Obituary of Levi Lindsey Sanders of Van Zandt County, Texas, 1917

This obituary is from the Canton, Texas Herald, January 12, 1917. Levi Lindsey Sanders was the son of Benjamin Sanders, Jr. (1804-1863), and the grandson of Benjamin Saunders, Sr., who moved from Randolph County, North Carolina to Jackson County, Alabama in the 1830s. According to this account, Benjamin Saunders was ninety-eight when he died; according to an account by Levi's son, Benjamin was over one hundred. The truth may be that he was only in his eighties, but Levi left home when he was teenager and his grandfather must have seemed very ancient to the young man. According to census and other records, Benjamin was probably born between 1766 and 1770 and probably died between 1840 and 1850. The statement that Ben was an Irish Catholic is also something of a puzzle because none of the other Sanders associated with Benjamin and his family seemed to have any tradition about an Irish Catholic origin for the family. BY Gary Sanders
OBITUARY
Mr. L. L. Sanders, one of the oldest and most highly respected citizens of Van Zandt County, died at his late home at Ben Wheeler, Thursday, Jan. 4, at 3:30 p.m. Levi Lindsey Sanders was born in Jackson County, Ala., February 21, 1837, his age being 79 years, 10 months and 17 days. He was a son of Buck Ben Sanders, a gunsmith, and came of Irish Catholic ancestry, his people setting in NorthCarolina. Uncle Levi's paternal grandfather, Ben Saunders, as the name was orginally spelled, was converted from the Catholic faith at a camp meeting in Jackson County, Ala., at the age of 96 years, dying two years later. Uncle Levi was one of nine children and left home at the age of 16, working on a steamboat on the Mississippi for some time. Later, he stttled in Arkansas, following his trade of blacksmith. He came to Texas in 1857 and married Miss Susan Collins in 1858, the marriage occurring in Dallas when that city was a mere village.
MILITARY NOTES:
Co. I 6th Texas Cavalry Regiment [also called 2nd Regiment] was organized with 1,150 men at Dallas, Texas, in September, 1861. Many of the men were from Dallas, McKinney, Waco, Austin, and Lancaster, and Bell County. The unit skirmished in the Indian Territory, fought at Elkhorn Tavern, then moved wast of the Mississippi River. It contained 803 effectives in the spring of 1862 and was dismounted during the battles at Corinth and Hatchie Bridge. Here the regiment reported 148 killed, wounded, or missing. Assigned to Ross' Brigade, it served with the Army of Tennessee during the Atlanta Campaign, was active in Tennessee, and ended the war in Mississippi attached to the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana.

a veteran of Co. I, 6th Texas regiment, Ross' Texas brigade in the army of Tennessee. Born in the state of Alabama in 1837. Removed to Texas and settled in Dallas in 1852 and sworn into service at Camp Barto. He was with the command until the surrender at Canton, Miss., in 1865. In Georgia he was made brigade blacksmith during the remainder of the war. Mr. Sanders followed the fortunes of the war in all duties imposed upon him. He settled in Van Zandt County in 1865, his residence is Ben Wheeler, Texas. He is a Christian gentleman, and highly esteemed by the many people who know him. (Texans Who Wore the Gray, Volume I; by Sid S. Johnson)