was that the reason that Joshua moved to Kentucky? Was the wife of 1800 a different person from the wife of 1810?

I'm hoping that other Moses researchers will be able to provide further information, comments, suggestions, or corrections to what I have posted here.  

Billie Jo Perry Sanders

Birth:  Sep. 1, 1927
Bessemer
Jefferson County
Alabama
Death:  Jul. 23, 2012
Jefferson County
Alabama

Married Thomas Brantley Perry September 11, 1948
Married Carl Julian Sanders June 28, 1997

From Allene Lemons, Sept. 2014:

SANDERS, BILLIE JO PERRY 84, went to be with her Lord on Thursday, August 23, 2012 following a brief illness. She is survived by two daughters along with three adoring grandchildren.She is also survived by a brother.Mrs. Sanders is preceded to the Church Triumphant by two loving and devoted husbands, Thomas Brantley Perry and Bishop Carl Julian Sanders.

She was a faithful member of Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church, including Sunday evening Vespers. Mrs. Sanders served as Administrative Secretary for twenty-one years in the United Methodist Bishop's Office under four Bishops of the North Alabama and Alabama-West Florida Annual Conferences. She enjoyed attending several General Conferences and Southeastern Jurisdictional Conferences of the United Methodist Church. Following her retirement in 1993, she volunteered at Carraway Methodist Medical Center and continued to enjoy her long-standing Bridge Club. Billie Jo was on the planning committee for the 50th year reunion of her class from West End High School. She continued to enjoy fellowship with this committee long after the reunion itself. Billie Jo's joy in life was serving her Lord, blessing many people with His love through her. She was a totally loving and devoted wife, mother, and "Granny", and friend to those who meant so much to her. Her loving, enthusiastic spirit will be remembered with special memories by everyone who knew her.

The celebration of Mrs. Sanders' life was held on Monday, August 27,2012 at 2:00 PM in the Sanctuary of Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church with Bishop J. Lloyd Knox, Dr. Bill Bostick and Dr. Bill Brunson, officiating.
 
Parents:
William Walter Perry (1907 - 1940)
Floy Wilkins Perry (1909 - 1990)
 
Spouse:
Carl Julian Sanders (1913 - 2007)

Rhoda Redwine Saunders

Birth:  Jul. 11, 1809
Randolph County
North Carolina
Death:  Feb. 9, 1892
Montgomery County
North Carolina 

The year of her death is uncertain, but she was alive at the time of the 1880 census.
Per e-mail from Geneva Sanders Cervantes: "Sampson and Rhoda Redwine Sanders are buried in Montgomery County, North Carolina, not far from their home."

Parents:
Michael Prussia Redwine (1759-1823)
Susannah Miller (1766-after 1823)

Spouse:
Sampson Saunders (1801 - 1864)


 
Anna Annie Sanders King

Birth:  1811
Randolph County
North Carolina
Death:  about 1885
Madison County
Illinois

For these reasons, I believe Anna "Annie" Sanders who married Isham King to be the daughter of Benjamin and Mary Sanders of Randolph County, North Carolina:
 
1. There was a female in Ben's household in 1830 who was the right age to be Anne who married Isham King.
 
2. Isham King was the bondman for the the June 25, 1833 wedding of Anna Johnson and George W. Sanders, who was a son of Benjamin Sanders. George was the ancestor of Ann Duboise who provided us with the information that George's parents were Benjamin and Mary. Anne, Isham's wife, may have been George's sister.
 
3. Isham and Annie are living several households away from Benjamin and his son Isaac  Sanders in 1840 in Jackson County.

4. Isaac married a woman named Elizabeth King. We don't know her parents but she may have been a sister to Isham as there was only seven years difference in their ages.
  
Isham and Annie are probably buried in the Mundis Cemetery in Madison County.
 
The had the following children:

JESSE KING, b. April 10, 1834, Jackson County, Alabama; d. March 14, 1920, Stone County, Missouri.

ISAAC KING, b. November 06, 1836, Jackson County, Alabama; d. February 11, 1907, Barry County,Missouri.

ISHAM KING, b. February 01, 1839, Jackson County, Alabama; d. April 24, 1876, Alhambra, Madison County, Illinois
Illinois.

MARY KING, b. Abt. 1843, Jackson County, Alabama.

JAKE or "Tobe"  KING, b. Abt. 1846, Jackson County, Alabama.

ANNIE KING, b. Abt. 1849, Jackson County, Alabama.

WILLIAM J. KING, b. Abt. 1852, Jackson County, Alabama; d. Aft. 1880, Madison County, Illinois?

 Parents:
 Benjamin Sanders (1766 - 1849)
 Mary Sanders (1782-about  1840)

 Spouse:
 Isham J. King (1810 - after 1880)
 
 Siblings:
  William Sanders (1789 - 1872)
  Benjamin Sanders (1804 - 1866)
  Sarah Sanders Bean (1808 - 1880)
  Anna Sanders King (1811 - about 1885)
  George W. Sanders (1812 - 1858)
  Pheobe Ellender Saunders Lee (1813 - 1902)
  Isaac Sanders (1817 - about 1885)
  John Esquire Sanders (1822 - 1896)
  Alfred Head Mashburn Sanders (1827 - 1919)

Annie B. Fannie Sanders Sanders
 
Birth:  1839
Jackson County
Alabama
Death:  Feb. 28, 1875
Jackson County
Alabama 

Ann B."Fannie" Sanders was the second cousin of her husband. She was the daughter of William Sanders and Martha Unknown, who was reported to be of American Indian ancestry. Ann B. married Elijah Greenville Sanders on March 30, 1853. She was the mother of seven of Elijah Greenville's eight children.

From her husband's pension file:

Elijah was born April 8, 1833 in Jackson County, Alabama.
Died August 18, 1925, last residence Hazel Green, Madison County, Alabama.

Enlisted August 28, 1863, discharged June 16, 1864.
Served in Co. A.1 Ala. Vidette Vol. Cavalry rank of Sergeant.

First applied for a pension in 1888.

Moved to Lincoln County, Tennessee, from Jackson County on January 4, 1901.

Lived at Trenton in Jackson County at the time of his enlistment

Married three times:

1. to Annie B. Sanders March 29, 1853, Scotsboro, Jackson County, Alabama, married by Isaac Tenney. Annie died February 28, 1875

2. Lizzie Gibson. She died April 4, 1880. [The pension file doesn't give the date of marriage, only her name, but I believe she appears in the marriage records as Frances Elizabeth Gibson and the marriage occurred on July 15, 1875]

3. to Martha Jane Scott on October 4, 1884. She was married previously on June 4, 1875 to Henry Berry who died April 11, 1878.

Children of Elijah Greenville, living and dead, from affidavit in 1915:

A. E. J. Sanders Sept. 26th 1854
L. P. (C?) Sanders February 9, 1856
J. W. Sanders August 12, 1859
H. M. Sanders April 9, 1862
M. C. Sanders Jan. 4, 1866
F. M. Sanders Nov. 13, 1870
B. O. Sanders Dec 30, 1872
James A. (H?) Sanders September 6, 1876

James Allen was the only child by Frances Elizabeth Gibson.

Some of these birth dates have minor conflicts with the census and other data and may need to be modified.
 
 Parents:
William Sanders (1789 - 1872)
Martha T. Sanders (1802 - after 1880)
 
 Spouse:
 Elijah Greenville Sanders (1833 - 1925)

Brantley N. Sanders

Birth:  1825
Randolph County
North Carolina
Death:  about 1865
Macoupin County
Illinois

From Biographical Records of Macoupin county, Illinois, written in 1891, quoted in Sanders Siftings, p. 4 January 2000:

Henry C. Sanders, one of the members of a prominent family of Macoupin County, residing on section 22, North Otter Township, has a beautiful place of eighty-three acres upon which he has erected good farm buildings. He is a brother of W. E. Sanders of Polk Township and a son of Brantley N. Sanders who was a North Carolinian by birth. His mother, Sarah Sanders, was born in Alabama which became the first home of this couple after marriage and from which they moved to Missouri in 1858. They remianed in that State until during the days of the Civil War, when they came to Illinois, settled in which is now Polk Township, Macoupin County. They remained here from 1863 through the remainder of their lives.

The subject of this sketch is the third in order of age in a family of ten children. He was born before his parents came West, December 23, 1849, in Alabama. He accompanied his father and mother in their wanderings, reaching Macoupin county in 1863 and remained with his parents until their death. After this sad event the family remained together about a year, making their home in North Otter Township. Henry went to live with Nathan Camberlain and remained with him four years and then worked a year for another farmer who also resided in North Otter Township. After this he spent one summer in Polk Township.

 
 Parents:
 Sampson Saunders (1801 - 1864)
 Rhoda Redwine Saunders (1809 - 1892)
 
 Spouse:
 Sarah Sanders Saunders (1826 - about 1865)

Calvin Sanders

Birth:  Jul. 21, 1847
Tishomingo County
Mississippi
Death:  Jun. 6, 1877
Booneville
Prentiss County
Mississippi

Calvin's parents moved to Montgomery County, Arkansas in 1850 and stayed there until after the Civil War. During the war he served briefly in Earnest's local defense company, but he was only sixteen at the war's end and was the only one of his brothers who did not join the regular army on either side. (His father served first as a Confederate and then joined the Union forces.) After the war, the family moved back to Booneville in Tishomingo, which in 1869 was made part of Prentiss County. The date of his death is from family tradition, presumbly from an old family Bible passed down in the family of his nephew Calvin Newton Sanders.

He married Mary Clark (her maiden name comes from family tradition but has not been verified by documentation) about 1868 and they had four children:

Rebecca Sanders born September 1869, probably the same individual as "Reda" or "Redie" Sanders who married Benjamin F. Butler.

Mary, born 1871

Sarah Caldona Sanders born 1874, married Robert Benjamin Ellis

Isaac Sanders born March 27, 1877, who married Alice Spears



Carl Julian Sanders

Birth 1912
Montgomery County
North Carolina
Death:
2007
Jefferson County
Alabama

Carl Julian Sanders was  a Methodist bishop.

From a published obituary in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 10, 2007:

"A native of Star, N.C., who grew up in Rock Hill, S.C., he was a student preacher while earning his bachelor of divinity degree from Emory University. He came to the Virginia Annual Conference in 1934. In addition to leading Broad Street and Trinity churches in Richmond, he served at churches in Cheriton, Chase City, South Roanoke and Arlington. He was superintendent of the Petersburg, Richmond and Norfolk church districts. Mr. Sanders was a founder and trustee of Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk as well as a trustee at Ferrum College in Ferrum and Randolph-Macon Academy in Front Royal."

"The Bishop traveled extensively around the world, visiting refugee camps and mission work in Africa, Asia, and Europe and was a frequent visitor to the Middle East and Far East; the co-founder of the Jerusalem Center for Biblical Studies for Educational Opportunities, Inc. in Lakeland, Florida. He served as a lecturer for Educational Opportunities in England, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Alaska, and Jerusalem. Bishop Sanders was known as one of the greatest preachers in Methodism. His devotion to God, his understanding of the Gospel, and his keen wit made his sermons live in the hearts of hearers. He was awarded three Freedom Foundation Awards for his sermons."

This obituary can be found at: http://www.timesdispatch.com/

Carl Julian Sanders was a descendant of another well-known minister, the Reverend Hardy Sanders (1807-1895) of Moore County, North Carolina.

Parents:
Hugh T. Sanders (1874-1937)
Annie Margaret Crowell (1885-1958)

Spouse:
Eleanor Louse Lupo Sanders (1916-1995)
Billie Jo Perry Sanders (1927-2012)

Elijah Greenville Sanders 

Birth:  1804
Randolph County
North Carolina
Death:  May 7, 1858
Jackson County
Alabama

The middle name of "Greenville" occurs in several Sanders men who lived in Jackson County, Alabama. In addition to Elijah and his son, there were also two cousins who appear to have had the same name. We do not know whether Greenville was a surname of an ancestor.

Elijah served in the 1837 Seminole Indian War in Witt Company, Caulfield Batallion, as one of the volunteers from Jackson County.

I have not been able to confirm with any document the death date of May 7, 1858 that was provided by another researcher, but Elijah's estate was administered in that year and the following people were mentioned:

Will of Elijah Saunders, 1858, Jackson County, Alabama, Francis Sanders, administrator. Wife Martha J. Children, Emaline Carlson, Eliz. Warmack, Sally Ann Sanders, Margaret Sanders, Francis Sanders, William Sanders, Caledonia, Cynthia, Alsy A.

The administrator of the estate, Francis Sanders,was Elijah's brother, John Francis Sanders(1805-1875). Elijah's father, the elder Francis Sanders(1782-after 1857), was in Arkansas in 1858, assuming he was still alive in that year.

The known children of Elijah and Martha J. Alisa Isbell:

Rachel Emaline Sanders who married William C. Coulson July 2, 1854.

Mary Elizabeth Sanders who married Robert Womack, August 2, 1850.

Elijah Greenville Bud Sanders who married his cousin Ann B. Fannie Sanders March 30, 1853.

Mary Mollie Sally Ann Sanders who married Ivory Sanders May 10, 1868.

Margaret J. Sanders who married her cousin John B. Sanders March 20, 1860.

Francis Marion Sanders who married Mary Elizabeth Smith, August 25, 1875.

William Sanders who married Martha Mattie Gibson July 20, 1875.

Caledonia Sanders who married John Kimbrough December 18, 1875.

Cynthia Sanders whose history after 1860 is unknown.

Alsy (or possibly, Susan) Sanders whose history after 1870 is also unknown.

Parents:
Francis Sanders (1782 - 1860)
Rachel Sanders Sanders (1779 - 1855)
 
Spouse:
Martha J. Alisa Ailsey Isbell Sanders (1808 - 1875) 

Francis Sanders
 
Birth:  1782
Montgomery County
North Carolina
Death:  between 1857-1860
Hempstead County
Arkansas

Francis Sanders was born in 1782 in North Carolina. Because of cousin relationships that are mentioned in traditions among his descendants, it appears he was a brother to Benjamin Sanders, and they were probably sons of Isaac Saunders who was living in Montgomery County in 1782 and lived afterwards in neighboring Randolph County. Francis is probably the 16-25 year old male in Isaac's household in Randolph County in the census of 1800.

My research indicates that, contrary to many statements on the Internet, Francis of Randolph was not from Gates County, North Carolina, and was not the son of Francis Sanders who died in 1783 in Gates.

On August 21, 1801 Francis Sanders of Randolph married Rachel Sanders, daughter of Joseph Sanders. DNA tests of the descendants of Francis and Joseph show that they were from separate Sanders lines. Francis appears to be enumerated on the 1810 census of Randolph near his brother Benjamin Sanders. The 1820 census is missing. By 1830 he and his family had moved to Jackson County, Alabama. In the 1840s, the family moved to Dekalb County, Alabama.

There are five children of Francis and Rachel for whom I have found plausible documentation: Elijah (born in 1804), John Francis (1805), Elisha (1814), William Patrick (1819), and Mary Jane (1823). All were born in Randolph County, North Carolina.

Elijah Sanders was the oldest child of Francis and Rachel. There is a solid family tradition passed down among his descendants (to Mrs. Hattie Vandiver, who was born in 1923) that his father was Francis Sanders. Elijah married Mary Jane Isbell and they raised a large family of ten children. Elijah died in Jackson County in 1858.

The administrator for the estate of Elijah was his brother Francis (also known as John Francis or Frank) Sanders. John Francis was probably the oldest living brother of Elijah and chosen as the administrator for this reason. John Francis moved to Calhoun County, Arkansas, in 1871 and died there in 1875.

Another likely son of Francis and Rachel is Elisha Sanders, who died in Marshall County, Alabama in 1840. The elder Francis was one of the administrators for his estate. Elisha appears to have been a relatively young man, probably under thirty years old, because he left a young widow and two male children, both under six years old. The presence of the younger of these children in the household of Francis and Rachel in 1850 in DeKalb County, Alabama, also lends credence to the possibility that Francis was the grandparent of the two children of Elisha.

While Francis and Rachel were living in DeKalb County, Alabama, Francis applied for federal bounty land on January 1, 1851, based on his service in the Seminole Indian War. He stated on the application that he was 68 years old and that he was the same person who served in Jackson County in the fall of 1837 and spring of 1838 under Captain William S. Coffee's North Alabama Mounted Volunteer Regiment. We know from subsequent events that his intention was to go to Arkansas and secure land there.

At nearly seventy years of age, he and Rachel didn't travel alone but with the families of two of their children: William Patrick Sanders, who was married to Ellender Southerland; and Mary Jane Sanders, married to James Jones Biddie or Biddy. In a court case in the Indian Territory in 1903, one of their grandchildren, Sarah Ann Biddy Kinsey, stated that the Sanders migration to Arkansas involved at least five wagons and two buggies. My estimate is that there were seventeen or more people. According to another grandchild, the trip took five or six weeks. The route apparently was from Marshall County, Alabama, through Corinth, Mississippi, to Memphis, then through Des Arc in Prairie County, Arkansas, and finally to Hempstead County.

Mary Jane Sanders Biddie died in 1852 somewhere in central Arkansas, possibly near Des Arc in Prairie County. Her brother, William Patrick Sanders, moved to Pike County, Arkansas, and later served in the Union Army during the Civil War. His year of death is uncertain, but military records show he was alive in November 1863. One of his sons married in 1865 in Montgomery County, Arkansas, a granddaughter of Francis' brother Benjamin.

Francis Sanders' bounty land warrant was executed in August 1855 in Hempstead County, Arkansas, and the two witnesses were James J. Biddie and William (William Patrick) Sanders. The application states that Francis was then a resident of Hempstead County. Francis seems to have received the right to eighty acres in Pike County and then to have signed his rights to the land in October 1856 to Henry Merrill, an agent for the Arkansas Manufacturing Company. This is the last record we have of Francis Sanders. Neither he nor Rachel is referenced on the 1860 Arkansas census.

Census records indicate that Francis and Rachel probably had other children, but contrary to numerous postings on the Internet, Francis and Rachel were almost certainly not the parents of several children that are often attributed to them: Rebecca (born in 1806), Phoebe (1813), Isaac (1818) John (1822), Alfred Head Mashburn (1826). My research indicates these five siblings were the children of Francis' brother, Benjamin.

Parents:
Isaac Saunders (1737 - 1825)
 
Spouse:
Rachel Sanders Sanders (1779 - 1855)*
 
Children:
Elijah Greenville Sanders (1804 - 1858)
John Francis Sanders (1805-1875)
Elisha Sanders (1814 - 1839)
William Patrick Sanders (1819 - 1863)
Mary Jane Sanders Biddie (1823 - 1852)

Francis F. Sanders

Born:
1801
Kentucky
Died:
March 13, 1875
Barry County, Missouri 

Spouse:
Hester “Hettie Ledbetter
Born:
1805
Tennessee
Died:
Between 1860-1870
Newton County, Missouri

The descendants of Francis have a proven Y-DNA relationship to the Sanders of Randolph and Montgomery but no paper trail has been established. Francis may be a cousin to the James Sanders who lived in  Jessamine and Madison counties in Kentucky.

Henry L. Sanders

Birth:  1832
Montgomery County
North Carolina
Death:  1862
Wright County
Missouri

Henry died about 1862 in Missouri according to an affidavit in 1893 by his widow and a letter written by his sister in law, Mary Maldira Nancy Louise Sanders Duboise.

Parents:
Benjamin Sanders (1804 - 1866)
Lynna Liney Suggs Sanders (1804 - 1850)
 
Spouse:
Sarah Jacks Sanders (1827 - 1909)*
 
Siblings:
Sarah Sanders Saunders (1826 - 1865)
Henry L Sanders (1832 - 1862)
Levi Lindsey Sanders (1837 - 1917)
Mary Maldira Nancy Louise Sanders Dubois (1844 - 1922)
Benjamin Sanders  (1849-before 1859)
Paulina Catherine D. Perleene Crews (1846-1903)
John William Sanders (1853 - 1903)
Frances A Sanders Vessar (1854 - 1930)
Lewis T Sanders (1857 - 1870)**
Benjamin Redwine Sanders (1859 - 1939)
Isabel Clementine Sanders Vankirk (1863 - 1917)
 
 
Henry Wiley Sanders

Birth:  Apr. 25, 1861
Brownsboro
Henderson County
Texas
Death:  1909
Leon County
Texas

Probably born in Brownsboro in Henderson County just after his parents moved from Oak Cliff in Dallas County. Later they moved to Ben Wheeler in Van Zandt County where they remained the rest of their lives.

Henry Wiley Sanders is believed to have died about 1909 in Leon County, Texas but this is not certain. In 1900 he was living in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma.

He married Laura L. Gilmore on April 28, 1887 in Van Zandt County, Texas. She died about 1905.

Children:
William Otto Sanders, born January 26, 1888
Robert E. Lee Sanders, born February 1890
Susie J. Sanders, born January 1894
Henry W. Sanders, Born Aug. 1896
Mae Sanders Craft, born 1901
 
Parents:
Levi Lindsey Sanders (1837 - 1917)
Susanne Collins Sanders (1842 - 1877)
 
Siblings:
Lorenzo Dow Sanders (1859 - 1897)
Henry Wiley Sanders (1861 - 1909)
Emma Sanders Craft (1865 - 1942)
Linnie Ross Sanders Wallace (1866 - 1953)
Benjamin Franklin Sanders (1868 - 1943)
Aaron Josiah Sanders (1870 - 1892)
Dewlly Leonidas Sanders (1871 - 1959)
M Alaphani Sanders Sharp (1873 - 1952)
Levi Simeon Sanders (1874 - 1882)
James Fountain Sanders (1876 - 1951)
Morgan Gurley Sanders (1878 - 1956)

  

Isaac Sanders

Birth:  Dec. 8, 1840
Jackson County
Alabama
Death:  Jan. 10, 1862
Arkansas

http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/4mcnair_cof.html
SANDERS, ISAAC JR Pvt
Enl 21Oct1861 at Ft Smith, AR. Died 10Jan1862

ttp://www.rootsweb.com/~armontgo/montgomery_hunters.htm:

Montgomery County Hunters
Company F, 4th Arkansas Infantry
They Never Came Back

Muster Roll of Co.F, 4th Inf.

Company F was enrolled at Mt Ida, a village in the hills of Montgomery County, Arkansas. These men marched out of Mt Ida July 17th, 1861 as towns people played homemade drums and fifes. They had no idea the war would last as long as it did and take such a large toll of their lives. Their baggage consisted of homemade quilts, pots and pans and an assortment of rifles, mostly flintlocks, squirrel guns and a few double barrel shotguns. The supplies being loaded in wagons drawn by teams of oxen.

Isaac was the second son of Isaac Sanders and Elizabeth King and the only one of the five sons living in 1860 who died during the Civil War.


 Parents:
 Isaac Sanders (1817 -about 1885)
 Elizabeth King Sanders (1817-about 1885) 

Joel Sanders

John Ale (Alexander?) Sanders

Birth:

July 1849

North Carolina

Death:

March 28, 1929

Polk County, Arkansas

 

A Y-DNA test on one of his descendants indicates that he is part of group 17 of the Family Tree Y-DNA Sanders project, the Sanders of Randolph and Montgomery counties of North Carolina, which is my Sanders family group. Before they were in North Carolina, these Sanders lived in Fairfax County, Virginia.

John was born in either July 1848 or July 1849 and the 1880 and 1900 census records indicate he was born in North Carolina. His first documented appearance is on September 28, 1871 in McNairy County, Tennessee, when he married Flora Ann Woods.

 

Spouse:

Flora Ann Woods

Many family trees at Ancestry.com give John’s parents as Joseph Sanders and Ann Meads of Pasquotank County, North Carolina, but I think this theory is highly unlikely. Joseph and Ann had a son named John who was born in 1849 but that son does not appear on the census with his widowed father in 1860 when he would have been ten or eleven years old. He does not appear on the 1870 census with his father, either. It seems likely, therefore, that John, the young son of Joseph and Ann, died between 1850 and 1860. Further, all the other children of Joseph and Ann appear to have lived and died in Pasquotank. I have not found documentary evidence that any of the children of Joseph and Ann moved to another state.

I have searched all the John Sanders that were born in 1848 and 1849 in North Carolina and Tennessee and have been unable to identify any of them as the John who married Flora Ann Woods.

Joseph Sanders

Birth: about 1755 about 1755 in North Carolina (Orange County?)
Death:between March 18, 1803 - 1805 in Randolph County, North Carolina.

Joseph married REBECCA UNKNOWN about 1778 in North Carolina. She was born about 1755 in North Carolina (probably) and died after 1811 in Randolph County, North Carolina. She may have lived until after 1830 if she is the elderly female living with the family of her son George in the 1830 Jackson County, Alabama, census.

Children of JOSEPH SANDERS and REBECCA UNKNOWN are:

i. RACHEL SANDERS, b. 1779, Randolph County, North Carolina; d. Bet. 1851 - 1860, Hempstead County, Arkansas; m. FRANCIS SANDERS, Aug… Read More ust 21, 1801, Randolph County, North Carolina; b. 1782, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. Bet. 1857 - 1860, Hempstead County, Arkansas.

ii. MARY SANDERS, b. Abt. 1782, Randolph County, North Carolina; d. Bet. 1830 - 1850, Jackson County, Alabama; m. BENJAMIN SANDERS, Abt. 1803, Montgomery or Randolph County, North Carolina; b. Abt. 1766, Cumberland or Anson County, North Carolina; d. Bet. 1840 - 1850, Jackson County, Alabama.

iii.GEORGE MCGUIRE SANDERS, b. 1784, Randolph County, North Carolina; d. December 22, 1867, Jackson County, Alabama; m. PHEBE SANDERS, 1806, Randolph County, North Carolina; b. 1785, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. Aft. 1850, Jackson County, Alabama.

iv.JOHN SANDERS , b. 1785, Randolph County, North Carolina;possibly the same John who married RACHEL RANDON, October 23, 1811, Randolph County, North Carolina. John was a witness to a transfer of land by his brother George in the 1830s. His whereabout after that are unknown.

v. SARAH SANDERS RICH, b. June 11, 1787, Randolph County, North Carolina; d. December 26, 1869, Liberty Township, Grant County, Indiana; m. PETER WALL RICH, 1808, Randolph County, North Carolina; b. July 17, 1783, Guilford County, North Carolina; d. December 12, 1872, Liberty Township, Grant County, Indiana.

vi. PHEBE SANDERS SANDERS, b. May 25, 1789, Randolph County, North Carolina; d. Aft. 1830, Lawrence County, Tennessee; m. JESSE SANDERS, Abt. 1806, Randolph County, North Carolina; b. May 17, 1780, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. Aft. 1839, Lawrence County, Tennessee.

vii. JOSEPH SANDERS, b. 1793, Randolph County, North Carolina; d. April 10, 1863, Mud Creek, Jackson County, Alabama; m. (1) MARTHA SANDERS, August 21, 1809, Randolph County, North Carolina; b. Abt. 1793, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. Bet. 1834 - 1839, Jackson County, Alabama; m. (2) DEBORAH SAUNDERS, Abt. 1839, Jackson County, Alabama; b. March 07, 1803, Montgomery or Randolph County, North Carolina; d. Abt. 1854, Jackson County, Alabama; m. (3) MAHALA HARPER, November 11, 1860, Jackson County, Alabama; b. September 07, 1818, Tennessee; d. October 29, 1885, Franklin County, Arkansas.

The Joseph Sanders of Randolph County who died in 1803 is believed to be the same Joseph Sanders who served in the Revolutionary War from the Hillsborough District of North Carolina. His descendants are eligible for membership in the Sons of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the American Revolution. The S.A.R. began accepting members over twenty years ago and the D.A.R accepted the first member in May 2019 (#A213613). Joseph joined the army in 1777 and was listed as a private in Walker's Company, Colonel James Hogan's 7th regiment, North Carolina Continental Line. It appears he was mustered out in October 1777. Joseph actual birth year is not known but because he had children who were under twenty-one at the time of his death and because he was probably a young man when he joined the Continental Army, the year 1755 has been traditionally suggested.

Joseph's will stated that if any of his children had to be apprenticed out, they should be raised by Quakers. Joseph seems to have had good relations with the Quakers who lived in northern Randolph County, though it is evident he was not a Quaker himself, as one of his daughters, Sarah, married Peter Rich, a birthright Quaker who was expelled by the Quakers for "marrying out."

In spite of many Internet postings that purport to give his ancestry, the parents of Joseph Sanders of Randolph County are unknown. He was not the son of the John Sanders who died in 1772 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. That John Sanders had a son named Joseph but the Joseph of Isle of Wight remained in Virginia, dying there about 1814.

DNA tests of the descendants of Joseph Sanders of Randolph County show that he was closely related to William Sanders (1740-1789) of Chatham County, North Carolina. Joseph and William may very well have been brothers. William and Joseph may be sons of the George Sanders who lived in Anson County before it was split among other counties. George was a neighbor to the Reverend Moses Sanders. Both William and Joseph named one of their sons George. Joseph and William are also shown by Y-DNA tests to be related to the John Saunders/Elizabeth Hancock line of Goochland County, Virginia. The Joseph Saunders born on March 1, 1759 to John and Elizabeth was probably a cousin or nephew to Joseph of Randolph. It is unlikely that Joseph, born in Goochland in 1759 and the son of John and Elizabeth, is the same person as Joseph of Randolph County, North Carolina, because this theory would require that that the eighteen year of son of John and Elizabeth leave Virginia to join the Army in North Carolina when he could just as easily have joined in Virginia, as his brother John did.

Joseph Sanders of Randolph was not related to the Isaac Saunders line of Randolph even though most of his children married children or grandchildren of Isaac. Of Joseph's children, Rachel, married Francis Sanders, son of Isaac; Mary married Benjamin Sanders, son of Isaac; Phoebe married Jesse Sanders, grandson of Isaac; Joseph married Martha Sanders, a granddaughter of Isaac; and George married Phoebe, a granddaughter of Isaac. The two children who did not marry a Sanders were Sarah and John. We know that Isaac and Joseph were not related through Y-DNA tests on their descendants, but the two men were probably neighboring landowners and close friends.

The DNA tests also show that Joseph was not related to the descendants of John Sanders of Nansemond and Isle of Wight in Virginia, contrary to what is given in many family trees on the Internet. DNA tests also show that Joseph's Sanders line was not related to the line of the surgeon, Edward Saunders, who arrived in Virginia on the ship "Safety" in 1635, another claim that is frequently made in Internet family trees.

The maiden name of Joseph's wife Rebecca is also unknown. There is no documentation whatsoever that her maiden name was Watson or that she was the daughter of Charles Watson and Sarah Beckworth who married in 1764 in Edgecombe County. In fact, there seems to be no evidence at all that Charles and Sarah had a daughter named Rebecca and if they did, that daughter would have been too young to have married Joseph Sanders in 1778. Further, the Watson family lived in Edgecombe County, not in Randolph County.That dozens of family trees make the claim that Joseph married Rebecca Watson is not proof of anything.

I think the Watson theory arose when someone came across the legitimate record that a man named Joseph Sanders married a Rebecca Watson in 1846 in Wilkes County and that person confused the Joseph Sanders of Wilkes County with the Joseph Sanders who died over forty years previously in Randolph County.

Since one of the sons of Joseph and Rebecca was named George McGuire Sanders, I think it is possible and even likely that Rebecca's maiden name was McGuire but even this is speculation. There was a McGuire family that lived in Goochland County, Virginia, in the 1750s and it is documented that some members of the McGuire family did move to Randolph County, North Carolina. This seems to be our only clue regarding the maiden name of Rebecca Sanders.

We have no documentation about Rebecca, the wife of Joseph Sanders, except that she is mentioned in Joseph's will and in the settlement of his estate in 1811.

Though it is likely that Rebecca died and is buried on the family property with her husband in Randolph County, Rebecca may have lived until after 1830. On the 1830 census of Jackson County, Alabama, there is a 70-79 year old female living in the household of George McGuire Sanders. Possibly, this is his mother, Rebecca Sanders.

Family tradition among Joseph's descendants is that the family was of Scottish or Irish ancestry. Joseph himself was probably at least a couple of generations removed from the immigrant ancestor.
(Gary B. Sanders is Joseph's third great grandson)

Levi Lindsey Sanders

Birth:  Feb. 11, 1908
Van Zandt County
Texas
Death:  Sep. 22, 1987
Bexar County
Texas

Married Mary Barbara Yantz about 1930. Had one known child, Joseph Lindsey Sanders, born 1932 in Henderson County, Texas.

Joseph's mother, now Mary B. Hargis, filed an amended birth certificate in 1952 in Jefferson County, Texas to clarify that the child's name was Joseph Linsey Sanders.
 
 Parents:
James Fountain Sanders (1876 - 1951)
Maud Mae Buchanan Sanders (1879 - 1953)
 
 Spouse:
 Mary B Hargis (1911 - 1992)
 
 Sibling:
 Levi Lindsey Sanders (1908 - 1987)
 Joseph Buchanan Sanders (1916 - 2009)

Lucinda Sanders Darby

Birth:  1839
Jackson County
Alabama
Death:  between 1880-1895
Wise County
Texas

After her death, her husband John Wesley Darby married Mary J. Nelson.

Parents:
Benjamin Sanders (1804 - 1866)
Lynna Liney Suggs Sanders (1804 - 1850)
 
Spouse:
John Wesley "Willie" Darby (1846 - 1914)
 
Siblings:
Sarah Sanders Saunders (1826 - 1865)
Matilda Carolyn Miller (1828-1912)
Henry L Sanders (1832 - 1862)
Levi Lindsey Sanders (1837 - 1917)
Lucinda J Sanders Darby (1839 - 1881)
Mary Maldira Nancy Louise Sanders Dubois (1844 - 1922)
Paulina Catherin D. Perleene Crews (1846-1903)
Benjamin Sanders (1849 - 1859)
John William Sanders (1853 - 1903)
Frances A Sanders Vessar (1854 - 1930)
Lewis T Sanders (1857 - 1870)
Benjamin Redwine Sanders (1859 - 1939)
Isabel Clementine Sanders Vankirk (1863 - 1917)    



Robert Sanders

Born: about 1801
Location: North Carolina
Death: 1882
Location: Izard County, Arkansas

The first appearance of Robert Sanders in documentary records is the 1850 census of Tishomingo County, Mississippi. Even though he was forty-nine years old at the time of the census, he appears to be newly married with a wife named Mary and a one year old child, Burrell, born in 1849. Also in the household were Green and Sarah Thern(or Thorn) whose relationship to Robert is unknown.  By 1860 Robert and his growing family were living in Izard County, Arkansas. In 1870 they were in Fulton County, Arkansas, but by 1880 the family was back in Izard County, where Robert died in 1882. Mary survived until 1807. They are buried in the Wayland Arbor Cemetery in Izard County.

The census consistently gives Robert's birthplace as North Carolina, but his whereabouts before 1850 are a mystery. There is no evidence that he was married or had children before his marriage to Mary about 1848. He does not appear on the 1845 Tishomingo state census and his son Burrell is enumerated on the census as having been born in Alabama. His wife, Mary Polly Haney, daughter of William Haney and Elizabeth Sagely, was born in Tennessee about 1827, possibly in Rutherford or Cannon County. William Haney's parents are not known for certain but he may be the son of Timothy Haney and Elizabeth Bessie Woolbright of Jackson County, Tennessee. Elizabeth Bessie Woolbright was a descendant of Lewis Sanders (1690-1870), the immigrant ancestor of the Sanders of Randolph and Montgomery (Y-DNA group 17).

At least two of the sons of Timothy and Elizabeth Haney, John and Isaac, married Sanders sisters, Mariah and Sarah Sally, in Jackson County. These two Sanders women may have been the children of Taylor Sanders of that county. We know from a lawsuit involving a land dispute among the children of Mariah Sanders Haney that this couple lived near the land that belonged to Taylor Sanders. There is therefore a possibility that Robert may have been a brother to these two Sanders sisters and a child of Taylor Sanders also.

Taylor Sanders was originally from Caswell County, North Carolina, and was associated with Smith Sanders, Mason Sanders, William Sanders, and Aaron Sanders of Caswell and Rockingham counties. We know from Y-DNA tests of descendants of William and Aaron that these Sanders men belong to the Sanders of Randolph and Montgomery group (Y-DNA group 17) and  Robert belongs to this group also, based on tests of two of the descendants of his son, Andrew Jackson Sanders. There are also many autosomal DNA matches between a descendant of Robert's nephew Henry Sanders and the Haney family of Jackson County, Tennessee. Although we do not know with certainty the father of Robert Sanders of Izard, DNA testing has brought us closer to a resolution to this problem.

Another unresolved problem with the family of Robert  appears with the 1880 census. Living with Robert at that time are a Serina Sanders, age 34, and a Henry Sanders, age 12. They are enumerated as Robert's niece and nephew, but we do not have the name of any brother of Robert, and a search of the 1850, 1860, and 1870 census fails to further identify Serina. One interpretation is that Serina (or Cyrena or Serena) was a niece and that Henry was her child out of wedlock. The only known Sanders relative of Robert who lived in adjacent counties was Richard Mason Sanders of Fulton County, Arkansas. He was a son of Mason Sanders of Caswell County, North Carolina, and if Mason Sanders of Caswell and Taylor Sanders of Jackson County, Tennessee, were brothers, then Robert Sanders of Izard and Richard Mason Sanders of Fulton County were first cousins. Therefore, the whereabouts of Serina between 1850 and 1880 are a mystery, like the life of Robert before he married at age 48 or 49.

Robert Sanders and Mary Polly Haney had six children:

Burrell, born 1849 in Alabama.  He married Susan J. Thompson.
Samanatha, born April 1, 1851 in Tishomingo County, Mississippi. She married Thomas J. Wayland
Elihu, born May 26, 1854 in Tishomingo County, Mississippi. He married Saphronia Whitfield.
John Henry, born December 17, 1859 in Izard County, Arkansas. He married Frances Whitfield.
George R., born 1864. He married Matilda Hively.
Andrew Jackson, born February 22, 1866. He married Julia Ann Hively.




Taylor Sanders

Born: about 1765
Location: Virginia or North Carolina
Death: about 1845
Location: Jackson County, Tennessee

Taylor Sanders, according to census accounts, was probably born about 1765. He seems to have been married by 1785 because  he had two 10-15 year olds in his household in the 1800 census of Caswell County, North Carolina. His age in 1800 is listed as 26-44, making him born between 1756-1774. His family is also on the 1810 census of the same county, where he also listed as age 26-44, making him born between 1766-1784.  In 1812, he was sued and because he had left the state and did not plead his case, his 158 acres of land were to be sold by the court. By the time of the 1830 census he was in Jackson County, Tennessee, where he is listed as age 60-69, making him born between 1660-1770. From these census records, we may conclude he was born about 1765 or 1766. His first wife may have died between 1820 and 1830 because his wife in 1830 appears to be a much younger woman than the woman living with him in previous census records. On the 1840 census of Jackson County, his age is 80-89 but the other census records indicate he was more likely 70-79 in that year. 
 
In 1840 Taylor is enumerated near Tobias Gipson who married Elizabeth Haney and near John Haney who married a woman named Mariah Sanders. Elizabeth Haney Gibson was a granddaughter of Mary Elizabeth Sanders who was a descendant of Lewis Sanders (1690-1760), the emigrant ancestor of the Sanders of Randolph and Montgomery (Y-DNA group 17). Elizabeth Haney Gipson's parents, Timothy Haney and Bessie Woolbright Haney, lived in Jackson County, Tennessee during the time Taylor Sanders was living there.

At least two of the male children (John and Isaac) of Timothy Haney and Bessie Woolbright married Sanders girls. These two girls, Mariah and Sarah (Sally), were born in the period around 1818-1822. After Mariah's husband, John Haney, died in 1895, there was a land dispute among the children of John and Mariah, and in the court testimony, one of the witnesses made a reference to the land of Taylor Sanders. This, and the geographical proximity of the two families, leads me to believe that Taylor Sanders may have been the father of Mariah Sanders Haney and Sarah Sally Sanders Haney.

Another son of Taylor may be Robert Sanders (1801-1882) of Izard County, Arkansas. We have two Y-DNA participants descended from Robert who match the Sanders of Randolph and Montgomery and I have been in correspondence with a descendant of Robert's niece who has many autosomal DNA matches with descendants of the Haney family of Jackson County, Tennessee.  Most of the autosomal matches are below 50 shared cm but one is around 70, and the particicpant would be a 5th or 6th cousin to these people. This Robert Sanders of Izard married a Mary Polly Haney, a daughter of William Haney, who was born about 1798 or 1799. William may be a brother to John and Isaac Haney who married into the Sanders family of Jackson County, Tennessee.

We know from previous Y-DNA tests that some of the other Sanders who, like Taylor, lived in Caswell and Rockingham counties about 1800 belong to the Sanders of Randolph and Montgomery group: Aaron Sanders (1772-1854, one DNA participant), Mason Sanders (about 1765-1836), Smith Sanders(about 1765-1807), and William Sanders (1797-1870, one DNA participant). There were, of course, other Sanders and Saunders in Caswell who were not related to this group.

Birth:  1811
Society Hill
Darlington County
South Carolina, USA
Death:  Oct., 1879
Scottsboro
Jackson County
Alabama, USA [Edit Dates]

This William Sanders has no known relationship to the Sanders of Randolph and Montgomery. Died between February 11, 1876 - 1880. Probably the William Sanders who died in October 1879, according to the mortality schedules:

U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885
about Wm Sanders Name: Wm Sanders
Gender: Male
Race: White
Marital Status: Single
Place of Birth: Alabama
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1810
Age: 70
Month of Death: Oct
Cause of Death: Congestion
Father's Place of Birth: Virginia
Mother's Place of Birth: Virginia
Census Year: 1880
Census Location: (City, County, State)
Scottsboro, Jackson, Alabama
Enumeration District: 120
Line: 14

Nothing is known of Williams' first wife, Mary, except that the couple had at least one son. William married his second wife, Thersa Gideon on July 3, 1863.

After the Civil War, William asked the U.S. government to compensate him for his losses, as he had remained loyal to the Union.

Testimony relating to William Sanders' claim before the Southern Claims Commission begins on page 566, claim no. 1365 of roll 14, goes through image 620.

Willism stated that he was born at Society Hill in South Carolina.

Sanders Siftings, July 2004, p.2
Quest for Southern Claims. I expected to find some other Sanders among the claimants. After all, many of them fought for the Union, including my g-g-grandfather and his son. Benjamin Van Buren Sanders, my g-grandfather. However. I only found one other Sanders
from Jackson County, and I found no evidence that he was related to "my" Sanders in that county. Here is who I found and what I found about him: WILLIAM SANDERS, aged about 65 years when claim was made 11 Feb 1876. He was bom in South Carolina. Wife's name was Mary and they had a son in the Union Army who enlisted in Tennessee. He had a farm two and a half miles SW of Scottsboro. His wife was dead at the time of the claim. The person who best described what happened to their property when the
Federals arrived was Hannah Young, a Colored woman who gave her age as 120. She explained that the claimant's father got her to live with him in South Carolina after his wife died and he didn't remarry She said that William Sanders (the claimant) was about five or
six years old then and she had lived with the family since. A subsequent check of 1870. 1860. and 1850 census records identified Hannah as Mulatto. On the 1870 census her age was 110. in 1860 she was 65! Could not make out her age in 1850. In 1840 in Jackson County. Hannah is in a category of free colored females 36-55. She was evidently quite elderly in 1876, but probably not 120. What was remarkable was her memory of what happened quite a few years back.

Here are a few friends and neighbors of William Sanders who testified as to his loyalty and provided affidavits:

Calvin Gideon. 29,10 miles west of Scottsboro. Claimant married an aunt of his.
George W Wilhelms, 54, 23 years at present residence, 2 miles SW of Scottsboro; not related; known claimant about 25 years.
ThomasJ.Wood.78. Scottsboro retired merchant. Known claimant about 30 years.
William Simmons. 57. Known claimant 30 years.
Joseph W Burton. 67. Six years in Scottsboro. Known claimant 40 years.

 There are several reasons I think William is not related to my Sanders in Jackson County. Alabama, although I once thought all the Sanders there were related. First, he came from South Carolma, mine came from the Randolph and Montgomery Counties in
North Carolinar. And second, he was not fromthe part of the county where the other Sanders lived. And last, none of the
individuals who provided affidavits here were among those for John Sanders or any of the large number of supporters'
names for Sanders who applied for Union Army pensions, or claims for Indian War bounty land.

From this bit of research I learned that there were "other" Sanders in Jackson County Also, like other genealogy research, I found nice surprises. Hannah Young was one of them. It was a revealing look into families of that time.
article by Donald E. Schaefer, editor.

 Spouse:
Thersa Gideon Sanders (1834 - 1864)  

 

Birth:  1815
Randolph County
North Carolina
Death:  1870
Marion County
Arkansas

The middle name of "Walter" has not been confirmed by any document. His death date is not certain, but he does not appear on the 1870 census and was probably dead before then.

William Sanders applied for bounty land on September 11, 1850, from Yellville, Marion County, Arkansas, based on his volunteering for Captain Witt's Battalion at Jackson County, Alabama in September 1836 of 12 months service in the Seminole Indian War.

To all whom it may concern. Know ye, that William Sanders, a private of Capt. Charles Witt Company, in the Battalion of Jackson County Mounted Volunteers, commanded by Lieut Col. David Cawlfield, mustered intot he service of the Uniteds States at Claysville, Alabama, September 8, 1836, for a term of twelve months, and being now mustered for discharge, by order of Maj. Gen. Th. S. Jessup, commanding the Army of the South, is hereby honorably discharged from the said service, at Bellefonte, Alabama, this eleventh day of September 1837. Signed S. Churchile(?), Maj. Art. * Ins. Gen Army of the South.

State of Arkansas
County of Marion

On the 23rd day of August, 1850, personally appeared before me the undersigned, a justice of the peace for the township of Union in the county and state above mentioned, William Sanders, who being duly sworn according to law, declares that he is the identical William Sanders who was a private in the company commanded by Captain Charles Witt in the Battalion of Jackson County mounted volunteers commanded by Lieut. Col. David Cawlfield that he enlisted on the 8th of September 1836 for the term of twelve months and was discharged at Bellefonte, Alabama, on the eleventh day of September, 1837, by reason of the expiration of his service.

Sworn to and subscribed before me day and year above written. Signed William Sanders Thos. F. Austin, J. P.
 
 Parents:
Joseph Sanders (1793 - 1863)
Martha Sanders (1793-about 1834)

Spouse:

Mariah Bishop (about 1824-about 1856)
Mary Adlin Billingsley Sanders ( 1837-about 1862)
Nancy Emmeline Billingsley Sanders (1838 - 1919)

Deborah Saunders Sanders

Isaac Saunders
 
Birth:  1737
Fairfax County
Virginia
Death:  about 1825
Montgomery County
North Carolina

Family tradition establishes that Isaac Saunders, William Aaron Sanders, and Moses Sanders were brothers and that they originally were from Virginia but moved to North Carolina as young men. We now know that they most likely were born in the Fairfax/Loudoun area of Virginia and that they were probably grandsons of Lewis Sanders who came to America from Scotland or Ulster.

The 1737 birth date for Isaac is based on the statement about 1890 of Thomas Bailey Saunders of Texas, a grandson of Isaac's brother William Aaron, that Isaac was the first man to build a house in North Carolina at the town of Cross Creek, which was established just before 1760. Therefore, the year of 1737 is a guess based on the assumption that Isaac was probably in his early twenties when he moved to North Carolina.The death year of 1825 is based on the statement of Thomas Bailey Saunders that he once met Isaac. Since Thomas Baily Saunders was born in 1816, Isaac must have been living in the mid 1820s.

Nothing else is known of Isaac and his residency in Cross Creek in Cumberland County, North Carolina, until he moved to and bought land in what is now Moore County, North Carolina, about 1780. By 1782, he is listed on the Montgomery County tax list. He appears in land records of Randolph County in the 1790s and is listed on the 1800 Randolph County census. He granted land to Benjamin Sanders in 1806 and 1808. There are no further documents about him after 1808--just the family tradition that he and his wife survived until the young Thomas Bailey Saunders met him at some point in the 1820s.

The name of Isaac's wife (or wives) is not known. He was certainly married by 1760 when his first son, Jacob, was born.  His last known child, Francis, was born in 1782, and it is possible that Jacob and Francis had different mothers. It does not appear that Isaac had any children after 1782 because there is only one male child, age 16-25 listed in his household in 1800 and that child is probably Francis.

Isaac Saunders of Randolph County, North Carolina is not the same person as the Isaac Sanders of New Kent County, Virginia, who married Mary Miles. The Isaac Sanders in New Kent County never left Virginia and had children with different names from those of the Isaac in North Carolina.

Known children of Isaac Saunders of Randolph County:

Jacob Saunders (1760 - 1818). Jacob  is not mentioned by name in the letter written in the 1890s by Isaac's grand nephew, Thomas Bailey Saunders, but Jacob's descendants are referenced in the letter in such a way that that the only possible intepretation leads to Isaac as the father of Jacob. I have more detail about this in my article on the Thomas Bailey Saunders letter.

Benjamin Sanders (1766 - 1849). Isaac transferred land to Benjamin in 1806 and 1808. One of the transfers was of land where Isaac had his own residence, and  Isaac's advancing age may have been the motivation to give his son control of the property. Further, the Thomas Bailey Saunders letter from the 1890s states that Jacob had a brother named "Ben." 

Francis Sanders (1782 - 1860). Thomas Bailey Saunders also stated that Jacob (who was not named directly but referred to only as "your grandfather") and Ben had another brother named "Joe."  I believe this was a misintepretation by Thomas Bailey Saunders and that the tradition actually referred to Joseph Sanders, who was not  Ben's brother but his brother-in-law (husband of Rachel, the sister of Ben's wife, Mary). I think that Ben's brother was actually Francis Sanders, who was in fact another son of Isaac. Francis was born in 1782 and he appears to be the 16-25 year old in Isaac's household in 1800. Ben and Francis moved to Jackson County, Alabama, in the 1830s. A family tradition passed down in the family of  Greenville Sanders (1845-1914, grandson of Francis) and his wife Sarah Jane Sanders (1846-1927, granddaughter of Benjamin) is that the couple were double cousins, thus implying that Francis and Ben were brothers.

There may have been other children of Isaac but only Jacob, Benjamin, and Francis have adequate documentation.

Other possible children:

Mary Katherine Sanders Suggs (1767-1809). In the 1790s George Suggs and Isaac Saunders were adjacent property owners, and the Suggs family was closely associated with the Sanders family for several generations. Isaac's grandson, Benjamin Sanders (1804-1866) married Liney Suggs. Still, we have no  specific documentation that Mary Katherine was the daughter of Isaac.

Isaac Sanders (about 1763-about 1847). This is the Isaac Sanders who died in Leake County, Mississippi. We know that this Isaac belongs to the Sanders of Randolph and Montgomery group because of Y-DNA tests on a descendant of his son Aaron (1813-1881). This Isaac appears to have been the same person as the Isaac Sanders who lived in Franklin County, Georgia, about 1800, at the same time that the elder Isaac's brother, the Reverend Moses Sanders, was living in Franklin County. Since this Isaac was not the son of Moses (we know that from Moses' will) and was not the son of Moses' brother Francis (who was also living in Franklin County), one possibility is that the Isaac in Georgia was the nephew of the Reverend Moses Sanders and a son of the older Isaac in Randolph County, North Carolina. Isaac of Franklin County seems to have moved later to Bedford County, Tennessee, Clarke County, Alabama, and finally to Leake County, Mississippi. We know so little about the life of this Isaac as a young man, however, that it is probably best to withhold judgment about his parents.

Jacob Saunders

Birth: 1760
Cross Creek
Cumberland County
North Carolina, USA
Death: about 1817
Montgomery County
North Carolina, USA 

Jacob Saunders was born about 1760. We do not know the exact year but since he had a son who was born in the year 1780, he was probably at least nineteen years old when he married.

That his father was named Isaac Saunders is known from a letter written in the 1890s by Jacob’s first cousin once removed, Thomas Bailey Saunders, to one of Jacob’s grandsons, Elkanah Shuford Saunders. Thomas Bailey Saunders was born in 1817 and stated that as a child he had once met his very elderly great uncle, Isaac, who must have been in his late eighties at the time.

In the same letter, we are informed that Isaac was the “first man to ever build a house on Cross Creek below Fayetteville.” Since the village of Cross Creek was founded about 1757,  Isaac's son Jacob was probably born near Cross Creek, which is in Cumberland County.

By 1780 Isaac had moved his family to the area of Cumberland County that would later become Moore County. He owned a grist mill there but sold the land shortly thereafter and by 1782 he appears on the tax rolls of Montgomery County, where his brothers, the Reverend Moses Sanders and William Aaron Saunders,had owned land since the early 1770s. By the 1790s Isaac had moved to Randolph County where he is enumerated on the 1800 census. As in Moore County, he built a grist mill in Randolph County. 

Jacob, apparently remained  in Montgomery County after his father moved to Randolph, though Jacob may also have have lived in Randolph County for a while. In 1779 Jacob married a  young woman named Mary and they had at least eleven children. Mary's maiden name is unknown but the 1850 and 1860 census states that she was born in North Carolina.

Jacob was a skilled carpenter, woodworker, and cabinet maker who made hope chests for each of his daughters. One of these hope chests is still in the possession of one of his descendants; at least this was reported to be the case in the 1970s. A peaked cupboard believed to have been designed by Jacob or craftsmen working under his direction is on display at the Old Salem Museum and Gardens in Winston, Salem, North Carolina.

Joe Thompson of Raleigh, North Carolina, a descendant of Jacob’s uncle, William Aaron Saunders, has done extensive work on the land records of northern Montgomery County where the Sanders family lived during and after the American Revolution. His work gives us the locations of the tracts of land owned by Jacob Saunders:

“I have copies from North Carolina land grant file warrant 6770. One document is an order to survey 100 acres for Jacob Sanders adjoining his own land, Steeds, and John Neals and is dated 10th November 1810. There is a survey in the noted to be "Survey for the Heirs of Jacob Sanders, the 10th of November, 1820.I have copies from warrant 7700 with an order to survey for Jacob Sanders dated 9th day of July,1817 and a survey dated the 9th of September for Jacob Sanders.Based on these documents, I think it is safe to assume Jacob died between September 1817 and November 1820. These files are in the NC Archives.”

Here are some of the tracts that Jacob owned near the village of Immer in  northeast Montgomery County:

Tract 10—Jacob Saunders land grant in 1808. It was adjoining the land of  Jacob's aunt, the widow Joanah Bailey Saunders. It was to the north of Horseshoe Bend Road and Lovejoy Road.

Tract 11 was entered about 1810 and was surveyed for the heirs of Jacob Sanders in 1820.  It was surveyed in 1851 and granted to Allen H. Bean who married Jacob’s granddaughter, Elizabeth Saunders, daughter of Jacob’s son Henry.

Tract 9  surveyed in 1817,  the southwest corner adjoined the land of Jacob’s son Jesse.

As Joe Thompson explains, the date of the grant from the state is not always the date the land was first acquired. Often, land owners granted land to heirs without requesting a patent from the state. It is therefore somewhat difficult to assess the extent of Jacob's land holdings during his lifetime.

An 1830 deed  concerning a division of land among the heirs of Jacob and his widow Mary is helpful in identifying the children of Jacob. The following list is based on that deed and other records.

Children of JACOB SAUNDERS and MARY are:

JESSE SANDERS, b. May 17, 1780, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. Aft. 1839, Lawrence County, Tennessee.

PHEBE SANDERS, b. 1785, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. Bet. 1850 - 1860, Jackson County, Alabama.

ISRAEL SAUNDERS, b. 1788, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. Bet. 1860 - 1870, Randolph County, North Carolina.

ANNA SAUNDERS, b. Abt. 1790, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. Aft. 1830.

MARGARET PEGGY SAUNDERS, b. Abt. 1794, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. Bet. 1870 - 1877, Montgomery County, North Carolina.

JACOB L SAUNDERS, b. Abt. 1796, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. February 17, 1864, Montgomery County, North Carolina.

REBECCA SAUNDERS, b. Abt. 1798, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. Aft. 1830; m. THOMAS ADAMS, August 15, 1816, Randolph County, North Carolina; b. Abt. 1795, North Carolina.

SAMPSON SAUNDERS, b. January 17, 1801, Randolph County, North Carolina; d. July 15, 1864, Montgomery County , North Carolina.

DEBORAH SAUNDERS, b. March 07, 1803, Montgomery or Randolph County, North Carolina; d. Abt. 1854, Jackson County, Alabama.

MARY SAUNDERS, b. Abt. 1805, Montgomery or Randolph County, North Carolina.

HENRY SAUNDERS, b. Abt. 1808, Montgomery or Randolph County, North Carolina; d. Aft. 1885, Montgomery County,  North Carolina.

Jacob Saunders of Montgomery County should not be confused with the Jacob Saunders of Rowan County who married Lidiah Lunsford. That Jacob had a different wife and different children and lived in a different county.

A tombstone marker for  Jacob has not been found, but the burial site is believed to be in an abandoned family cemetery on one of the original Jacob Saunders land grants which consisted of sites within the area now bounded by Horseshoe Bend Road, Lovejoy Road, and Flint Hill Road in northeast Montgomery County.

 Parents:
Isaac Saunders (1737 - 1825) 

Jacob L. Saunders

Birth:  1797
Montgomery County
North Carolina
Death:  Feb. 17, 1864
Montgomery County
North Carolina

 
Jacob L. Saunders was the son of an earlier Jacob Saunders and the grandson of Isaac Saunders. He was a carpenter by profession. He and his wife, Bethana Leah, had a least five children. Although Jacob lived in Randolph County, he was probably working for and living with the family of Pleasnt Simmons when the tragic event described below occurred. 

The Carolina Watchman, March 3, 1864, v. 21, issue 42. 

MURDER, VIOLENCE AND TREASON
The following letter from Randolph county will give some idea of the mischief which the Agitators in North Carolina are producing. And this will be but the beginning if stern and prompt measures be not taken to arrest the devils. We call the attention of the Confederate and State authorities to the enormities and outrages reported by our correspondent: 

Randolph Co., Feb. 22, 1864. 

Messrs. Editors: On last Wednesday, the 17th, several deserters went to the house of Mr. Pleasant Simons, of Montgomery county. Some four of them entered his house after the family had retired to bed and demanded bacon of him. He concluded to give them some and ordered his daughter to get it. She brought them two hams: they said that would not do, they must have more. They then went to the smoke house, broke the door open and begun to cut down the meat; when an acquaintance, Mr. Jacob Sanders who was lodging with Mr. Simmons that night, got up and went out to them, with Mr. Simons. The deserters ordered them back to the house, or they would shoot them. They went back but Mr. Sanders got a gun and repeater from Mr. Simons and went out armed, when the wretches fired on them, killing Mr. Sanders and mortally wounding Mr. Simons. Mr. Sanders fired twice or three times before he expired, and it is believed he killed the noted Bill Owens, and probably one other. Mr. Sanders died in fifteen minutes; Mr. Simons survived some twenty four hours. 

Mrs. Simons came out of the house to her husband, when the devils ordered her back in the house or they would put lead in her; that they had sent their sons to war and they were all a d—d set of secessionists, and took up a rock to put an end to Mr. Simons, as they said he was not quite dead. His daughter interceded and they left to take off their wounded or dead. Six or eight balls went through the dwelling house door. The yard was strewn with human gore; it stood in some places in puddles, where the men lay. 

I attended the funeral of my friend Mr. Simons, who was a very respectable citizen, as was also Mr. Jacob Saunders—both men over 60 years of age, and leave families, having sons in our army. 

Only a few days previous, a Mr. Cagel was shot in the same neighborhood, but not mortally. Can nothing be done to put a stop to those acts of murder and treason?

Parents:
Jacob Saunders (1760-1817)
Mary Sanders (1760-about 1861)

Nimrod Saunders

Birth:  1780
Montgomery County
North Carolina
Death:  1860
Cherokee County
Alabama

According to an old family tradition, Nimrod was nine years old at the time the American Revolution began, but census records indicate he was born about 1780, which would make him nine years old at the time of the adoption of the constitution and the inauguration of George Washington in 1789. His father, William Aaron Saunders, died when he was about two years old and his mother, Joan Bailey Saunders, lived until about 1810. According to family tradition, Nimrod's brothers and sisters were Stephen, Luke, and Sarah.

Nimrod operated a grist mill in Montgomery County, North Carolina and was known as "Honest Rod." He and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Ricketts, had fifteen children. Their names and dates of birth are known through the Davis family Bible. In the 1830s, Nimrod and his wife and many of their children moved to Georgia and then to Cherokee County, Alabama. He and Mary Elizabeth were still living there in 1860 and they probably died in that county. Their burial place is unknown.

The children of Nimrod Saunders and Mary Elizabeth Ricketts are as follows:

i. SARAH5 SAUNDERS, b. December 21, 1803, Montgomery County, North Carolina; m. MOORE GRAVES; b. Abt. 1800, North Carolina.
ii. TABITHA SAUNDERS, b. July 21, 1806, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. January 15, 1892, Etowah County, Alabama.
iii. NATHAN D. C. SAUNDERS, b. May 27, 1808, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. June 23, 1832, North Carolina.
iv. AARON SAUNDERS, b. May 04, 1810, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. 1862.
v. STEPHEN C. SANDERS, b. March 28, 1812, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. March 22, 1894, Prairie Grove, Washington County, Arkansas.
vi. POLLY MARY SAUNDERS, b. February 28, 1814, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. Aft. 1870, Montgomery County, North Carolina.
vii. PALLY (TWIN) SAUNDERS, b. February 28, 1814, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. Aft. 1880, Marshall County, Alabama.
viii. THOMAS BAILEY I SAUNDERS, b. October 09, 1816, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. May 26, 1902, Saunders Station, Bexar County, Texas.
ix. INFANT SAUNDERS, b. 1818, Montgomery County, North Carolina.
x. JOANNA SAUNDERS, b. July 08, 1820, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. October 03, 1879, Etowah County, Alabama.
xi. JACKSON SAUNDERS, b. August 21, 1822, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. September 21, year of death not certain, after 1860.
xii. HARRIS SANDERS, b. March 23, 1824, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. February 21, 1917, Blue Mountain, Tippah County, Mississippi.
xiii. LUKE SANDERS, b. August 26, 1826, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. April 10, 1893, Eden, Concho County, Texas.
xiv. AGNES SAUNDERS, b. June 03, 1828, Montgomery County, North Carolina; d. 1900; m. JACOB HOOPER; b. 1827, North Carolina; d. Unknown.
xv. ALLEN SAUNDERS, b. November 11, 1829, Montgomery County, North Carolina; m. FRANCES GIBSON, September 30, 1852, Dekalb County, Alabama.

Parents:
William Aaron Saunders (1735 - 1782)
Joan Bailey Saunders (1745-about 1810)

Sampson Saunders

Birth:  Jan. 17, 1801
Randolph County
North Carolina
Death:  Jun. 15, 1864
Montgomery County
North Carolina

Parents:
Jacob Saunders (1760-1817)
Mary Sanders (1760-about 1861)

Note: Per e-mail from Geneva Sanders Cervantes: "Sampson and Rhoda Redwine Sanders are buried in Montgomery County, North Carolina, not far from their home." 

William Saunders

Birth:  before 1740
Location: Virginia
Death: before July 17, 1815
Location: Pittsylvania County, Virginia

I believe there were two individuals named William Saunders (or Sanders, as there is no consistency in spelling) in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, about the year 1800. Both individuals are somewhat shadowy figures with scanty documentary records, but I think the existence of two different men is obvious from the documentary evidence and from snippets of family tradition. The one who died in 1815 in Pittsylvania County is the one related to the Sanders of Randolph and Montgomery, Y-DNA Group 17 at FamilyTreeDNA.
 
The other individual, and the one that has no connection to Y-DNA Group 17 Sanders, was William David Saunders. We find the following at a family tree file at Rootsweb:
  
"William David Saunders came from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and settled in what is now Bedford County. Twice married, he built "The Big House", the remains of this home being on the west side of Route 626 in Smith Mountain Lake State Park. He was buried on the south lawn of The Big House, between the house and road. The cemetery was abandoned and the gravestones were removed years ago."
 
This William David Saunders was probably living in Pittsylvania County, Virginia about 1800 because his sons and daughters married in that county between 1795 and 1804.  By 1820 the family had moved to Bedford County (confirmed by census records) and William David Saunders was probably dead.
 
More on Wiliam David Saunders:

https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/saunders/2856/
 
Re: William Saunders -Anne Dove Pittsylvania Co Va
By Judy Needham June 20, 2002 at 05:42:36
In reply to: Re: William Saunders -Anne Dove Pittsylvania Co Va
Kathy Fett 6/16/02
 
As you probably have seen in your research, there is some confusion about the Saunders/Sanders families in Pittsylvania County, Virginia in the late 1700s, early 1800s.
 
You ask for information about Daniel Green Saunders, saying he is a son of William Saunders and Ann Dove.This is most likely not the case.We have yet to discover the parentage of Daniel Green Saunders.It is possible that his father was William - but not that William.
 
Daniel Green Saunders who married Frances Elizabeth Davis as his first wife, is likely a brother to my great-great-great-great grandfather Jacob Saunders.Jacob m. Seludy Davis, sister to Frances, in 1798.Jacob was witness to the marriage bond of Daniel Saunders wherein George Davis signed that he had given his consent.
 
Jacob had a brother Henry, and he also had a sister Katherine (Kadie) who married Mike Debo. Jacob and Henry left Pittsylvania - Jacob about 1818 to settle in Anderson County, TN; Henry most likely went to Kentucky.Later on, Henry is to be found in Indiana (1840s) and Jacob in Williamson County, Illinois.Their sister Kadie Saunders Debo remained in the Pittsylvania area and wrote to Henry in Indiana.I have a copy of a letter (written in German) sent to Jacob by Henry wherein he mentionsSeisel (German for sister) Kadie and "Meik" Debo and also another brother, George.
 
I have been told by another family researcher that the reason Jacob left Virginia was over a land deal gone sour for which his brother Daniel made Jacob a loan.
 
In my further research, I have found a Henry Saunders and his wife Margaret involved in another court case (1795) involving land - and the Toshes, the Bergers and the Cross(Gross?) families.I believe that this Henry and his wife Margaret are the grandparents of Jacob, Henry, Kadie, Elizabeth, George and Daniel.
 
I do not find any mention of Daniel Green Sanders in any of the court cases about the distribution of the estate of William Saunders/Sanders married to Ann Dove.And, I don't find this same repetition of children's names in that family.
 
 
Judy Needham, who posted the preceding material, believes that the grandfather of Daniel Green Saunders was a Henry Saunders. Other researchers state that this grandfather, the father of William David Saunders, was originally named Heinrich Saunders and he was from Pennsylvania and that the family was German or Dutch. Obviously, this William David Saunders who lived in Pittsylvania about 1800 and who died in Bedford is not related to  Y-DNA Group 17, which was of English borderland, Scottish, or Irish ancestry.
 
Even after we establish that William David Sanders was not the same person as the William Saunders who died in 1815, it must be admitted that documentation about the second William is still somewhat confusing. The first thing to note is that there is no document at all that refers to him as "William David Saunders." I think that name arose from confusion with the other William Saunders of Pittsylvania, the one who moved to Bedford before 1820. Hereafter, I will refer to the second William as "William Saunders." To make matters more complicated, it appears some descendants of both Saunders lines married into the Coe family of Pittsylvania.
 
Still, it is possible to prepare an outline of the history of the second William Saunders in Pittsylvania. He appears in the Pittsylvania tax list of 1782, so we know he was in the county by that year. In 1787 he married Ann Dove. He purchased 273 acres of land in 1793 and there are other documentary records of his presence in the county. He died intestate before July 17, 1815 and lawsuits over his estate continued until at least 1828. The lawsuits involved some of his heirs suing other heirs and some of the heirs were minors at the time of William's death.
 
Here's information on one lawsuit, posted by Hildreth Shelton:
 
https://www.ancestry.com/boards/surnames.saunders/2758/mb.ashx
 
In Pittsylvania County Court Orders Book 17, 1815-1816, page 95 is record of a lawsuit brought by some of the heirs of William Saunders against other of his heirs to obtain sale of land left by William (he left no will). The heirs were:
Plaintiffs:
Jeremiah Saunders
Jesse Saunders
Susan Mays, nee Saunders and wife of Larkin Mays
Libby Saunders
Elizabeth Thorpe, nee Saunders and wife of John Thrope
Ratha Bays, nee Saunders and wife of Joshua Bays (the writing of her first name was
indistinct and this spelling is a best reading.)
Darkas Hundley, need Saunders and wife of John Hundley
William Saunders
Leonard Saunders
Polly Saunders
 
Defendants:
Francis Saunders
Joseph Saunders
Baker Saunders
Micajah Saunders
Amos Saunders
George Saunders
Coleman Saunders
Ann Saunders, widow of William Saunders, dec’d.
 
According to Hildreth Shelton,  the lawsuit states that Joseph, Baker, Micajah, Amos, George and Coleman were “infants under the age of 21 years” and that Francis Saunders had been appointed their guardian.”
 
Below is what I have on the family of William Saunders. Many of the dates of birth and death for the children are uncertain.

WILLIAM SAUNDERS was born Abt. 1740 in Virginia  and died Bef. July 17, 1815 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. He married (1) UNKNOWN Abt. 1764 in Fairfax County, Virginia or Charles County, Maryland. She was born Abt. 1745 in Virginia, and died Bef. 1787 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. He married (2) ANN DOVE,5 August 26, 1787 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, daughter of JOSEPH DOVE. She was born Abt. 1770 in Fairfax County, Virginia, and died Bet. 1830 - 1840 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia.

Children of WILLIAM SAUNDERS and UNKNOWN are:

JEREMIAH SAUNDERS, b. before 1765, Virginia or Charles County, Maryland; d. Aft 1828, Campbell County, Virginia; m. JUDITH UNKNOWN before 1802.

JESSE SAUNDERS, b. Abt. 1765, Virginia or Charles County, Maryland; d. Aft. 1830, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; m. PHOEBE ROWLAND, August 18, 1788, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; b. Abt. 1765, Virginia; d. Aft. 1830, Pittsylvania County, Virginia.

SUSAN SUKY SAUNDERS, b. Abt. 1768, Fairfax County, Virginia or Charles County, Maryland; d. Aft. 1828, Kanawha County, Virginia (now West Virginia); m. LARKIN MAYS, December 13, 1788, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; b. Abt. 1765, Virginia; d. Aft. 1828, Kanawha County, Virginia (now West Virginia).

ELIZABETH ANN LIZZANN SAUNDERS, b. Abt. 1770, Fairfax County, Virginia or Charles County, Maryland; d. Aft. 1828; m. JOHN THORPE, August 15, 1791, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; b. Abt. 1770, Virginia.

RUTH ANN SAUNDERS, b. Abt. 1780, Charles County, Maryland; d. December 18, 1855, Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina; m. JOSHUA BAYS, November 16, 1799, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; b. Abt. 1778, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; d. November 16, 1852, Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina.

DORCAS SAUNDERS, b. January 31, 1782, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; d. September 26, 1865, Highland County, Ohio; m. JOHN HUNDLEY, October 08, 1801, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; b. Abt. 1780, Virginia; d. June 25, 1835, Clinton County, Ohio.

Children of WILLIAM SAUNDERS and ANN DOVE are:

FRANCIS FRANK SANDERS, b. Abt. 1788, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; d. Bet. 1860 - 1880, Benton County, Iowa; m. STACIA MAYS, January 05, 1812, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; b. Abt. 1790, Virginia; d. Bet. 1850 - 1860, Benton County, Iowa.

WILLIAM SAUNDERS, b. Bet. 1790 - 1795, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; d. Bef. 1850, Campbell County, Virginia; m. SARAH COE, October 08, 1818, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; b. Abt. 1799, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; d. May 15, 1872, Campbell County, Virginia.

LIBBY SAUNDERS, b. Bet. 1790 - 1795, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; d. Aft. 1828.

LEONARD SANDERS, b. May 05, 1795, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; d. October 27, 1857, Vermillion County, Indiana; m. CELINA SIMPSON, August 31, 1816, Pittsylvania County, Virginia.

MARY POLLY SANDERS9, b. Abt. 1797, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; d. Bet. 1850 - 1860, Vermillion County, Indiana; m. JAMES HINES, December 15, 1828, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; b. Abt. 1797, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; d. Bet. 1841 - 1850, Virginia or Indiana.

JOSEPH SANDERS, b. Bet. 1797 - 1807, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; d. Aft. 1828.

MICAJAH SANDERS, b. Bet. 1797 - 1816, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; d. Aft. 1828.

GEORGE FELIX SAUNDERS, b. May 02, 1799, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; d. July 27, 1871, Vermillion County, Indiana; m. LEVINA MAYS, September 18, 1820, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; b. 1802, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; d. November 1879, Cloud County, Kansas.

BOOKER SAUNDERS, b. Abt. 1804, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; d. December 28, 1875, Benton County, Iowa.

AMOS SAUNDERS, b. 1807, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; d. Bet. 1860 - 1870, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; m. MARGARET DOVE, December 21, 1829, Pittsylvania County, Virginia.

COLEMAN SAUNDERS, b. March 10, 1809, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; d. January 07, 1878, Vermillion County, Indiana.

Notice that one possibility is that Ann Dove, the second wife of William of Pittsylvania, may have been born in Fairfax County, Virginia. Her father is reputed to be Joseph Dove:
 
https://www.ancestry.ca/boards/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=1783&p=localities.northam.usa.states.maryland.unknown
 
Dove Family, Maryland & W. Virginia
Gary Lee Hall (View posts)
Posted: 03 Sep 2000 07:00AM
Classification: Query
Surnames: Dove
Helen,
 
My Dove family (Joseph and his son William Dove) left Maryland shortly after 1758. They moved to Fairfax County, Virginia. From Fairfax they moved to Pittsylvania County, Virginia in 1783. Some of the family later moved to West Virginia ...Gary Lee Hall
 
 Re: Dove Family, Maryland & W. Virginia
 Noellie123 (View posts)
Posted: 16 Sep 2004 02:38PM
Edited: 07 Nov 2005 05:05PM
Surnames:
Hi Gary: I am working on the Dove's today and saw your message. My Doves are as follows:
Joseph Dove B:1731 in Charles Co.,Md or Fairfax Co., VA and he married Mary. Their children were: Leonard 1756, James 1756, Thomas 1758,Elijah 1759, Ann 1767 & Amily 1768. Last two were born in Pittsylvania Co., VA. Joseph & Mary's son James is my 4th Great Grandparents. ....Thanks, Noelli
 
Re: Dove Family, Maryland & W. Virginia
 Kathleen Ann Ritchie (View posts)
Posted: 28 May 2006 06:31PM
Classification: Query
Surnames: DOVE, SAUNDERS/SANDERS, BARKER
I, too, am related to this Dove line and would very much appreciate any help I can get on this line of ancestors. I am related through Ann Dove who married William Saunders/Sanders. Ann is my 4th great grandmother. I have bits and pieces of information that I have been able to gather frrom what little research I have been able to do (haven't been doing this for very long and still very "green" at it. I would be especially interested in pictures, tombstones, etc. However, ANY help with this line would be greatly appreciated. I have information back to Ann's father, Joseph and mother, Mary Barker.
 
 There is a Joseph Dove listed on the 1782 tax list of Fairfax County. So, could William Saunders have moved from Fairfax to Pittsylvania? We really don't know when William of Pittsylvania was born, but since he had a son named Jesse who was born in the mid-1760s, William must have been born no later than the mid 1740s. Actually, there is a William Sanders, researched by Jim Sanders in his work on the Sanders of Fairfax, who received a land grant in Fairfax in 1764. Jim could not find anything about William of Fairfax after 1764. This William was born in the mid 1740s or earlier and was the son of Daniel Sanders, a son of Lewis Sanders, our immigrant ancestor. Could this William be the same person as William of Pittsylvania?  It's too early to make a determination but it's possible that William moved to Pittsylvania with some of the Dove family and later married Ann Dove after his first wife died. 

William Aaron Saunders

Birth:  1735
Stafford County(probably)
Virginia
Death:  Nov., 1782
Montgomery County
North Carolina, USA 

He is known as "William Aaron" in family tradition, but all known contemporary records refer to him only by his middle name of Aaron.

William Aaron, Isaac, Moses, and Francis were four Sanders brothers who came to North Carolina from Virginia about 1770. Isaac settled in Cumberland County in the part that later became Moore County. He later moved to Randolph County. Moses and William Aaron settled in the part of Anson County that later became Montgomery County. Their land was in the northeastern part of the county near the Randolph border.

There are several records of Aaron Sanders and his brother, the Reverend Moses Sanders, having received land grants in the 1770s. Aaron died before November 1782 when his estate was administered. Details about the administration of the estate are unknown.

Aaron's widow, Joan (or Joanah) Bailey Saunders, survived for many years after the death of her husband and may have been alive in 1810.

William Aaron and Joan are believed to have been buried on the family property in the northeast corner of MontgomeryCounty near the Randolph border and south of the Little River.

Although family tradition is that he served in the Revolutionary War as a captain, no record of his service in any capacity has ever been found. There was a William Saunders who was a documented captain in the Revolutionary War but that soldier was from another Saunders line, that of James Saunders of Orange County.

In the 1890s, Thomas Bailey Saunders of Texas, a grandson of William Aaron, wrote a letter to his nephew Elkanah Shuford Sanders of North Carolina. The letter later came into the possession of Thomas Bailey Saunders III who wrote the following note in 1972 to his cousin Roland Saunders Jary:

"This is a copy of a handwritten letter form T. B. Saunders, (born in 1816, Fayetteville N.Carolina, married in Alabama-moved to Mississippi, then to Texas. Died 1902, buried Saunders, Texas) to a nephew, who had inquired about his name and ancestral background. The date when the letter was written is unknown-but judged to be in the late 1890's. It no-doubt contains some humor fiction regarding one of the original brother emigrants to America dropping the "U" out of his name. Also having his grandfather die on the battlefield probably sounded a lot more exciting than dying form old age.The original letter is so worn and yellowed - as well as torn - that it would be hard to photostat, so the following typewritten copy will have to suffice." Signed, T. B. Saunders III, April 1972

Text of letter:

There were two Saunders brothers who came from England long before the Revolutionary war. At that time the Pirates were very bad on the North Carolina coast. The governor of N. Carolina outfitted a vessel to catch them, and in making up the crew he took one of these brothers, and they caught old Black Bear the pirate and hung him to the mast arm. The crew got a good deal of money, and when that brother came back he left the U out of his name. This the reason so many spell their names Sanders.

My grandfather married in Virginia. My grandmother's name was Joan Bailey, of the famous old family of Virginia. My grandfather was killed in a fight with the Tories. His brother, Issac, which is your great grandfather, was the first man that ever built a house on Cross creek below Fayettville. And another brother by the name of Moses was a Baptist preacher and they had one sister. I have seen her myself. She married a man by the name of Hamilton. I have seen your great grandfather and his wife, and they were very old then.

Your grandfather had two brothers, Ben and Joe, they moved to Alabama and their families are there yet. I saw an old lady in New Orleans a few years ago, she was a Saunders and she told me the same story about the Saunders. I have told you all about the old generation that I know and will now tell you about the new. In the first place, brother Steven has two daughters in west Texas and two sons in Oklahoma, all rest are dead. Brother Luke has two daughters in west Texas, all rest are dead. Sister Pallie has one daughter in Okla. four daughters and one son in Alabama. Sister Tibitha, her children are all dead.

Sister Joan has three children in Alabama. Sister Agnes has five children, three in Texas, and others in Alabama. Brother Harris has two daughters in northern Texas, and rest in Mississippi. All are doing well. Brother Jack has six children and the widow and all the children are living in Alabama. Bro. Harris and I are only two living of the old family. I don't know where sister Sallie's children are. I don't know where bro. Allen''s children are either. I have ten children, Matt, Bill, George, John, Jan, Allen (he is dead), Nancy, ann, Mary and Pallie.
Your Uncle,
T. B. Saunders

Text of letter and note to Roland Jary from Web site:
http://www.tbox.com/tsanders/Sanders/NimrodSanders/TBSaundersLetter.htm(now available only at Archive.org)

Mary Elizabeth Shelton Sanders

William Claude Stalter

Birth:  May 21, 1890
Henderson County
Texas
Death:  Apr. 15, 1938
Los Angeles County
California

His first wife was Lucy Mae Gurnsey. They married in 1915. She died in 1931 and he maried Myrtle Miller Burton Harrell Carlisle on June 9, 1932. Family tradition is that he also married Ginger Harrison, but if so, that marriage must have occurred between 1910 and 1915.

In March 1938, he went to Los Angeles California to visit a son and about three weeks later, he lost both legs in a tragic accident at a railroad station. He died in a Los Angeles hospital as a result of his injuries. 

Parents:
David Stalter (1833-1900)
Jeanette Browning Stalter (1833-after 1910)

Edmund Walker

Birth:  1833
Alabama
Death:  May 2, 1864
Spotsylvania County
Virginia

First name was Edmund, Edmond, or Edward. 

Born in 1832 or 1833 in Alabama/

Married Sarah Jane Mitcham January 17, 1854 in Clarke County, Alabama

Died in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, in skirmish before the Battle of the Wilderness.

His widow's second husband was Andrew Jackson Pickering of Henderson County, Texas.

Spouse:
Sarah Jane Mitcham Walker (1835 - 1915)

Isaac W. Washburn

Birth:  1836
Fulton County
Indiana
Death:  between 1870-1900
Jackson County, Alabama or
Marshall County, Indiana

Married Sarah E. Sanders in Jackson County, Alabama, on May 28, 1865.

Sarah was the sister of the Mary Ann Sanders who married Isaac's brother, David McDaniel Washburn.

Isaac and Sarah had at least three children:
John B. Washburn 1866 or 1867
George Washburn 1868
Nancy Washburn 1870

All three were born in Jackson County, Alabama

He had one son by his first wife Hulda Starner:
Jeremiah "Jerry" Washburn, born in 1858 in Indiana.

Sarah Sanders Washburn died in Marshall County in 1915

Parents:
Jeremiah Washburn (1786 - 1863)
 Nancy McDaniel Washburn (1801- 1863)
 
 Spouse:
 Sarah E. Washburn (1844 - 1915)

Hannah Young

Birth:  1795
North Carolina, USA
Death:  1878
Jackson County
Alabama, USA 

Hannah Young is not related to the Sanders of Randolph and Montgomery. She is included here because of the unusual nature of her story.

Testimony of Hannah Young to the Southern Claims Commision regarding the request of William Sanders for compensation for his losses during the Civil War:

Sanders Siftings, July 2004, p.2
by Donald E. Schaefer:

WILLIAM SANDERS, aged about 65 years when claim was made 11 Feb 1876. He was bom in South Carolina. Wife's name was Mary and they had a son in the Union Army who enlisted in Tennessee. He had a farm two and a half miles SW of Scottsboro. The person who best described what happened to their property when the Federals arrived was Hannah Young, a colored woman who gave her age as 120. She explained that the claimant's father got her to live with him in South Carolina after his wife died and he didn't remarry She said that William Sanders (the claimant) was about five or six years old then and she had lived with the family since. (A subsequent check of 1870. 1860. and 1850 census records identified Hannah as Mulatto. On the 1870 census her age was 110. In 1860 she was 65! I could not make out her age in 1850. In 1840 in Jackson County. Hannah is in a category of free colored females 36-55. She was evidently quite elderly in 1876, but probably not 120. What was remarkable was her memory of what happened quite a few years back. 

Antique map provided by RootsWeb. Graphic design from the freeware collection of Cari Buziak.