Sheriff John Sanders
Sheriff John Sanders served from 1891 to 1892
Sheriff John Sanders was born on March 13, 1845, and died in May of 1923
Sheriff John Sanders was a civil war veteran who was wounded during the war. I located a biography of him which follows which includes information about his family.
The quality of leadership and business enterprise has been distinctive of the career of John Sanders through many years * in Grant county. Very recently Mr. Sanders left the farm enterprise to which he had devoted so many years and retired to a comfortable home in the little city of Matthews, where he and his good wife are enjoying the comfort and peace so well won by their past life. Mr. Sanders in everything he has undertaken has shown himself vigorous, efficient, and public spirited. He is well remembered as one of the former sheriffs of Grant county, and has been prominent both in township and county affairs.
John Sanders was born in Grant county, March 13, 1845, and this is one of the oldest of Grant county's pioneer names. His birthplace was in the township of Jefferson on his father's old homestead at New Cumberland. His father, William Sanders, was born in Ohio, September 19, 1809, and was a son of Robert Sanders, whose birth occurred in Culpeper county, Virginia, about 1768. Robert Sanders was a soldier and one of the devoted followers of General Anthony Wayne, and participated in the campaigns on the northwest side of the Ohio River against the Indians, following the Revolutionary war. fighting at Port Wayne and also at Fort Recovery, and was on the St. Mary's River. Robert Sanders, who came of English ancestry, married Sarah McCormick, a Virginia girl, and to their union were born the following children: John, Catherine, Mary, William, Amelia, Lavina, Colman, Abner, James, Joseph and Nancy—eleven in all. All of these grew up and were married and had children of their own and most of them lived to be threescore years or more in age. One attained the venerable age of ninety-three. The entire family of children came to the state of Indiana during the decade of the twenties, and lived and died in this state. Robert Sanders moved from Virginia to Ohio about 1800, established a home and developed a portion of the wilderness at that state and some of his children were born there. About 1820 he moved to Payette county, Indiana, living near Connersville until 1826, and in that year became one of the first who ventured into the wilderness of Delaware county, entering land in what is now Washington township. Just two years later, in 1828, Robert Sanders moved across into Grant county, and here again was a pioneer. His name is thus to be found among the list of pioneers in three Indiana counties. In Grant county, he entered government land along the Mississinewa river in Jefferson township. The entire township was then a wilderness, most of it covered with dense timbers, and his was one of the first cabins and first establishments in that section. A distinction which will always attach to the name of Robert Sanders is that in 1833 he platted and laid out on his land a town to which he gave the name New Cumberland, and selling a number of lots, started a village which has had a long history, and which under modern conditions has become somewhat submerged under the new village of Matthews, and is now designated as Old Town. In that vicinity Robert Sanders lived and labored, reared a family of children, and used his influence toward building up a community in which he was the leading spirit. He died at his son William's home in 1861, at the age of ninety-three years. He was an old-line Whig, and later joined the Republican party which was organized only a few years before his death. His wife passed away about twenty years before his death, and was about seventy years old. They were both members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
William Sanders was only a boy when his parents came to Indiana, and was seventeen years old at the time the home was established in Jefferson township of Grant county. There the time passed until he became of age, and in 1834 he made his first important venture independently by entering one hundred and thirty-two acres of government land in section two of Jefferson township. During his younger and more active career, William Sanders was known as a hard worker and an expert in handling the ax and cradle, and could follow the plow up and down the fields all day long. He cleared away much of the timber from his land, and was always known as a man of substantial prosperity and influence. He lived and died on his farm in Jefferson township, passing away February 17, 1879. In April, 1837, he was married to Rachel Wharton, who was born either in Ohio or Pennsylvania, April 2, 1812, a daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Gray) Wharton, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of New Jersey. The Wharton family is likewise an old name in Grant county, and Thomas Wharton entered land in Jefferson township when the greater part of its area was a wilderness. The Whartons were Methodists in religion. Mrs. William Sanders died at her home in Jefferson township in January, 1893. She and her husband belonged to the Methodist church, and in politics he was a strong Republican. Their children are: Nancy J., the widow of David Collins, and living at New Cumberland, at the age of seventy-seven; Sarah, who is the wife of James H. Wills, a farmer in Delaware county, and they have three children, and John Sanders of this review.
Mr. John Sanders grew up in the pioneer times of Jefferson township, had a common school education, and was about sixteen years old when the war broke out between the north and south. A year later, when seventeen years old, he enlisted in Company B of the EightyFourth Indiana Volunteers, and made a record as an efficient and faithful soldier in the various campaigns until the close of the war. The date of his enlistment was August 11, 1862, and his honorable discharge came on May 29, 1865. He was in the army under General Rosecrans and other noted Union leaders, and most of his active service was in the canipaigns of the middle west, including the battle of Chickamauga and others in Tennessee and Georgia.
At Rocky Face Ridge he was wounded by a minie ball through the left foot. He was in the company commanded by Captain John H. Ellis, who was killed at Chickamauga and his son Franklin Ellis was promoted to captain, and he is now judge of the cireuit court in Delaware county. The colonel of the regiment was Nelson Trusler. Mr. Sanders on returning home took up his work as a farmer, and has since become one of the most successful in that business in Jefferson township. His home place comprises eighty acres of land in section thirtytwo and its improvements and buildings, fences and cultivation mark it as one of the best estates in this vicinity. Recently Mr. Sanders and wife retired from their farm and are now residing in a comfortable seven-room dwelling in Matthews. Mr. Sanders also owns a fine farm near Old Town in section two, that being one hundred and twenty-six acres of his father's old homestead. As a farmer Mr. Sanders showed himself both practical and scientific, he always did mixed farming, raising both grain and live stock, did much to maintain the fertility of his soil, and in business as in civic affairs has always been a hustler, and a leader.
In 1890 Mr. Sanders was elected on the Republican ticket as sheriff and served one term until 1892. Two terms have been given to the office of township trustee, and wherever placed by his fellow citizens, his work has been commendable and beneficial. Fraternally he has been an active member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since 1871, in both the subordinate Lodge No. 383, and in the Encampment No. 125, and also the Rebekah Lodge No. 447. He is a past noble grand in the lodge, and is past commander of the B. R. Dunn Post, No. 440, of the Grand Army of the Republic, formerly located at New Cumberland, that village being now merged into the village of Matthews.
In Blackford county on October 13, 1866, Mr. Sanders married Mary J. Reasoner, of an old and prominent family in Delaware county. She was born in Delaware county, in Washington township, October 27, 1848, and at the age of twelve years was taken by her parents to Blackford county. She is a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Dunn) Reasoner, who were born in Pennsylvania, but were married in Delaware county, and were farmers and good citizens. Mr. Reasoner was more than eighty years of age when he died and his wife lived to be about seventy. They were Presbyterians, and he was a Republican in politics. Jacob Reasoner was a son of Benjamin and Mary (Hill) Reasoner, of Pennsylvania, birth and of Scotch ancestry. The Reasoners came to Delaware county in time to enter land from the government, and later moved into Blackford county, where they died old people and highly respected members of their community. The faith of the Presbyterian church they zealously maintained themselves, and were leaders in the extension of that religion in their various communities.
Mr. and Mrs. Sanders are the parents of three living children: Geneva S. is the wife of Walter L. Gay, of Fairmount, and they have two children, Mary L. and Morris L.; William Frederick is now active manager of his father's farm, and married Gertrude Landis; Bernice R. is the wife of Leo Clyde Gossett, living in Van Buren, Grant county, and their children are Frederick C. and Martha. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders are members of the Presbyterian church.
Leader Tribune
May 6, 1923
Ex-Sheriff of
County is Dead
Funeral services for John Sanders, 78 years old, a former sheriff of Grant county, who died Friday night at his home in Matthews, will be held from the Matthews Presbyterian church at Matthews at two o’clock this afternoon. He is survived by one son, Fred Sanders of Matthews, and two daughters, Mrs. Clyde Joffet of Fairmount and Mrs. Walter Jay of Loogootee, Ind.
Mr. Sanders resided in or near Matthews the greater part of his life. Afterserving as sheriff of the county he returned to his home at Matthews, where he has since resided.
