A Few Pictures 1st-David Walker Sanders Sr. 2nd - Sarah Jane Vance, 3rd & 4th - Sarah Jane Sanders

Submitted by Colleen Simmons

SARAH JANE SANDERS

Sarah Jane Sanders, born September 13, 1859, was the oldest child of David Walker Sanders and Sarah Jane Vance. Shortly after their marriage, her parents were called by the Mormon Church to establish the new community of Fairview Sanpete County, Utah. Sarah Jane was born while her mother was living in Mt. Pleasant while her father helped to build the Fort and Church at Fairview.

During the first few years of her life, Sarah Jane and her parents moved back and forth between Fairview and Mt Pleasant whenever the hostile Indians were in the area. Greater protection was found at the Mt. Pleasant Fort. Sarah Jane was only twelve years old when her mother died June 27, 1873, and for a year she took care of her brothers, David and George, and her sister Martha. Her two-year-old sister, Amanda, had died in 1869. Her father remarried Louisa Cheney Smith and she got a new sister, Rosalia Smith.

Sarah Jane began school at the age of 5 years under the tuition method practiced at that time and attended school until she was about fifteen years of age. At the age of 19, she married Aaron Elijah Cheney, son of Elam Cheney and Margaret Wimmer Cheney and also the younger brother of her stepmother, Louisa. They were married January 30, 1878 at her home in Fairview. The first year after their marriage, Aaron run his father’s Grist Mill in Fairview. After the birth of their first child, Sarah Frances, they moved to Huntington, Emery County, Utah, where they lived for two years on a farm.

Not having much success with the crops, they sold their interests for teams and wagons. Aaron worked a the sawmill in Fairview where daughter Louisa was born in 1881. He was working in Payson, Utah. In 1883 where his son, Aaron Elijah was born, in 1885. The Sanders family moved by teams and wagons to Pinedale, Navajo County, Arizona, where Aarons father, Elem Cheney was living. They were accompanied by David Walker Jr and Pete Hansen with their families and also by sister, Martha, who was unmarried.

In 1879, Sarah Jane’s father had been called with some of his brothers to move to Arizona and find a good place to raise cattle. They moved some of the cattle in 1880 but the families did not move until the January of 1881. Because of the herd of cattle they were bringing to Arizona, the trip took about three months. They crossed the Colorado River at Pierce'’ Ferry near the Nevada/Arizona border. The company of approximately 50 people arrived at Gisela in the upper Tonto Basin in March of 1881.

During the year of 1885, Aaron and Sarah Jane moved to Gisela in the Tonto Basin with their family where they farmed with her father. While living in Tonto Basin, They had two more children, Rozilpha born 1886 and David Wimmer born 1888. They had lived in the Tonto Basin for about four years when all of the Mormon families were advised by Church authorities to move elsewhere because of the Indian problems and the Tewksbury Feud which was going on at that time.

In September 18889, most of the families moved to Concho, Arizona, where they lived for the next 10 years. While living in Concho, Sarah Jane gave birth to five babies all born prematurely. Only William Franklin lived and Sarah Jane said they kept him alive in the warming oven over the top of the wood stove in the kitchen. It was a very said time for Sarah Jan, Aaron farmed but he and the other Mormons had problems with the Spanish farmers (who were there first) over water rights. It was decided that one group would buy out the other group. Sine the Spanish settlers had more money, they purchased all of the farming property and water rights of the Mormon group whom then left the community.

Aaron and Sarah Jane moved their family to Thatcher Arizona during the winter of 1899/1900. Soon Afterwards, Sarah Jane gave birth to and buried another baby making 5 deaths in succession in a few short years. They purchased a forty-acre farm at the edge of Thatcher and engaged in agriculture and carpenter work. The two older boys were old enough to assist their father. In 1901 Vada was born at full term and healthy, Sarah finally had a baby that lived.

On July 25, 1903, after a severe illness, Aaron passed away leaving Sarah Jane alone with her six unmarried children including one year old Vada. Not being in a position to run the farm, she purchased a lot and house in town where she continued to live for the rest of her life. Twenty four year old Sarah Frances helped support the family by teaching school and the two boys, Aaron and David, helped by doing farm and carpenter work.

Sarah Jane was the mother of twelve children and lived a life of hardship and struggle with poverty. She was a capable, efficient and cheerful homemaker and tried to present a cheerful front at all times no matter how discouraged she may have been. Everyone enjoyed going to her home to visit and she always had a cookie treat for the younger children. Her son, William, never married and lived with her.

At the age of 87 years, Sarah Jane passed away in Thatcher, Arizona on August 6, 1946. She was buried in the Thatcher cemetery.

The living children of Sarah Jane Sanders and Aaron Cheney were Sarah Frances who married Charles McRae, Louisa Ellen who married Jacob Pulsipher, Aaron Elijah who married Sarah Ellen Blazzard, Rozilpha who married John Allen, David Wimmer who married Pearl Montierth, William , and Vada who married Willard Smith.

Link to Cemetaries of Graham County

Melissa Sanders has created this neat website that she spoke about at the reunion. This is the link to it.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~grahamcem/

David Walker Sanders Reunion

We sure did have a great time. I would like to thank all of those who participated.

Lance

OUR SANDERS CLAN IN AMERICA

OUR SANDERS CLAN IN AMERICA

Edited by: Verna Rae Colvin

REV. MOSES SANDERS AND SARAH HAMILTON:

The first of our Sanders ancestors to come to America was Rev. Moses Sanders. He was born in England in 1742. He and his two younger brothers, David and John, came to America in 1765.

Reverend Moses Sanders was a Baptist pastor who came to America as a missionary and founded many Baptist Churches in Georgia. He encouraged education and established churches and schools whereever he lived and invited emigration. He surveyed land and laid out highways from the Carolinas to Alabama and Georgia. Two of the churches he established celebrated their 100^th anniversaries in 1902.

Rev. Moses Sanders served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War along with his brothers. They were in the Battles of King’s Mountain, North Carolina: Dowpens, South Carolina: in the long campaign in Virginia: and the guerrilla warfare in the Carolinas. At the battle of King’s Mountain, South Carolina. Moses received a saber wound on the side of this face while engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict with a British officer, leaving a scar, which he carried to his grave. In this same combat, he severed the officer’s arm from his body-between the elbow and the shoulder.

Following the Revolutionary War (probably about 1799) Rev. Moses Sanders and family settled on Grove River, in Franklin pastor of the Line. Grove’s level and Nails Creek Baptist churches in Franklin County. Reverend Sanders was a fiery evangelist who could neither read nor write. He preached to Indians and white men alike. (“The Sanders Saga” July 1976)

He was a large landowner and had slaves. His first wife, Sarah Hamilton, died in 1816: Moses then married Mary Hamilton. He died at the age of 75 in 1817 at Grove’s Level, Franklin County, Georgia. He was buried in the family cemetery on the road from Maysville to Bushville in what is now the southern part of Banks County. The epitaph on his tombstone near Homer, Georgia, bears this inscription: “Rev. Moses Sanders, born in England 1742. Died 1817. Founder of Grove Level, Nails Creek, and other Baptist Churches. A soldier of the Revolutionary War and the cross of Jesus. (“The Sanders Family” by Elmina Power) and (“The Sanders Saga”)

DAVID SANDERS (2) AND MARY ALLRED: (Moses 1)

David Sanders, son of Moses and Sarah Sanders, was born in the year 1775. He grew up in Iredell County, North Carolina and Franklin County, Georgia. In 1802, he married Mary Allred in Franklin County, Georgia. Mary was born about 1783 in Randolph County, North Carolina. Three of their children were born in North Carolina before they moved to Tennessee where their other two children were born. David died in Bedford County, Tennessee on January 11, 1815, at the age of 40 years. His youngest son, David James, was born five months after this death. His wife, Mary, died five years later on May 19, 1820, at the age of 37 years. She died in the family home in Bedford County, Tennessee.

Children of David and Mary Sanders: Moses Martin (Aug 17, 1803), William Hamilton (Apr 5 1805), Sarah (1807 or 1808). Nancy (1811) and David James (Jun 14, 1815)

MOSES MARTIN SANDERS (3) AND AMANDA ARMSTRONG FAUSETT: (David 2) (Rev. Moses 1)

Moses Martin was born August 17, 1803, in Franklin County, Georgia. He was the oldest child of David and Mary Sanders, when Moses Martin was bout six or seven years old, his parents moved to Bedford County, Tennessee. He was only thirteen years old when his father died leaving him the man in the family to care for his mother, two young brothers, and two sisters. Tragedy struck five years later in 1820 when his mother died. Moses Martin was only sixteen years old when he was left with the responsibility of his siblings – the youngest almost five years old.

On January 12, 1826, Moses Martin married Amanda Armstrong Fausett in Bedford County, Tennessee. The young couple lived in Tennessee until about 1829 when they moved to Montgomery County, Illinois. Moses Martin and Amanda were baptized into the newly organized “Mormon Church” on January 28. 1835. They soon joined the group of the saints who were living in Far West, Clay County, Missouri. Most of these Mormon Saints had been driven from their homes in Jackson County and were building anew in Clay County.

However, Clay County proved to be as hostile as Jackson County had been. The slavery question and state politics divided the Mormons from their non-Mormon neighbors. In November 1838, the Mormons were forced out of Missouri. Moses Martin and Amanda joined the exodus to Illinois. They found refuge in Quincy, Adams County, Illinois. They did not live at Quincy very long for after the Prophet Joseph Smith was released from prison in Liberty, Missouri, he bought property on the Mississippi River, a town called Commerce, Illinois, after word called Nauvoo, the beautiful. Moses Martin and Amanda moved their family there being among the first residents in Nauvoo. (“History of Amanda Armstrong Faucett Sanders” by Maude S. LaFranchi)

Feeling safe and secure in their new city. Moses Martin and Amanda joined in with their neighbors to build new homes and clear the land for their new farms. Moses Martin was a policeman of Nauvoo and was away from home a lot leaving Amanda to care for the children. He also assisted in building the Nauvoo Temple.

While in Nauvoo, Moses Martin and Amanda lived as neighbors to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and they cherished the memory of their association, even as simple a thing as playing ball or pitching horseshoes.. Moses Martin owned a very unruly horse and as he was often away from home performing church duties, it fell to the lot of Amanda to lead this horse to water and she was really afraid of him, he was so high-spirited.

One day the Prophet said to his neighbor, “Brother Sanders, give the horse to me and I’ll promise that you will never lose by it.” Moses Martin replied, “I would, but I am afraid he may hurt you.” Then the Prophet replied: “No, he would never hurt me.” So Moses tossed him the rope and said, “He is yours!” The horse was called Joe Duncan – a very beautiful intelligent animal. The Prophet rode him in maneuvers of the Nauvoo Legion and dressed in his Lieutenant General uniform. He made a sticking picture on Joe Duncan.

When Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed in June, 1944, the Sanders family felt deep sorrow. The family never forgot the sad event when the bodies of their beloved Prophet and his brother, Hyrum, were brought home to Nauvoo after they were murdered in the Carthage Jail. They also witnessed the event of the mantle of the Prophet fall on President Brigham Young, showing to them that he was the Lord’s choice for the new leader.

Troubles with non-Mormon neighbors increased until the Mormon Saints were again forced to leave their homes. Before leaving Nauvoo. Moses Martin helped to finish the new Temple, and he and Amanda received their Endowments in the Temple on January 3, 1846, and were sealed to each other on January 20, 1846. (“The Sanders Saga” July 1976)

After they were driven from their home in Nauvoo, they were in Winter Quarters where as Church History tells us the Mormons suffered much and many of them died there that terrible winter of 1846 and 1847. Their four-year-old daughter, Eliza Jane died during this period. On March 21, 1847, Moses Martin was given permission to take a second wife, Mary Jane Sparks. Five years later on January 24, 1852, he married a third wife, Anna Stout. Moses Martin was 48 years old when he married his third wife.

Moses Martin moved his families to Pigeon Grove, Iowa, where he worked in a sawpit making lumber for new wagons. In 1848, he got a traveling outfit ready, and he and his second wife, Mary Jane: her daughter, Marie: and his son, David, left for Utah. Amanda lived in Kainville (Council Bluffs)., Iowa until she was able to come to Utah in 1850 with the help of her son, John Franklin age 20 years. Amanda had just six of her eleven children with her. The oldest son, Richard Twiggs, had joined the Mormon Battalion in 1846 and had gone with the troops to California. He was never heard from again. After arriving in Utah, the first stopping place was called West Jordon, part of Salt Lake City. The Sanders family was soon called to live at Union Fort at Big Cottonwood.

On October 8, 1853, the General Authorities of the Mormon Church set apart a group of men who under the leadership of John Nebeker, president and captain, were to move to the vicinity of Green River (now Wyoming) to erect an outpost near Fort Bridger. They were to preach civilization among the Indians and to raise grain for the immigrants. They built a blockhouse fort and called the place Fort Supply. Moses Martin was one of the men called, and he left with his group of thirty-nine men (no women) from Salt Lake City on November 2, 1853., in twenty wagons, with 110 cattle, horses, and mules. They reached Fort Bridger on November 15, Later the families of the men joined the small settlement. Cold weather was always a threat to their grain. (“Jim Bridger by J. Cecil Alter)

The Sanders family lived in Fort Supply until the summer of 1857 when it was learned that a vanguard of troops started from Fort Leavenworth in 1857. This command was known as Johnston’s Army and was sent to Utah to enforce the laws of the U.S. Government. President Brigham Young considered this an act of ward and prepared the Saints to keep the army from entering Salt Lake City. Part of his preparation was to burn buildings and crops at Fort Supply. The crops were considered good that year and it was said indeed to leave them and return to Utah.

In the fall of 1859, Moses Martin and some of his married children and others were called to Sanpete County, Utah, to help build the town of Fairview. They stopped at Mt. Pleasant where the men left their wives and children until they could build a Fort for protection from the Indians. The Indians were not to be trusted and some of the men always stood guard while the others worked. They also built a meetinghouse where all of their meetings were held whether for spiritual instruction or social affairs. It is said that their son, John, built the first adobe house and the first and best sidewalks in the town of Fairview. At a fiftieth anniversary celebration of Mt. Pleasant and Fairview, Utah, a monument was erected to honor the pioneers and the name of Moses Martin and his sons are on it. (“History of Amanda Armstrong Faucett Sanders” by Maude S LaFranchi)

In 1861, a new settlement was established in Southern Utah called St. George. Elder Orson Hyde was sent to Sanpete County to raise the quotas of Saints to settle in St. George. At this meeting, Moses Martin learned about the new community which would become his home. The purpose of the St. George mission was to raise cotton for clothing of the Saints, and was known as the Dixie Cotton Mission.

Moses Martin and Amanda were among the pioneers who were called to the Dixie Cotton Mission and settled on a big ranch near St. George. For a number of years they lived on the ranch where they owned a sawmill that furnished lumber for the Temple and other buildings. They also planted fruit trees and vineyards. They built a red adobe house in St. George where they lived until the death of Moses Martin.

While living in St. George, Moses Martin was called to work on the Temple, which was begun on November 9, 1871. On April 1, 1874., before leaving St. George for his return to Salt Lake City President Brigham Young and others laid the cornerstones of the Temple. The new Temple was completed on March 5, 1875. On this day appropriate ceremonies were held, with brass band, singing, speaking and a picnic. (“Temples of the Most High” by N. B Lundwall).

Moses Martin and Amanda were present at the Temple celebration and were present when the St. George Temple was dedicated on April 6, 1877. President Brigham Young was in St. George at the dedication although he was in ill health. He died on August 29, 1877, in Salt Lake City. Moses Martin lived another year in his new home in St. George where he died on November 8, 1878., at the age of 75 years. He was buried in the St. George Cemetery.

A year later, Amanda moved back to Fairview, Utah, joined her sons when they were called to colonize Arizona. She died in Arizona at Tonto Basin on April 24, 1885, at the age of 74 years. She is buried in the Gisela Cemetery.

Children of Moses Martin and Amanda Sanders: William Carrol (Dec 4, 1826 died 8 mon). Richard Twiggs (May 31, 1828). John Franklin (Mar 5, 1830). Rebecca Ann (Mar 5, 1832), Martha Brown (May 23, 1833). David Walker (Sept 1, 1835), Joseph Moroni (Dec 25, 1836), Sidney Rigdon (April 10, 1839), Emma (Jan 23, 1841). Eliza Jane (June 4, 1843 died 3 yr) Hyrum Smith (Apr 10, 1843 died 2 ½ yrs) Moses Martin Jr (Feb 21, 1853)

DAVID WALKER SANDERS (4) AND SARAH JANE VANCE: (Moses Martin 3) (David 2) (Rev. Moses 1)

David Walker Sanders was the 5^th child of Moses Martin Sanders and Amanda Faucett. He was born on September 1, 1834, in Montgomery County, Illinois. He was almost five months old when his parents joined the Mormon Church. He moved with his family to Missouri and to Nauvoo where he was a friend and playmate of the children of the Prophet Joseph Smith and Emma Smith.

David Walker was ten years old when Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, were killed. He was listed as having left Pigeon Grove, Iowa, with his father and step-mother, Mary Jane, in 1848 when he was 14 years old. However in another history, he is listed as coming to Utah in 1850 when his mother made the trip. Their first home was called West Jordon, part of Great Salt Lake City, Utah. Later the family moved to Union Fort at Big Cottonwood.

It was while living at Union Fort that he met and married Sarah jane Vance, born July 31, 1841 at Macadonia, Hancock County, Illinois. She was the daughter of Issac Young Vance and Martha Elenor Yeager. He was 24 years old and she was 17 years old. One year later in the fall of 1859, David and Sarah Jane were called by their church to establish the new community of Fairview, Sanpete County, Utah. After arriving in Sanpete County, Sarah Jane stayed at Mt. Pleasant while David helped build the fort and church at Fairview. While living in Mt. Pleasant, their first daughter, Sarah Jane, was born on September 13, 1859.

During the first years in Fairview, the young family was compelled, on account of the Indian molestations, to move from time to time to Mt. Pleasant where they would stay until the Indian problem would abate before returning to Fairview. While living in Fairview, four more children were born to David and Sarah Jane: David Walker Jr., September 20, 1863; Martha Frances, April 25, 1866; Amanda Eliza, December 7, 1867; and George Franklin, September 15, 1871.

Tragedy struck the family when two year old Amanda Eliza died in Fairview on September 9, 1869. Less than five years later, mother Sarah Jane Vance Sanders died on June 27, 1873. Both are buried in the Fairview cemetery. David Walker married Louisa Cheney Smith about one year later. They were sealed for time and eternity on February 28, 1878. She had one daughter, Rosalia Smith.

In 1879 David Walker and Louisa were called with some of his brothers to go to Arizona and find a good place to raise cattle. His brother, John Franklin Sr., had a large herd of cattle which his son, John Franklin Jr. and two other men drove to Arizona sometime in 1880. After he returned, the families began the long journey to the upper Tonto Basin.

The families of David Sanders Sr., John Franklin Sr., Moses Martin Jr., John Franklin Jr. and Grandmother Amanda Sanders made the move south to the upper Tonto Basin. Hannah, the wife of John F. Sanders Jr., remembers crossing the Colorado River at Pierce’s Ferry on February 20, 1881, because that was the day of her 19^th birthday. They traveled in wagons and drove a herd of cattle along with them, too, so the trip was slow. (History of Gisela, Arizona by Jayne Peace)

The three hundred mile trip took three months of traveling. They drove some cattle and horses and some of the oxen were young and did not know enough about hauling wagons. The group camped awhile at places where the men found work, and always stopped for Saturday afternoons and Sundays.

The company of approximately 50 people arrived in Tonto Basin (Gisela) in March of 1881. As soon as they arrived, they began to build houses and dig wells. They completed the irrigation ditch that Davy Gowan (the man from whom John Franklin Sr. had purchased the property) had began (Felton Ditch) and cleared the land for crops. This was hard work since everything had to be done by hand. They planted fruit trees they had brought with them from Utah. Big gardens were planted, and the surplus beans, corn and squash was dried for winter. They raised cane and made molasses and as soon as the fruit trees began to bear, they made preserves with the molasses. (“History of Gisela, Arizona” by Jane Peace)

Grandmother Amanda lived with David and had her living quarters over his granary. She was getting quite old, but was a good natured person. She was quite heavy and stayed in her living quarters most of the time. She lived almost four years in Tonto. She died April 24, 1885. She was buried in the Gisela Cemetery. While living in Gisela, martin, son of John Franklin Sr., was shot in the back while driving a freight wagon from Flagstaff on December 7, 1891. He is also buried in Gisela.

On August 14, 1890, Wilford Woodruff, President of the Mormon Church, ordered abandonment of the Gisela settlement. Later it was learned that the reason for the order was the Tewksbury Feud which was going on at the time. This was a feud between the cattlemen and the sheepmen. David and Louisa left the little community sometime in 1891 or 1892 and moved to Concho, Arizona.

After living in Concho for about ten years, David Walker moved to the Gila Valley. They settled in Thatcher, Arizona. On February 11, 1914, David Walker died at his son’s, David Walker Jr., home in Hubbard, Graham County, Arizona. He was buried in the Thatcher Cemetery. He was 79 years old.

Children of David Walker and Sarah Jane Sanders: Sarah Jane (Sept 13, 1859 m. Aaron Elijah Cheney), David Walker Jr. (Sept 20, 1863 m. Eunice Bleak), Martha Frances (Apr 25, 1866 m. Hyrum Nelson) Amanda Eliza Dec 7, 1867 died 1 ½ yr), George Granklin (Sept 15, 1879 never married died 18 yrs.)

David Smith

This is David M. Smith and I think this is going to be a great place for us to share information and stay in touch.
-David

David Walker Sanders Sr.

This is going to be a place where relatives and descendants can add stories, upload pictures and communicate about our Great Ancestor David Walker Sanders Sr.