Descendants of
JESSE SANDERS and MARY AMANDA PICKERING
Jesse Sanders was born in June
30, 1845 in Tishomingo County, Mississippi.
His father, Isaac Sanders, was born in 1818 in Randolph County,
North Carolina,
the son of Benjamin and Mary Sanders. It is believed the family
was of Irish or
Scottish ancestry, but the immigrant ancestor appears to have
arrived well
before the American Revolution. According to a family tradition
in the family of
Thomas Bailey Saunders of Texas, three Saunders brothers settled
in the Randolph/
Montgomery county area of North Carolina in the 1760s. These
three were Aaron,
Moses (a Baptist preacher), and another Isaac, who is believed to
be the father of
Benjamin and therefore the great grandfather of Jesse.
Descendants of the three
brothers moved to Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and
Texas and eventually to many other Western states.
Isaac's parents moved to Jackson County, Alabama, in the 1830s.
About 1838 Isaac
married Elizabeth, also a native of North Carolina. Her maiden
name is not known.
In the mid 1840s he and Elizabeth were living in Tishomingo
County, Mississippi,
and by the 1850s they were in Montgomery County, Arkansas. During
the Civil War,
the Sanders family had divided loyalties; Isaac and his son Jesse
first joined the
Confederate forces, but switched sides as the Union forces
entered the state.
By 1869 Isaac and his family had returned to Tishomingo County,
Mississippi,
and it was from Booneville, Mississippi, about 1870, that his son
Jesse set forth
for Texas, settling in Murchison in Henderson County, presumably
because the
location was near his cousin Levi Lindsey Sanders, a blacksmith
who lived in
Ben Wheeler in Van Zandt County.
Shortly after arriving in Henderson County, Jesse met Mary Amanda
Pickering,
and they were married October 31, 1871 in Erath County, Texas,
where they
lived for about four years. Mary Amanda “Mandy”
Pickering was born
March 13, 1854 in Henderson County, Texas, and died July 22, 1898
at
Murchison, Texas. She is buried in the Red Hill Cemetery between
Murchison and Brownsboro. She was the daughter of Andrew Jackson
Pickering (March 4, 1829, Covington County, Mississippi-after
1890, Texas)
and Elizabeth Ann Davis (1814, South Carolina-about 1865,
Chambers County, Texas).
Elizabeth’s sister, Susan, married David Anding, and they
also had numerous descendants who lived in Henderson County.
Jesse and Mary Amanda lived in Stephenville in Erath County from
1872 until 1876 but then moved back to Murchison in Henderson
County. There they farmed an 87 acre tract that remained in the
family for several generations. Jesse died from malaria on
December 12, 1903 and was buried in the Red Hill Cemetery by the
side of his wife in the Sanders/Pickering area on the west side
of the cemetery.
The children of Mary Amanda Pickering and Jesse Sanders are as
follows:
1. John Taylor Sanders, born July 30, 1872 in Stephenville, Erath
County, Texas;
died May 11, 1938 in Murchison; buried in Red Hill Cemetery. He
married Lula Skipper.
2. Sarah Elizabeth Sanders, born July 17, 1876 in Stephenville,
Erath County, Texas;
died February 15, 1974, in Athens; buried in Red Hill Cemetery.
She married Frank Carroll.
3. Randau Sanders, born May 06, 1880 in Murchison, Henderson
County;
died October 06, 1880; buried in Red Hill Cemetery
4. Aaron Walter Sanders, born January 07, 1882 in Murchison; died
November 25, 1966 in Athens; buried in New Athens City Cemetery.
He married Mary Jeanetta Gothard.
5. Jesse Jackson Sanders, born March 04, 1885 in Murchison; died
September 17, 1964 in Overton, Rusk County, Texas; buried in Red
Hill Cemetery. He married Lola Mae Burton.
6. Fannie Amanda Sanders, born August 09, 1889 in Murchison; died
February 23, 1931 in Murchison; buried in Red Hill Cemetery. She
married Joseph Andrew Webb.
7. Bertha Sanders, born July 09, 1891 in Murchison; died October
26, 1896; buried in
Red Hill Cemetery
Some of the descendants of Jesse Sanders and Amanda Pickering
still live in
Henderson County. A son, Walter Sanders, owned a grocery store
just off the
square in Athens throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Their grandson,
Gurley Sanders,
was for many years a reporter for the Athens Daily Review
newspaper.
Gary Sanders
gary_bsanders@hotmail.com
Henderson
County, Texas - Pioneer Families
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Henderson Co. TXGenWeb
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