SANDERS, Charles Arthur

SANDERS, DANCER, FROMM, MANLEY, FINFROCK, BARTHEL, RANSOM

Posted By: Janelle Martin (email)
Date: 4/5/2011 at 11:52:02

Charles Arthur Sanders, purchasing agent in Williams for the S. P. Wadley Company, dealers in dairy goods, was born in West Jersey, Stark county, Illinois, on the 14th of June, 1874, and is a son of Frederick Edwin and Rebecca Ellen (Dancer) Sanders. The father is also a native of West Jersey, and was born in the same house as our subject, his birth occurring on February 16, 1850, while the mother was born in Elmwood, Illinois, on the 10th of May, 1853.

They passed the early years of their domestic life in Stark county, coming from there to Hardin county, Iowa, and locating on a farm in the vicinity of the present site of Owasa in the spring of 1881. There the father engaged in agricultural pursuits for many years, but he has now withdrawn from the work of the fields and is a solicitor for the "Iowa Homestead," he and the mother residing in Iowa Falls. They are the parents of the following children: Frank Edwin, who was born on the 18th of March, 1872, and is engaged in farming near Owasa; Charles Arthur, our subject; Cora, who was born November 14, 1876, the wife of Edwin Fromm, of Iowa Falls; Sylvester Marvin, who was born on the 14th of May, 1878, and is a rural mail carrier at Iowa Falls; Bertram Vincent, who was born October 29, 1879, and died in 1881; Frederick Edwin, Jr., who was born on the 2d of August, 1881, farming in Black Hawk county, this state; Grant Leslie, who was born on April 14, 1885, a member of the senior class in Ellsworth College, where he has been a student for seven years and who also attended the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, for a year, and upon his graduation will engage in school work; Jacob Glenn, who was born on the 29th of November, 1887, printer on the Iowa Falls Sentinel; Ernest, who was born on March 17, 1889, a graduate of the commercial department of the Ellsworth College, of which institution he was a student for three years, now private secretary to the manager of the Columbia River Lumber Company, of Golden, British Columbia; Luverne, who was born on the 19th of April, 1891, and graduated from the Iowa Falls high school with the class of 1911, and is now engaged in teaching in the vicinity of Burdette, this state; Ina May, who was born on the 17th of March, 1893, a member of the Iowa Falls high school class of 1911, also teaching near Burdette; and Vera B., who was born on Christmas day, 1894, and will graduate from the Iowa Falls high school in 1913. The first five named were born in Illinois and the remainder in Iowa. The paternal grandfather, Sylvester Sanders, was one of the pioneers of Stark county, Illinois.

The education of Charles Arthur Sanders was begun in his native state and completed in the schools of Hardin county. Reared on a farm in common with the majority of country lads he early became familiar with the work and duties of the agriculturist. He remained at home and assisted his father with the work of the fields and care of the crops until he had attained his majority, when he engaged in farming for himself. At the expiration of two years he withdrew from this occupation, and purchased a grocery store at Owassa [Owasa].

About the same time he was appointed postmaster, but a year later his wife was appointed to take his place and he took a rural delivery route. He held this position for seven years and six weeks, and then resigned, and disposing of his store became associated with Walter Schofield in the purchase of a grocery business at Iowa Falls. Nine months later he likewise withdrew from this enterprise and became the local representative of S. P. Wadley Company, and has ever since been in their employ. He purchases butter, eggs, poultry and cream for this company, and some conception of the amount of business they do in Williams can be formed from their April, 1912, record, which shows that they paid the farmers of this vicinity in that one month eleven hundred dollars for cream and eggs alone.

At Owasa on the 12th of January, 1899, Mr. Sanders was married to Miss Bertha Luella Manley, who was born in Milledgeville, Carroll county, Illinois, January 9, 1879. She is a daughter of George Horace and Eliza Jane (Finfrock) Manley,' the former a native of Pennsylvania, having been born in the vicinity of Harrisburg, that state, on November 24, 1830, while the mother's birth occurred in Ohio on January 26, 1840. They came to Hardin county in 1881, and settled on a farm near Owassa [Owasa], in which place the father established a blacksmith shop which he operated in connection with the cultivation of his fields. Both parents passed the remainder of their lives in Owassa [Owasa], the mother's death occurring on the 29th of September, 1902, and that of the father on the 11th of October, 1906.

The maternal grandfather served through the entire period of the Civil war and is buried in Berlin cemetery near Owassa [Owasa]. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Manley: Clara, who was born on January 1, 1859, the wife of Dr. O. H. Barthel, of Pocahontas, Iowa; Jennie, who was born on December 25, 1860, and died in January, 1861; Willis, who was born on the 16th of September, 1862, a resident of Waterloo, Iowa; Ada N., who was born on the 4th of December, 1864, the wife of Prentiss Ransom, of Owassa [Owasa]; George H., who was born September 30, 1869, residing in Ellis township, Hardin county; Martin Henry, who was born on the 30th of January, 1874, of Santa Rosa, California; Mrs. Sanders; and Maude Mae, who was born on April 7, 1883, a resident of San Francisco, California. All are natives of Illinois with the exception of the last named, who was born in Iowa. They received good educational advantages, Mrs. Barthel, Mrs. Ransom and the son Willis having graduated from the high school at Milledgeville, and Mrs. Barthel was also a student of the college at Mansfield, Ohio. Miss Maude M. Manley upon completing the public school course spent two years at Ellsworth College, after which she taught for two years and was connected with the Iowa State Industrial School at Eldora, Iowa, for a year. She subsequently graduated from the business college at Santa Rosa, California, and is now employed in San Francisco, that state. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders have one son, George Arthur, who was born in Jackson township, Hardin county, Iowa, on the 9th of September, 1899, and is now a student in the Williams public school.

Fraternally Mr. Sanders is affiliated with Alamo Lodge. No. 547, A. F. & A. M. ; and Jungle Camp, No. 1844, M. W. A. He formerly belonged to the Odd Fellows lodge at Iowa Falls, and while engaged in the mail service he was secretary of the Rural Letter Carriers Association of Hardin county. He has qualified as mail carrier in the city service, but never sought an appointment. The political allegiance of Mr. Sanders is accorded to the republican party, but he has never held any official position save that of postmaster. The course of his business career has been interrupted by various obstacles and misfortunes, which would have completely discouraged a man of less determination of purpose, but he is always optimistic and cheerful. He formerly owned a good residence property at Owasa, but the house was destroyed by fire on December 23, 1908, and he has never rebuilt. Mr. Sanders has many friends in Williams, where he has proven himself to be a man of integrity and good business principles.

History of Hamilton County, Iowa, vol. II, 1912, J.W. Lee, p. 186.