Samuel David Sanders

b. 4 January 1822, d. 23 January 1903
  • Samuel David Sanders was born on 4 January 1822 in Cheraw, Chesterfield District, South Carolina.
  • He married Martha Johnson Pegues, daughter of James Pegues and Jane Johnson, on 26 January 1848 in Cheraw, Chesterfield District, South Carolina.
  • Samuel David Sanders and Martha Johnson Pegues appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1850 in Chesterfield, Chesterfield District, South Carolina. Other members of the household included Mary Jane Sanders.
  • He was a physician, according to the 1850 census.
  • Samuel David Sanders and Martha Johnson Pegues appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Cheraw PO, Chesterfield County, South Carolina. Other members of the household included Mary Jane Sanders.
  • Samuel and Martha Sanders continue to elude us in the 1870 census. It appears that they were either in Jackson County, Mississippi, or Huntsville, Texas, or somewhere between.
  • Samuel Gillespie Sanders and Mary Wade Shipp appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1880 in Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas. Other members of the household included Samuel David Sanders, Mary Shipp Sanders and Martha Johnson Pegues.
  • He was a teacher, according to the 1880 census.
  • Samuel David Sanders became a widower at the 30 December 1889 death of his wife Martha Johnson Pegues.
  • The following appeared on 21 December 1896 in the San Antonio Daily Light: Dr. Samuel D. Sanders, a Georgetown physician, is at the Southern.
  • Samuel David Sanders wrote to Samuel F. Pegues:
              Georgetown, Texas, September, 1898
    My Dear Sam:  Your highly esteemed letter and present of Capt. J. A. W. Thomas's History of Marlboro came in due time, and both were such a delightful treat to me. For several reasons, the reading of the history has given the highest pleasure. I have a passion for the old-time things and places and people. Captain Thomas and I were about the same age. I have known him from early manhood, and often heard him preach in Cheraw and elsewhere, and then during the war we entered the Confederate service at the same time and in the same regiment. He was captain of Company F, and I a lieutenant of Company D, in the Twenty-first South Carolina Regiment. During these four years of hard service in field and camp we became intimate friends, and I loved him as a brother. Though never our appointed chaplain, he was ever our pastor and often our preacher. I never knew a better, truer, braver man. 
          The original settlers of Marlboro were, with few exceptions, an exceedingly worthy and respectable people, and their descendants have perpetuated the family traits. I regard the settlement of the "Welch Neck Baptists" fully as important to American goodness and greatness as I do the settlement of the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth Rock. 
          I had lost sight of the fact that our family had descended, on the maternal side, from the founder of the Welch Neck colony. My mother and your grandmother Gillespie, were daughters of Nancy Hicks, wife of Thomas Godfrey. Nancy Hicks was the daughter of Col. George Hicks, who married the daughter of Rev. Philip James, the first pastor of the Welch Neck Baptist Church, who was a son of James James, the founder and leader of the Welch Neck colony. Mr. James James was a man of large estate and high character and great influence; he owned large landed estates on both sides the Pedee at Society Hill Ferry, and lived, first, above the ferry, on the Marlboro side. Col. Abel Kolb, the hero of Hon. A. D. Sims's novel called "Bevil Falcon," who was killed by Tories during the Revolution at his own house, was a descendant of Mr. James and consequently a relative of ours. He inherited from Mr. James the plantation in Marlboro opposite Society Hill, his elegant brick house being on the bank of the Pedee, just above the ferry. 
          Captain Thomas was not able to get much information concerning the Pegues family. The original Pegues (so far as we know) was a Huguenot French gentleman, of large wealth, superior education, and fine personal appearance. He married a Swiss lady of accomplishments similar to his own. Despairing of any relief from the Roman Catholics' persecution in France, he moved over to London and died there. His only son and namesake, Claudius Pegues, in the early part of the last century, while a young man, moved over to America, bringing a good estate with him. In the same vessel with him were a young English gentleman named Butler and his sister, Miss Butler. Mr. Pegues and Miss Butler fell in love with each other and were married in Charleston, S. C. Young Mr. Butler moved up to Edgefield, S. C., and became the ancestor of the Butler family, which has given so many distinguished men to South Carolina in political and military life; among them two Senators (United States) Butler, and Col. P. M. Butler, who was killed in the Mexican War, and also Hon. Preston Brooks, and also, I think, some of the later Hagoods. 
          Claudius Pegues moved to Georgetown, S. C., and soon after to Marlboro, and being the only man of his name who came to America, is the ancestor of all of the Pegues's in our country. He lived and died and is buried on the plantation now owned by Frank P. B. Pegues. He was an old man in the Revolutionary War, but did what service he could for his country. His two sons, William and Claudius, were active soldiers in the war. William was the father of the Sneedsborough branch of the family, and Claudius of the Marlboro branch. Your ancestor had four sons: your grandfather, James Pegues, and Malachi, William, and Christopher, all men of high social position and useful lives. The family extended from the Virginia line almost to the Rio Grande River, in Texas. There are many of them living in Texas. I have met with a few of them, and so far as I know, they are elegant, pretty women. The blessings of a good and pious ancestry have to a large extent descended to their posterity. 
          . . . I am holding up well for an old man of seventy-six years, feeling only a little the infirmities of old age. I would like so much to go out to South Carolina again, but not much hope of accomplishing it. There are not often found in one family so many elderly persons as in ours. . . . 
          In conclusion, Sam, I thank you so much for your kind letter and the history of Marlboro. We all join in much love to you and all the dear relatives at home. 
               Yours most affectionately, (signed) S. D. Sanders.
  • Mary Wade Shipp appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1900 in Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas, at College Street. Other members of the household included Samuel David Sanders, Mary Shipp Sanders, Samuel David Sanders, Nannie Gillespie Sanders, Albert Godfrey Sanders, Shipp Gillespie Sanders, Martha Pegues Sanders and John Randolph Sanders.
  • Samuel David Sanders died on 23 January 1903 at age 81 in Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas.
  • He was interred at Odd Fellows Cemetery, Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas.
  • The following appeared on 26 January 1903 in The Dallas Morning News: (Georgetown, Jan. 24) Dr. Samuel D. Sanders, for many years a resident of this place, and widely known throughout the State, died last night at his home from heart failure. Dr. Sanders was 80 years of age. He was a native of South Carolina, came to Texas twenty-five years ago, since which time he has resided at this place.
         He retired from the practice of medicine a few years ago. He leaves several children and grandchildren, among whom is Samuel Sanders of Sherman.
  • The following appeared on 2 August 1953 in The Denton Record-Chronicle: The Texas Almanac for 1871 devoted much space to assuring would-be immigrants in other states that reports of Indians and bandits were greatly exaggerated.
         The Almanac also described Denton County as one of the finest wheat counties of North Texas, and reported that Denton land could be purchased at from $3 to $15 an acre.
         A copy of the volume persuaded Dr. Samuel David Sanders, Confederate veteran of South Carolina, to emigrate. He settled in Georgetown, where he was on the faculty of Southwestern University, oldest in Texas. His son was a member of the original faculty.
         Dr. Sanders' granddaughter is Miss Mary Shipp Sanders of Denton, who now owns the old almanac.
         The "state of society" in Texas is described as follows:
         "We are aware that much has been said against the people of Texas. They have been charged with crimes and lawlessness unexampled in any other country. But while we can not claim that our population is exempt from these frequent acts of violence and disorderly conduct, so prevalent in other states of the union, we do deny there is any truth to the charge that lawlessness and crime are more prevalent here than in any other sparsely populated state."
         [. . . .]
  • Last Edited: 21 Feb 2015

Family: Martha Johnson Pegues b. 13 December 1824, d. 30 December 1889