The Tom Sanders family came by covered wagon from Tennessee and settled a farm on Jimmies Creek near the Wild Cat ford. This farm was later known as the E. B. Adams farm near the Simon Osborne place.
Tom Sanders was a man of means and came to Arkansas prior to the Civil War, and in addition to his family, he brought along a number of slaves, probably three or four. He was a farmer, carpenter and wagon-maker.
Tom Sanders married Peggy Ralph, also a native of Tennessee, before coming to Arkansas. To this union were born the following children: Joseph, Robert, Richard, Mary, Jane, Jim, Tennessee, and another son born after the family came to Arkansas. This son died while a small child, probably near the end of the Civil War.
Tom Sanders enlisted in the Confederate Army but before joining the army and prior to the Emancipation Proclamation, he freed his slaves.
These former slaves chose to live on the farm and work during the Civil War. Some of them were buried in the Wild Cat Cemetery.
Robert Sanders married a Lawance. They had several children but their names cannot be recalled. Robert (Bob) was a farmer and real estate broker. He died prior to WW I and was buried in the Long Cemetery near Fairview.
Richard Sanders moved to the Indian Territory while a young man and we have no record of his family.
Mary Sanders married a Mr. Thomas of Valley Springs. They were not blessed with any children but adopted a son.
Jane Sanders married George W. Jenkins and her family is covered in the Jenkins family history.
Tennessee Sanders married Pate King of Flippin and they had thirteen children: Mary, Roy, Charlie, Willie, Eura, Ella, Rosie, Tommie, Austin, Dallas, J. S. and two daughters whose names cannot be recalled. For many years the family lived on what is now the Fred Rose place near Fairview. They moved to Oklahoma during WW I.
Joseph Sanders was born on June 2, 1853. In 1878 he married Lydia Pangle who was born in Dade County, Georgia, in 1855. She had lived during the Civil War near Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, and in 1869 came to Marion County with her parents, John and Elizabeth McKeehan Pangle.
Joseph and Lydia Pangle Sanders lived for many years on a farm on Fallen Ash road at the foot of Lee's Mountain. Bertha Sanders, widow Collie Sanders, lives there now.
Lydia's older brother, Francis Pangle, fought in the Civil War. The family learned from friends that he survived the war but he never returned to his family.
Jim Sanders married Vickie Pangle, Lydia's sister. Their children were Gladys, Dossie, Gussie, and Ned; the last three, all unmarried, still lived on the farm on Fallen Ash. It was bought by Jim and Vickie in 1907.
Joseph and Lydia Pangle Sanders had six children: Hettie, Lester, Johnnie, Elsie, Collie and Ralph. Hettie and Willie Lynch were married in 1900 and were the parents of Opal and Herman. In 1903 Lester married Mettie Cornelius Briggs in the home of her parents, Andrew and Virginia Hutchinson Briggs who lived on Fallen Ash near Mountain View. That same year Lester built a house on Fallen Ash where his children Lalah, Durward, Gordon, Orville, Clifton and A. J. were born. On March 16, 1930, Mettie Sanders died there. In 1935, Lester married Bonnie York Brewer, who brought her son Harlin to live on the Fallen Ash farm, which is presently owned by Dr. Bob Ahrens.
Collie Sanders married Bertha Noe and their son, Von, is now deceased. Elsie married Charlie Beavers and they adopted a son, Charles Edward. Johnnie married John Briggs, brother of Mettie Briggs, and their childiln were Norman, R. L., Lynn and Joann. Ralph married Georgia Wilson and their two sons were Ralph, Jr., and Lowell Wayne.
Reprinted with permission from History of Marion County edited by Earl Berry, copyright 1977.