One
of the representative agriculturalists of this section, whose keen practicallity,
industry and devotion to that science well deserves more than a mere mention,
is George Sanders, Jr. He is the son of George and Polly (Twombly) Sanders, and
was born in Epsom, NH, November 6, 1832. The ancestor of the Amerian Family of
Sanders was Christopher Sanders, who came from England in 1671. We cannot fully
trace the line to George, nor tell from which one of the sons of Christopher he
is descended.
The great-grandfather
of the one of whom we now write was George Sanders, a resident of Rye, NH., where
he passed his days, a quiet and useful citizen. His son John, the pioneer of the
family in this town, was born in Rye, and when a young man came to Epsom, married
and became a resident. He was a stalwart man, vigorous and energetic, and devoted
himself to his farm with all the force of his strong nature, and as a citizen,
was much respected. About 1850 he removed to Concord, whre re resided until his
death, March 13, 1870, aged nearly eighty nine years. George Sanders, Sr., son
of John and Anna Sanders, married Polly Towmbly, of Barrington. They had three
children, -- George and Mary (twins), and John. Mr. Sanders, inheriting the strong
physique and hardy nature of his father, became a farmer, and in 1832, shortly
after his marriage, he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, and by
unremitting labors and constant care he brought the land into such a state of
cultivation that is soon became renumerative, and he was able to increse his first
ownership in land some hundreds of acres by adding to it at various times, and
at present the Sanders family have five hundred and thirty acres in their possession.
It is located in different tracts, but the home-farm is considered one of the
best farms in the town of Epsom. Mr. Sanders, Sr., has been selectman, and held
some minor town offices. His religious convictions are in accord with the Free
Will Baptists, of which church he has been a member about twenty years. He is
now living, at the age of eighty one. Mrs. Sanders died December 22, 1884, aged
eighty-one.
George Sanders
Jr., could hardly have consistently followed any other vocation than that of the
farmer; having been born and passed his childhood days where wverything about
him revealed the bounteous gifts of Mother Nature, and also inheriting, in some
measure, from his father and grandfather the characteristics of a good agriculturalist.
He received a good common-school education, supplemented by a term at Pembroke
Academy. He has always resided on the old place. He married, January 5, 1875,
Nancy A., daughter of David and Mary Ann (Carr) White, of Antrim, N.H., a descendant
in the fifth generation of John White (1) of Ireland, whose son Patrick (2), studied
for the priesthood; but renoucning his faith in the doctrine of the Catholic Church,
he was obliged to flee to this country, where he made a home. David (3), son of
Patrick, married Sarah Dutton, of Peterborough, and when the clarion notes of
the trumpet called the brave and the willing to their country's defense, he responed
and proved a faithful soldier to his father's adopted land. David (4) married
Mary Ann Carr, a descendant of William Carr, a prominent man in the early days
of Goffstown. Mr. Carr, in 1787, went to Antrim and built the house and settled
on a farm which is now occupied by David White. He married Ann Boyce of Bedford,
and died at the age of eighty-three years; his wife lived to be ninety-three.
Mary Sanders, (twin sister of George) married Nathaniel Twombly, of Barrington.
They have four children.
George Sanders, Jr., has always pursued that oldest
and most honorable calling among men, farming, and has proved himself the right
man in the right place. To be convinced of his wisdom and care, you have only
to look on his fields and meadows, his walls and buildings, his barns and stalls,
his stacks and cribs. But, with all these cares, he has identified himself with
the civil and religious interests of the town, has been selectman for several
years, and is an earnest and liberal member of the Free-Will Baptist Church. Democratic
in politics, he represented Epsom in the Legislature of 1874-75.
This family,
for several generations, have been mostly "tillers of the soil," industrious,
careful, practical working people, doing their duties well in the sphere of life
to which they were called. They have been men of good judgment, active temperament,
strong physique, and have performed their share of the public matters of the town,
and discharged their social, public and religious duties conscientiously.
from Hurd's Atlas of Merrimack and Belknap Counties