The Sanders Connection

Marion County (STATSIndiana).

While attempting to interpret some autosomal DNA results for Tapscotts and Wrights I encountered a complication. The name “Sanders” kept popping up. So I spent several days researching Sanders family members with Tapscott connections.

Sanderses (that’s right, you make a plural of a name ending in “s” by adding “es”) are abundant in any history of the Wabash Valley Tapscotts. And most were descendants of a single couple, Francis and Mary (“Polly”) Sanders of Marion County, Indiana.

Born in Loudoun County, Virginia, Christmas Day, 1775, Francis Sanders moved to Adams County, Ohio. There, on 11 Oct 1811, he married “Polly” Mackey, born “Mary H.” in 1784 in Pennsylvania. Based on admittedly circumstantial evidence, they are believed to have had five children, Joseph, James, Charles, Sarah Ellen, and Francis Jr. in Ohio. They then moved to Marion County, Indiana, around 1820, where, in Perry Township, relatively reliable sources show that they had four more children, William, Peter, Henry W., and Thomas.

Francis and Mary spent over fifty years farming in Perry Township. During that time Sanderses (and a few Tapscotts) flowed back and forth between Marion County, Indiana, and Clark County, Illinois. Joseph and Sarah Ellen settled in Clark County. James, Francis Jr., William, and Henry W. were married there (William to a Tapscott girl, Sarah Ann, daughter of Henry the Traveler), though all four returned to Marion County afterwards (Francis Jr. eventually came back to Clark County). And Charles probably passed through Clark County on his way to Missouri, stopping long enough to acquire a Tapscott son-in-law. Four children of Francis and Mary Sanders — William, Sarah Ellen, Charles, and Joseph — ended up with Clark County Tapscott connections. And what initiated this rapport between the Marion County Sanderses and Clark County, Illinois? I have no idea.

Francis Sanders marker
(Find A Grave)

Tapscott/Sanders connections with many, many, many siblings, sons, and daughters omitted.

Francis died 23 Jan 1874 at the grand old age of 98 (local newspapers claimed ages of 99 and even 102) and was laid to rest under an impressive marker in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Greenwood, Indiana. Mary lived a few years longer, during which time her son Joseph Sanders and his family came back from Clark County to run the farm. She died 25 Oct 1883 at age 99 or so (amazing in that era for someone who bore at least nine children) and was also interred in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, with a lesser and nearly illegible marker.

And the effect of Sanderses on DNA interpretation? That is the subject of a post at the Wrights of the Wabash Valley blog site.