My Genealogy Hound

PRESTON G. SANDERS, a retired farmer, is now engaged in merchandising in Quick City, Johnson County, where he erected a store in 1894, and put in a well selected stock of dry goods. Since 1848, when he cast his maiden vote for the Whig candidate, he has supported either that party or its successor, and while in Worthington, Ind., served as Township Trustee for four years acceptably, having been chosen by the Republicans of that community to fill the position.

A native of Greene County, Ind., Mr. Sanders was born February 27, 1827, to Herbert and Jincy (Jessup) Sanders, both natives of North Carolina. They emigrated to Indiana with their respective families in 18 16, and were married in Greene County, where they were numbered among the pioneers. Mr. Sanders, who was a farmer by occupation, resided in the Hoosier State until after the war, when he sold out, and moving to Atchison County, Kan., bought a quarter-section of land. This place he cultivated for twelve years, when he returned to Indiana and passed his last days at the home of our subject, his death occurring in August, 1882.

In a family of nine children, P. G. Sanders is the third in order of birth, and in his boyhood he received good training and fair common-school advantages. When twenty years of age he commenced running a flat-boat from his home down the White River, the Ohio and the Mississippi to New Orleans. As a cargo he carried farm products, for which he found a ready market, and for nine years his time was thus employed. He managed to lay aside some money, and then for four years engaged in operating his father’s land on shares. His father having purchased a tract of wild land, our subject commenced its improvement, and paid for the same, some eighty acres, on installments. When the war broke out he enlisted in Company H, Seventy-first Indiana Regiment, and was subsequently transferred from the infantry to the cavalry service. He enlisted July 11, 1862, went into camp at Terre Haute, and was mustered in on the 18th of August. The same night he started for the front, and August 29 took part in the battle at Richmond, Ky., where he was captured. He was sent to Indianapolis on parole, remaining there for seven months, and when exchanged was placed in the cavalry. Then, going to Muldron’s Hill, Ky., to guard a railroad trestle, he was again captured by Breckenridge and Morgan. On being paroled and once more exchanged, he was sent to Kentucky and thence to Georgia. At Tunnel Hill he took part in a battle, from there went to Atlanta, and participated in the battles of Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain and in the capture of Atlanta. Next he was sent to Nashville to assist Thomas, and there fought his last great battle. Though he was in many skirmishes, and for three months was constantly under fire, he was never wounded. At Nashville he was taken sick and was sent home, where he remained until the regiment was discharged in September, 1865.

While absent fighting for the Stars and Stripes, his wife, formerly Elizabeth Fiscus, had died, this sad event having occurred in 1862. Their marriage occurred April 29, 1849. She was born in Owen County, Ind., and of the children born to her only one survives. Mary, the wife of J. W. Fort, died leaving four children; and John F., who died in March, 1895, in Arkansas, left a family of six children. Zachary T., who is proprietor of a sawmill in Arkansas, is married and has two children. In March, 1866, Mr. Sanders married Lucy G. Dayhoff, a native of Greene County, Ind. They became the parents of five children, who one by one were summoned by the Angel of Death. William P., a bright, promising young man, lived to be nearly eighteen years of age. In March, 1895, he was out hunting with a companion, when he was accidentally wounded in the right arm by the premature discharge of his comrade’s gun, and from the effects of his injury his death soon resulted. The other children died at the ages of nine, seven and two years, and one when but seven months old.

For four years after returning from Southern battlefields, Mr. Sanders engaged in commercial pursuits at Worthington, Ind., and then traded his plant for a farm in Greene County, that state, where he made his home until 1882, much of his attention being given to dealing in live stock. In the spring of 1883, he moved to Holden, this county, and a few months later purchased a homestead on section 21, township 44, range 28, where he has a quarter-section of land. In 1890 his store and stock in Quick City were destroyed by fire, and his loss was indeed severe. During the next three years he gave his exclusive attention to his farm, after which he opened a stock of groceries, and in 1894, as previously stated, opened a dry-goods store in Quick City. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and in former years was active in the Odd Fellows’ society. He and his estimable wife are members of the Christian Church, the former now holding the office of Elder in the congregation. They possess the friendship and respect of a large circle of acquaintances, and we are pleased to give them a place among the representative citizens of this community.