A profile of the Saunders family

The Saunders family has been identified with the early settlement and growth of Henry county, Iowa. Presley Saunders pre-empted the land from the government in the year 1834 upon which Mount Pleasant is situated, and laid out the town of Mount Pleasant in the year 1835.

There are no two names more closely identified or better known in Henry County than William G. Saunders and Presley Saunders, to whom this article will more particularly refer.

The Saunders family originally came from England, and the first one of the family now known is Henry Saunders, who was killed in the battle of Culloden, Scotland, in 1756. His son, James Saunders, married Sarah Gunnell in England, and they moved to America in 1746 and settled in Virginia. He died on April 7, 1778, and his wife died September 21, 1793. Their children were Mary, born January 1, 1732; William, born March 21, 1741; John S., born February 1, 1746, and died May 6, 1797; Gunnell, born March 10, 1748; Barbara, born February 20, 1750; Presley, born December 3, 1752, died August 31, 1823; Henry, born September 21, 1755, died February 19, 1823; Moses and James, born November 24, 1757; Cyrus, born December 22, 1760, and died in November, 1822.

Gunnell Saunders, son of James Saunders, above mentioned, lived in Virginia and afterward moved to Kentucky. He had six sons, William, Oliver, Gunnell, Sylvester, Moses and Aaron.

William Saunders, son of Gunnell Saunders, was born in Virginia on March 11, 1780, and when quite young moved with his father to Kentucky, where he resided until the date of his death, February 21, 1870. He was married when quite young in Kentucky to Margaret Mauzy. She was of French descent and was born in 1781 near Fredericksburg, Virginia. Her parents moved to Kentucky when she was nine years of age and settled near Sherburne in the same neighborhood with the Saunders family. They moved to Mount Pleasant in the spring of 1856. Both Mr. and Mrs. Saunders were religiously inclined and were members of the Christian church at Mount Pleasant. She died June 15, 1869.

The children of William and Margaret Saunders were:

Sarah, who married James Grant, and who had six children, -- William, Roland, Margaret, Jennie, James Austin, and Frank. But two of these children are now living, Margaret, and James Austin, both of whom are residing in Mount Pleasant.

Eleanor was born February 13, 1805, in Fleming county, Kentucky, and married Isaac Fouche April 20, 1826. Their children were Emily, Margaret, James, Mary, Barbara, Sarah, George W., and Matilda. Those now living are Emily Vandall and James Fouche, who live at Osceola, Iowa; Mary Ball, of Fresno, California, and Barbara R. and Matilda, of Mount Pleasant.

Austin, who lived and died in Kentucky. He left one daughter, who married Joseph D. Ringo, who resides at Sherburne Mills, Fleming county, Kentucky.

Ann, who married Mathew G. Jones. They had three children, -- Jefferson, Thomas and Goldsmith.

Margaret, who married James Garvin. They had seven children: Jasper, Samuel Wallace, Ann Eliza, Sarah Harriet, Mecca, and Julia. Of these Jasper, Samuel Wallace, Ann Eliza, and Harriet are still living, but the only one who now resides at Mount Pleasant is Samuel Wallace, who is an honored citizen and who for a long time has been identified with Henry county and Mount Pleasant, both as a citizen and an official.

William G. was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, December 25, 1815, and on May 25, 1843, he was married by his uncle, Aaron Saunders, a minister of the gospel, in Fleming county, to Harriet Eliza Saunders, the fourth daughter of Henry Saunders, a native of New York state. She was in no way related to her husband. She was born in Gallipolis, Ohio, May 22, 1824, and died in Mount Pleasant, August 5, 1886, after a protracted illness. They moved from Kentucky to Mount Pleasant in the spring of 1858. Mr. Saunders died at Mount Pleasant on December 3, 1899. A more extended description of the life of William G. Saunders will hereafter be given.

Elizabeth, who married Charles Saunders, of Fleming county, Kentucky. She died in Mount Pleasant April 5, 1901, leaving one son, Francis Marion, who lives in Ohio.

Mary married C. W. Saunders, by whom she had two sons, Worthy and William P. After the death of her husband she married Cummings Brown. They had several children, and after the death of Mr. Brown she married William Tolle. Both she and Mr. Tolle are now dead.

Aaron, the youngest son, married Mary Wrenchy in Kentucky, and moved to Blythedale, Missouri. They were the parents of six children, Margaret, Alice, John, James, Squire, and Elizabeth. They are both laid to rest in Blythedale cemetery.

Gunnell Saunders, a brother of William Saunders, and a son of Gunnell Saunders, was born in Virginia, July 27, 1783, and moved with his father to Kentucky. He married Mary Mauzy, a sister of the wife of William Saunders. They lived on a farm about ten miles south of Flemingsburgh, in Fleming county, Kentucky, until about 1829, when they moved to a sparsely settled part of Illinois not far from Springfield, where his son Presley located the year previous. He moved to Mount Pleasant in the year 1845, and owned, and lived in a small brick cottage where the Young Men’s Christian Association now stands. He died October 26, 1848. His wife died October 18, 1851. Their children were:

Jonathan R., who was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, on February 17, 1802, and who married Sarah McKinnie, December 18, 1823. They afterward moved to Springfield, Illinois, where he died on April 8, 1886. Their children were Asbury H., and Milton. Milton died at Springfield, Illinois, October 18, 1902, leaving a wife and several children. Asbury H. is still residing at Springfield. He has one daughter, Mrs. Ralph W. Hayes, of Washington, D. C.

Presley, the founder of Mount Pleasant, was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, July 11, 1809, and died in Mount Pleasant July 19, 1889. A more extended sketch of the life of Presley Saunders will be hereafter given.

William A. was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, August 4, 1818. He moved, with his parents, to Springfield, Illinois, in 1829, and in the spring of 1845 he moved from Springfield to Mount Pleasant, where he engaged in the mercantile and banking business for a time with his brothers, Presley and Alvin. About 1860 he went into the mercantile business by himself, in which business he continued until the date of his death, February 14, 1865. He was a member of the Christian church in Mount Pleasant and was greatly interested in church work. On October 23, 1850, he married Louisa Dickey, daughter of Samuel Dickey, at Mount Pleasant. She was born October 27, 1826, in Indiana, and in October, 1838, moved with her parents to Mount Pleasant. She died in Omaha October 6, 1904, and was buried in Mount Pleasant. They had several children, but all died in their infancy, except one son, William A., who now resides in Omaha, where he is engaged in the law business.

Mount Pleasant became the home of quite a number of the Saunders family, and it has been the last resting place of its older members. Presley Saunders obtained a lot in the city cemetery, dedicated the “family circle”, erected a monument, and in this circle many members of the different branches of the family have been buried.

Presley Saunders

Presley Saunders was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, July 11, 1809, and emigrated to Springfield, Illinois, in the year 1828, and there engaged in farming until the breaking out of the Black Hawk war in 1832.

He enlisted in Captain Moffet’s company, and was an active participant in the events following, which lead to the capture of Black Hawk. The treaty of 1833, and the settlement of this territory by the whites. He was in the same regiment with Abraham Lincoln, and they were close, intimate and personal friends.

In 1834 he, with his four companions, started west, and finally located on the site of Mount Pleasant, where he set his stakes and pre-empted the land from the government. In February, 1835, he brought his family from Illinois. In 1836 he opened a store in the new village of Mount Pleasant, and there began the business life which he followed, with strict integrity and always with success, for fifty-two consecutive years, making him the oldest merchant in the state.

In the early days Presley Saunders, with his brothers, Alvin and William A., organized a private bank, which they operated safely and successfully. In the year 1862 this bank went under the name of Saunders, Kibbin & Company and continued thus up to the time of its organization as the First National Bank of Mount Pleasant. Presley Saunders was president of the First National Bank from the time it was organized up to the date of his death, July 19, 1889.

In 1830 he was married to Miss Edith Cooper, of Sangamon county, Illinois, but she died at Mount Pleasant in 1836. They had one child, Mary, who married John W. McCoy. In 1837 Mr. Saunders was married to Huldah Bowen. She was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1817, and was the daughter of Isaac and Rhoda Bowen, natives of Maryland and Kentucky.

Their union was blessed with four children, Smith, who lived in Mount Pleasant for quite a number of years, and afterward moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he died on April 15, 1901, leaving two sons, Alvin B., who married Alice Saunders and who died in 1904, leaving a wife and three children who now live in Kansas City, Missouri; Eliza, the wife of John Bowman, now residing in York, Nebraska, and who have three children; and Etna, who married Fred Hope, and who now lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, with her daughter, Mrs. Chester Rouse.

The life of Presley Saunders was full of encouragement to young men who had an earnest desire to succeed. He started only with a capital of a good constitution; was temperate and had frugal habits; was industrious and was full of perseverance. From these humble beginnings he raised himself to a prominent position in the community and acquired an ample fortune.

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