Person Page - 2676

     Geneva Sanders was born on 19 February 1921 at Tacoma, Pierce Co., WA. She was the daughter of Harry Melvin Sanders and Donna Crystal Williams. Geneva Sanders died on 27 December 1988 at Seattle, King Co., WA, at age 67.

     Harbard Colvin Sanders was born on 15 July 1801 at North Carolina.^2,1 He was the son of John H. Sanders and Emma (?) Harbard Colvin Sanders married Jane Jinson Jessup, daughter of Caleb Jessup and Mary Rachel Clark, on 20 April 1823 at Greene Co., IN, per Indiana Marriage Index, online (ancestry.com.) Harbard Colvin Sanders married Susannah Talley on 17 July 1845 at Greene Co., IN. Harbard Colvin Sanders died on 22 August 1882 at Greene Co., IN, at age 81.

     Harold C. Sanders was born on 30 November 1908 at Montgomery Co., KS. He was the son of Harry Melvin Sanders and Donna Crystal Williams. Harold C. Sanders died in July 1972 at Somerset Co., MD, at age 63.

     Harry Melvin Sanders was born on 21 July 1881 at Wind Ridge, Greene Co., PA.¹ He was the son of Franklin P. Sanders and Clara L. (?) Harry Melvin Sanders lived on 7 June 1900 at Washington, Washington Co., PA.¹ He married Donna Crystal Williams, daughter of Daniel Webster Williams and Emily Adaline Reger, circa 1907. Harry Melvin Sanders died on 28 September 1959 at Seattle, King Co., WA, at age 78.

     Haskell Lee Sanders was born on 21 February 1918 at Tennessee. He was the son of Abraham Jackson Sanders and Hattie Ella Hall. Haskell Lee Sanders married Virginia Gertrude Kitzmiller, daughter of Robert Forest Kitzmiller and Florence Matilda Wyatt, before 1984. Haskell Lee Sanders died on 19 December 1992 at Gray, Washington Co., TN, at age 74. He was buried in December 1992 at Gray Community Cemetery, Gray, Washington Co., TN.

     J. L. Sanders was born circa 1852. He was the son of S. D. Sanders and Kitty (?) J. L. Sanders married Flora Zentmeyer, daughter of John N. Zentmeyer and Martha Ann Penn, on 27 September 1882.

     James Sanders was born. He was the son of William Sanders and Lydia DeWald. James Sanders married Miranda McGehee on 8 April 1841 at Fulton Co., IL.

     John H. Sanders was born in 1796 at North Carolina. He married Emma (?). John H. Sanders died on 10 October 1856 at Greene Co., IN.

     Julia Sanders was born. She was the daughter of William Sanders and Lydia DeWald.

     Kenneth William Sanders was born on 8 January 1917 at Vigo Co., IN. He was the son of Harry Melvin Sanders and Donna Crystal Williams. Kenneth William Sanders died in August 1981 at Seattle, King Co., WA, at age 64.

     Lester Eugene Sanders began military service WWII service. He was born on 2 May 1923 at Tacoma, Pierce Co., WA. He was the son of Harry Melvin Sanders and Donna Crystal Williams. Lester Eugene Sanders married Sarah Leone Whitlock, daughter of Laurence Whitlock and Sybil Allen, in June 1946 at Seattle, King Co., WA. Lester Eugene Sanders died on 10 February 1992 at Seattle, King Co., WA, at age 68 Military funeral, ashes buried at sea.

     Louisa Margaret Sanders was born in February 1834 at Cass Co. (probably), IL.^1,2 She was the daughter of William Sanders and Lydia DeWald.¹ Louisa Margaret Sanders married Nathan Veatch III, son of Nathan Veatch Jr. and Elizabeth Fain Evans, on 1 December 1853 at McDonough Co., IL.²

     Louise Sanders was born on 20 January 1875. She married H. Frank Orebaugh, son of Lewis Orebaugh and Rebecca Jane Wilkin, on 17 January 1895.

     Margaret Sanders was born. She was the daughter of William Sanders and Lydia DeWald.

     Marion Elizabeth Sanders was born on 21 July 1904 at Texas. She married Emmert L. Hanlin, son of James Henry Hanlin and Hannah Maria Scheurer, on 9 August 1924 at Oklahoma Co., OK. Marion Elizabeth Sanders died on 15 September 1992 at Oklahoma at age 88 per SSDI, last residence Blanchard, McClain County, OK. She was buried in 1992 at Memorial Park Cemetery, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Co., OK, Findagrave #49043001.

     Martha Sanders married William Eagleton.

     Martha Sanders was born in 1807 at Pennsylvania.¹ She married Charles Armstrong. Martha Sanders died after 1 June 1850 at Greene Co., PA.

     Martha J. Sanders was born in August 1867 at Indiana.¹ She married James Irons on 17 March 1889 at Crawfordsville, Montgomery Co., IN, Archives of DePauw University; Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church, Greencastle, Indiana; Book Number: Vol 4475, via ancestry.com. Martha J. Sanders died after April 1930.

     Mary Sanders was born on 19 August 1823 at Hampshire Co. (probably), VA (now WV).¹ She was the daughter of William Sanders and Lydia DeWald. Mary Sanders married Anderson Pigg, son of James Pigg and Rebecca Wood, on 9 June 1842 at Fulton Co., IL.¹ Mary Sanders died on 28 February 1887 at Fulton Co., IL, at age 63.

     Mary Sanders was also known as "Polly". She married Archibald Henry.

     Mary Elizabeth Sanders was born on 17 August 1858 at Stonington, Christian Co., IL. She was the daughter of Nicholas Denison Sanders and Sarah Abbie Lankham. Mary Elizabeth Sanders married Robert P. Duncan, son of Joseph Franklin Duncan and Susannah C. DeVault, on 15 October 1890 at Christian Co., IL, no children. Mary Elizabeth Sanders died on 18 December 1947 at Taylorville, Christian Co., IL, at age 89.
Note: Myrna (Brooks) Hood wrote (given to Tracy Devault by Valerie M. Hudson):

Mary Sanders Duncan, who lived into the 1940s, (she died on 18 Dec., 1947) of course I did know --- as did most of my cousins, I'm sure. I remember "Cousin Mary" as an exceedingly prim and proper old lady, whose Victorian sensibilities I was forever being warned not to offend with my tom-boyish ways. As a result, I seemed to always be terminally tongue-tied in her presence. I seem to recall that I never saw her dressed other than in elegant black, usually an ankle-length gown with a white lace collar. Her legs, what one could see of them (and she would have called them "limbs" if she called them anything at all!) were always encased in black silk stockings. She had a rather mournful way of speaking and her accent that of pure New England. She had one stock comment in her conversation which inevitable came out in response to anybody's relating any kind of negative news --- from a cut finger to a total crop loss for the year: "Wa-al," she would drawl -- "Thaht's tooo bahd," in tones as sadly melancholy as a mourning dove's. There's no question but that she was the "grande dame" of the neighborhood; to commit even the slightest impropriety in her presence was unthinkable.

As mentioned elsewhere, Mary did have a husband, rather briefly. She married Robert Duncan (said to have been a minister) on 15 October, 1890. Robert died of typhoid fever on their wedding anniversary four years later. Some nine years after Robert's death, Mary took into her home a nine-year-old niece of Robert's, Donna Duncan. Donna was born on 9 Aug., 1894, in Findlay, Ill. Her father, Martin K. Duncan, had separated from her mother when the couple's four children were young. Lillie, her mother, had gone to California with the two youngest --- Donna and her sister, Pansie. By 1903, the mother's health failed and she sent Donna back to Illinois to live with her relatives. Donna's father was remarried by this time, so Mary Duncan, his sister-in-law, kindly took charge of Donna. Gwen Duncan, who married my father's first cousin, Malcolm Stewart of Moweaqua, was an older sister of Donna's. Malcolm Stewart's mother, born Typhena Brooks -- a sister to my grandfather Charles Brooks -- married as her second husband (and his second wife) the same Martin K. Duncan who was the father of Donna as well as Gwen Duncan, who became Tryphena's daughter-in-law after being her stepdaughter! I know I shouldn't try to describe relationships of this complicated nature - on paper, they never seem to come out right. Suffice it to say, this Martin K. Duncan, brother of Mary Sanders' husband Robert Duncan, father of Gwen and Donna, and second husband of my great-aunt "Pheenie", has been described to me by my father as an utterly despicable character -- "A mean old buzzard", I believe is how he described Duncan. When I inquired as to why Aunt Phennie ever married him, my dad said he didn't know and added, "Anyway, she got rid of him --- divorced him, you know!" [Chalk up two more 19th Century divorces!]

At any rate, Donna Duncan grew up into a spirited and beautiful young lady; no doubt she found the atmosphere of the Garwood-Duncan establishment a bit of a "gilded cage"; it must have been thick with Victorian repression, as well as overstuffed elegance. Perhaps she was happier during her teen years, when she was sent away to school at Monticello Lady's Seminary. Donna died rather suddenly on the 19th of December, 1915, allegedly from and undiagnosed brain tumor. My father, Carl Brooks, who knew Donna very well (they were close to the same age), states that Donna had developed a severe infection of the sinuses in the fall of 1915 --- an infection that quickly worsened, apparently spreading to the lining of the brain, and proved to be incurable in those days before antibiotics. A specialist was called in from Decatur, but he, too, was helpless to find a solution; the solution was still 30 years in the future in the form of penicillin. It's said that the two attending doctors operated on the dying patient as the she lay on her little bed in the downstairs bedroom, as a last desperate measure to locate the suspected brain tumor. As eyewitness, (as I have heard the story, a girl who was hired live-in help at the time) later described the scene as "Blood everywhere -- the mattress was entirely soaked with blood and we later took it out and burned it. It was terrible!" This same young lady was later to hint darkly that Donna's death was a suicide, but I believe she may have been letting her imagination run away with her. My father remembers the occasion very well, and it certainly does appear that Donna died from a raging infection. The death-bed operation, of course, was not only futile, but barbaric when viewed from a present-day perspective.

Although such scenes of horror were not uncommon in those days, I suppose, it must have been nothing short of ghastly for the dying girl and her anxiety-stricken family. Such a sudden and tragic end to her beautiful young niece must have been a cruel blow to the aunt who had raised her. Small wonder I remember as always speaking in melancholy tones.

Roger and Mary's oldest son, Jake Vangeison, now age 12, confided in me during my latest visit to this house (which, of course is his home) that he doesn't like to be in the "front part of the house". "Have you seen ghosts?" I asked him. "Well --- I don't think so," he said, "but I got this creepy feeling when I'm near that bedroom where she died." I have to agree with the lad --- that small front bedroom where Donna Duncan died, which still contains the same little painted bedstead that was hers, is quite capable of eliciting a very strong emotional response from anyone who is more than usually sensitive to such things. If ever an old house was tailor-made to harbor ghosts, this one surely must answer the description.

Note: Lydia (Ayars) Duncan took three of her daughters to California: Gwen, Donna and Pansie. Gwen and Donna returned to Illinois shortly after the 1900 Census was taken. Gwen married Malcolm Stewart and Donna went to live with Mary Elizabeth (Sanders) Duncan. Pansie remained in California where she lived and died.

     Melvin F. Sanders was born on 19 September 1914 at Vigo Co., IN. He was the son of Harry Melvin Sanders and Donna Crystal Williams. Melvin F. Sanders died on 14 January 1991 at Bothell, King Co., WA, at age 76.

     Nicholas Denison Sanders married Sarah Abbie Lankham.

     Patience Dewilmer Sanders was born on 26 August 1889 at Pennington Co., MN.¹ She married Pitman Cramner Stratton circa 1915.¹ Patience Dewilmer Sanders died on 10 October 1967 at Loma Linda, San Bernardino Co., CA, at age 78.

     Rebecca Sanders married John Henry Snapp, son of John Snapp and Elizabeth Cook, on 14 March 1870 at Sullivan Co., MO.

     Rose Sanders was born on 25 July 1913 at Fresno, Fresno Co., CA.¹ She married Hubert F. Mann.¹ Rose Sanders died on 25 October 2002 at age 89.

     S. D. Sanders married Kitty (?).

     Samuel Leroy Sanders was born on 22 August 1893 at Marion Co., IA. He married Margery G. Koons on 22 October 1919. Samuel Leroy Sanders died on 20 October 1956 at Veterans Hospital, Des Moines, Polk Co., IA, at age 63

Obituary -- (Findagrave.com):

Samuel L. (Roy) Sanders, son of Alvis and Betsy Sanders was born in Marion County August 22, 1891 [1893] and passed away at the Veterans Hospital in Des Moines, October 20, 1956 at the age of 65 years, 1 month and 28 days. He was united in marriage to Margery Koons on October 22, 1919.

Surviving are his wife Margery, two sons William Alvis of Enid, Oklahoma, Richard Lee of Des Moines and one daughter, Martha Collins of Colorado Springs, Colorado, one grandson, LeRoy Alvis Collins of Colorado Springs, Colorado, four sisters; Nettie Cowman of Knoxville; Margie Habelitz , Des Moines; Beulah Clark, Pomona, California and Dorothy Scott, LaCracenta, California; three brothers, Charles of Des Moines; George of Beaverton, Ore., and Bill of Cardiff, California.

He was preceded in death by his father and mother, four sisters and one brother, also one grandson, Rickey Lee. He was a World War I veteran. Also a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 738, Des Moines. He was a loving husband and kind father, always ready to give a helping hand. He had a host of relatives and friends and was loved by everyone and will be greatly missed by all.

Funeral services were held Wednesday, October 24, 1956, at 2:00 p.m. from the First Methodist Church in Knoxville with Rev. Arthur Nichols officiating and Rev. M. D. Summerbell assisting. Interment was in Dunreath cemetery under auspices of V.F.W. Post No. 738, Des Moines.

He was buried in October 1956 at Dunreath Cemetery, Marion Co., IA, Findagrave #43689276.

     Stanley Howard Sanders was born on 27 July 1947. He was the son of (?) Sanders and Gloria Jean Vogelgesang. Stanley Howard Sanders died on 27 February 1959 at age 11.

     Virginia Isabelle Sanders married Gordon Woodey. Virginia Isabelle Sanders was born on 12 January 1911 at Montgomery Co., KS. She was the daughter of Harry Melvin Sanders and Donna Crystal Williams. Virginia Isabelle Sanders died in October 1973 at Seattle, King Co., WA, at age 62.