Grandparents John E. and Nancy Jane Sanders
By Peggy Lou Anderson Caldwell
 

John and Nancy were my mother’s parents, they lived south of Hurley near Spring creek when my mother was a young girl. She told of carrying water from the Spears’ spring. The cabin they lived in is now in Nathaniel Green Park in Springfield. The family moved by wagon to Indian territory about 1903, John taught school there. Mother told of packing the wagon for the trip and where they camped along the way. Also of the Indians they met, some were friendly and some were not, just looking for a hand out. But she was good friends to others and wrote to them for years. John and Nancy lived later near the Kansas-Oklahoma line south of Edna, Kansas.

John Edmond Sanders was the last of four sons of Andrew Jackson Sanders and Mary E. Williams, who are buried in Mt. Carmel Cemetery. John, born in 1859,  was probably named after his father’s brother who was killed during the civil war and is buried in Short Cemetery. John E. had 3 brothers Lewis William, who was a cotton broker in North Carolina. Henry B. who changed the spelling to Saunders and moved to Lacleade Co. MO., he is buried in Bearthicket Cemetery, and William C. who is buried in Mt. Carmel Cemetery. Henry and William married sisters, Mary and Missouri Frazier, daughters of Captain John and Carolyn Stone.

Nancy Jane was the second child of Thomas Wright and Frances Angeline Bryd, was born in 1864, she and John were married just before Christmas 1880. She was a petite woman with sparkling blue eyes, I remember she wore her grey hair in a bun. Blue must have been her favorite color, most of her dresses were blue with flowers. She was buried in a blue dress with white flowers. I remember seeing her when she was bedfast, lying under a double wedding ring quilt. She looked so small.

Neither one made over the grandchildren much, I guess they loved us in their own special way. I got to sit on a little green metal stool at grandma’s when we went to visit, I thought that was great. Her kitchen was small, she had a china cabinet with pretty dishes in it. After she died all us kids got to pick out a dish from this cabinet. With Mom’s help, as I was only four, I picked out a clear cut glass pickle dish. I still have it and use it on special occasions.

John and Nancy’s children were Henry Arthur, called Arthur, William Edward, called Ed, Louis Efton, called Efton, Ella Ethel, my mother, James Elbert, called Elbert, Mary Francis, called Della and John Onis, called Onis. My mother was the only one who used her first name, I have no idea why. John was a tall man with red hair and green eyes.He owned a filling station in Coffeyville, his sons Elbert, Onis and Efton ran it.

I remember him coming to see us after Grandma died. He had a big black car and would stay a few days. He always wore a suit and top hat and carried a cane. He lived his last days with his son Ed and wife Ethel. After he got sick, Dad would drive Mom over to see him. It took a while to get there as Dad would only drive about 15 miles an hour. I think he checked all the crops and maybe the fence posts between here and Coffeyville.

When grandpa’s brother Lewis died, he left grandpa a lot of money. Family stories tell he blew it a short time on liquor and women. Must be true as much as it was told, maybe the rest were just sore because none of it came their way. Mom said she thought he died of cancer of the stomach. He and Nancy Jane are buried at Edna, Kansas.

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