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EARLY SETTLERS OF SANGAMON COUNTY - 1876
By John Carroll Power

These biographies were submitted by a researcher and evidently abstracted from the 1876 History of Sangamon County, IL. Errors could occur, so one should always verify the correctness by obtaining copies of vitals and performing all necessary research to document what is contained herein.



SANDERS, ROBERT W., was born April 10, 1815, near Harper's Ferry, Virginia. His father died when he was a child, and his widowed mother, with her eight children, moved to Rutherford county, Tenn., in 1827. Robert W. was married there, in 1834, to Keziah Johnson. They had two children in Tennessee, and moved to Sangamon county, Ill., arriving in the fall of 1838 in what is now Cotton Hill township, where two children were born. Mr. Sanders assisted in quarrying the stone for the State House, then in course of construction at Springfield. His family suffered greatly from sickness, and in 1840 he returned to Tennessee, where he died May 31, 1857, leaving a widow, nine sons and one daughter. Robert W. Sanders was a minister in the Baptist church for thirteen years previous to his-death. The widow felt that some great calamity was about to befall that part of the country where she lived, and without any definite idea of what it was, she meditated long upon the subject, and when her children were wrapped in slumber she resolved, if possible, to take them again to Illinois as a place of safety. She wrote at once to her eldest son, who had returned to Illinois soon after the death of his father. He was glad to give them such aid and encouragement as he could, and they all arrived in Sangamon county Oct. 10, 1859, just in time to understand the situation of the country and add five soldiers to the Union army. Of Mrs. Sanders ten living children--

STEPHEN N., born March 16, 1835, in Rutherford county, Tenn., studied medicine in Sangamon county, Ill., enlisted there in Co. K, 124th Ill. Inf., was elected Captain of same company and twice wounded--once severely. He was acting assistant aid-de-camp on Gen. J. B. Coats' staff a portion of the time; also assistant government marshal of the provisional encampment at Vicksburg, Miss., during the winter of 1864 and '5; served three years and was honorably discharged Aug. 12, 1865. He was married at Loami, Sangamon county, Ill., to Mary J. Smith. They had two children; one died; the other, NORA, lives with her grandmother Smith in Christian county. Mrs. Mary J. Sanders died May 28, 1868. S. N. Sanders was married Nov. 23, 1871, to Susan Elliott, at Wilmington, Ill. He is a practicing physician at Arcola, Douglas county, Ill.

GEORGE W., born Dec. 8, 1838, in Cotton Hill township, Sangamon county, was married near Auburn, Ill., to Elizabeth Bremer. They have two children, CLARA A. and IDA B., and reside in Auburn, Ill.

THOMAS J., born Aug. 23, 1840, in Cotton Hill township, Sangamon county, brought up in Tennessee, and enlisted in Co. K, 124th Ill. Vol. Inf., in 1862, for three years; was elected sargeant, served full term, and was honorably discharged Aug. 12, 1865. He was married February, 1875, to Maggie Hackley, and resides in Auburn, Ill.

MARTIN L., born Feb. 8, 1842, in Rutherford county, Tenn., enlisted April, 1864, in Co. K, 124th Ill. Inf., served one year and eleven months. He was honorably discharged at the close of the rebellion, and was married at Mechanicsburg to Mary J. Sparrow. They have two children, VIRGIL H. and JAMES H., and reside at Lincoln, Ill.

JOHN F., born Nov. 4, 1844, in Rutherford county, Tenn., enlisted in Co. K, 124th Ill. Inf., April, 1864; served eleven months, and was honorably discharged November, 1865. He was married in Auburn, Sangamon county, Ill., to Jennie Wallace. They have one living child, CLYDE. J. F. Sanders is a practicing physician at Sullivan, Moultrie county, Ill.

ANDREW D., born Oct. 14, 1846; in Tennessee, enlisted in Co. K, 124th Ill. Vol. Inf., for one year, served eleven months, and was honorably discharged at the close of the rebellion. He was married Sept. 22, 1872, to Susan A. Ballenger. They have one child, WILLIAM A., and live in Auburn, Sangamon county, Ill.

CLEMENT J., born Nov. 27, 1848, in Tennessee, was married Sept. 23, 1871, to Ella Watson. They have two children, GUY and a babe, and reside in Auburn, Sangamon county, Illinois.

CHRISTOPHER H., born Oct. 14, 1850, in Williamson county, Ill., is unmarried, and practicing medicine in Covington, Moultrie county, Ill.

HENRY J., born Jan. 18, 1852, in Williamson county, is unmarried, and resides in Auburn, Sangamon county, Ill.

ELLA, born Nov. 17, 1855, in Davidson county, Tenn., was married in Auburn, Ill., to Charles Tomlinson. They live at Butler, Indiana.

Mrs. Keziah Sanders went to Nashville, Tenn., in March, 1873, to visit her relatives and acquaintances, but returned to Illinois in the fail of the same year, and now resides with her daughter in Butler, Ind. She often says that when she left Tennessee in 1859, it was the best move she ever made.



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