Vol. 9, No. 7 ........................................................................................................ July, 2004
Welcome to the online Sanders Family News, a family newsletter for ALL descendants of the Sanders - Saunders families. If you are a Sanders - Saunders or descendant of a Sanders, this is YOUR family newsletter. It is an online version of the family newsletter. Our goal is to bring you current news about all the Sanders - Saunders kinfolk, with articles about what is happening among your relatives: obituaries, weddings, engagements, births, anniversaries, features on special cousins, school news, family history and more.
WE NEED YOUR HELP to make this newsletter a success: when you hear about a death, birth, marriage, engagement, major anniversary or other news about a Sanders relative, please let us know. If you see an obituary, wedding, engagement, anniversary or birth announcement or other news in your local newspaper, please clip it out, along with the name and date of the paper from the top of the page and mail it to us. We also save these news articles in our Family Library. We hope you will find the family newsletters both informative and entertaining. Keep coming back often and keep up with what's going on with your family.
REMEMBER...if you don't see the obituary, a birth, wedding, engagement or other news event of a Sanders relative in the family newsletter, it is because you forgot to send it to us.
If you appreciate what the Family Club is trying to do, then join and support it. That is what a family club is all about-- cooperating with your kinfolk. Without your support, we have no hope of preserving our family heritage.
If you came directly to this site, be sure and visit the Sanders Family club's HOME page where you can jump to our Sanders Family HISTORY section, the Sanders Family QUERIES section, the "FAMOUS SANDERS" section and our other pages.
INDEX
BONIFAY, Fla.-- Rachel Saunders was crowned "Miss Bonifay" at the annual beauty pageant held here 10 May to pick a beauty queen to represent this city in panhandle Florida. The pageant is sponsored by the Bonifay Junior Woman's Club. Rachel is the daughter of Bartow and Syble Shingler Saunders, formerly of Donalsonville, Ga.
Rachel graduated with honors from Holmes County High School 22 May. She is one of ten outstanding graduates selected for induction into the school's Hall of Fame. She ws editor of the school newspaper and reporter for the Student Government. She was an active member of the National Honor Society, Beta Club, Youth for Christ and several other organizations.
She was selected for the "Who's Who Among Students in American High Schools" and was honored as "Student of the Week" at the school in May. As "Miss Bonifay", Rachel will represent the city and Holmes County at many events. She participated in the National Peanut Festival in Dothan, Alabama in October, where she competed for the title of "Miss National Peanut Festival" queen. As winner of the "Miss Bonifay" contest, Rachel was awarded a $1,000 scholarship to the college of her choice, along with many other gifts.
If your branch of the family is planning a reunion, please send us complete details for a story. Include dates, time, location of the event. Include the name, mailing address and telephone number and an email address if available of someone to contact for more information. Give info about planned activities, history programs, etc. If it is an annual affair, tell some history about the past gatherings, where it has been held in the past, names of the ancestors of the group and who started the event.
AFTER the reunion, let us know about it. Send such info as how many attended; what states and cities were represented; names and hometowns of the oldest and youngest relatives who attended; the activities held and other interesting facts. If you have a reunion committee or elected officers, list their names and hometowns.
PICKWICK LAKE, Tenn.-- Descendants of WILLIAM SAUNDERS / Sanders and his wife BETSY HUBBARD are planning a reunion 26 - 28 June, 1998 to be held at the Pickwick Landing Resort in the State Park on Pickwick Lake. The resort is located on the lake backed up by Pickwick Dam on the Tennessee River, just south of Savannah, Tenn.
WILLIAM was born 1718 in Lancaster County, Virginia; Betsy was born there in 1721. They had 11 ch and today reportedly have several thousand descendants. A descendant reports that at least five of his sons served as soldiers in the American forces during the Revolutionary War. Their descendants later settled in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennesssee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana and Texas--and today are scattered all over the nation. And as in practically all branches, the spellings Sanders and Saunders have been used in this one also. (Spelling always depends upon who is writing the document, educational level and more; it doesn't really matter since their are of the same origin).
The reunion is being planned by Harold, Alice and Judy Low of Sherman, TX. And Doc and Lee Hoover of Centerville, Tenn. Judy and Lee are descendants of Berryman Saunders, who was a great grandson of William. They hope to bring together descendants for a good history-swapping session, as well as some old-fashioned renewals of family ties. They will have a copier available to make copies of family records, so make sure you bring yours as well as family photos, Bibles, etc. Nearby is the Shiloh National Military Park and Cemetery, where the Battle of Pittsburg Landing took place in the War for Southern Independence. Savannah calls itself the "catfish capitol of the world" and the lake and river have good fishing. There are also golf courses, boating, swimming and other recreational facilities, along with a historical museum and tours of historic homes.
For more information, contact:
Lee Hoover
P.O. Box 125
Centerville, TN 37033
Fax/Phone (931) 729-9281
Descendants of Isaiah Sanders Sr. are planning a reunion at Northport, Alabama 2 Oct. Isaiah Sr. was born in Campbell County, GA. abt 1826. He moved to Alabama. His son Isaiah Jr. had 21 children from three marriages. Their descendants live mostly in Alabama, California and Oklahoma.
Jimmie B. Sanders
Citrus Heights, CA.
SCHOOL NEWS . . .
If you have a kid graduating from high school or college; who has been named to the Honors roll; been given a school award; who has been elected to a school office; who plays on a school sports team; been named a cheerleader or any other school news -- let us know the details so we can write a story about it in the family newsletter. Also tell us their future plans: college, work? And the names of their parents and grandparents.
Mail Coming From Kin All Over the World Since going "online" with the Internet's World Wide Web a few months ago, our Sanders family website now reaches kinfolk all over the United States--and even throughout the world! Our mail--both email and regular mail--has increased dramatically. Not since the Sanders Family National Association was founded have we received so much mail.
One of the biggest surprises was an email from a young cousin who lives with her parents in Dubai, the capitol of the United Arab Emirates. The United Arab Emirates (UAR) is a confederation of five independent emirates (sort of like a princedom, ruled by an Arab emir) and located on the Gulf of Persia / Persian Gulf, or, as the Arabians call it, the "Gulf of Arabia". The UAR's five emirates are all on the desert coast of the Gulf and their main income is from oil deposits and trade. Income from the oil has made the emirates rich and they are building splendid new and very modern cities along the coast
The cousin who wrote said she has lived most of her young life in the UAR. She said her father is from Maryland. I have written back and asked for more family info and what took the family all the way to the Middle East. Will keep you all posted.
In one really wild case, I have received several email letters from a family in Brazil (the largest country in South America). The national language there is Portuguese and I sho' don't talk Portuguese! I studied Spanish (a "cousin" of Portuguese) in college but have forgotten most of it. Now, as it just happens, I have a cousin who is a priest at the Church of England's (Anglican) church in Porto, the second largest city in Portugal. His family is from Cairo, Georgia--in the very next county and only about 20 miles from where I was raised and graduated from high school. How he ended up way off in Porto, Portugal is another story. When I was having trouble translating the first letter, I thought about my cousin in Porto. Sure enough, he was able to send me a translation within just hours. It's getting to be a small world!
We are getting LOTS of mail from cousins all over, including England, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Saudia Arabia, Australia, The Netherlands (Holland), Brazil, Canada, Bermuda, Chile, Germany, Japan, Abu Dhabi, Argentina, Uruguay and other nations. And all the US: Texas, California, Illinois, North Carolina, Florida, New York, Mississippi, Indiana, South Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Oregon, Washington, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Missouri, Louisiana, just to name a few. In addition to his dad's family, our family historian Robert Earl is also deeply involved in the history of his mother's family. He is now getting large amounts of email on his Mom's family as well. The record so far is about 92 emails in one day. Since going on the Internet a few months ago, your editor has received more than 25 extra large notebooks full of email (and a lot which got lost when the old computer crashed). As a result of this heavy amount of mail, he has gotten way behind in answering a lot of you. On top of this, he suffered a third heart attack this past summer and has not been able to get much done.
As a result of this heavy amount of mail, our editor has gotten way behind in answering a lot of you. Please be patient. If you don't hear from us right away, email another reminder! But keep the family information coming!! All the new family information sent in since we went online is very much appreciated. It will be preserved in our Sanders Family Library for future generations to benefit from.
What a wonderful Idea. I am Janet Carol Sanders Gray. I have just started searching my family tree and accidentally stumbled onto this web site. It brought tears to my eyes. I have had a dead end after dead end but now I have found a beginning! :-) I applaude everyone's effort on this tremendous endeavor. Thanks so much. Jan
Our Editor is Robert Earl Woodham
grandson of Lillie Mae Sanders, a native of Henry County, Alabama
and long-time resident of Seminole County, Georgia.
His hobby since childhood has been family history.
to Sanders Family Association HOME page17 June, 1998