Notes |
- Levi L. Sanders was born in Jackson county, Alabama, in 1837, and he learned something of blacksmithing from his father while in his youth. He became dissatisfied with his home while yet a mere boy and ran away, thinking to better his conditions and for a time he was employed on a Mississippi River Steamboat. When he reached Texas in 1848, he found a home with Rev. Nels King, of Rowlett, Dallas county, and he stayed there (Note 1) until he took unto himself a wife, Miss Susan Collins, who was a daughter of William and Minerva Collins. Our subject's mother had three brothers, Leon, Van and Tom, who were Texas Rangers and who were stationed at Ft. Worth with Gen. Worth, who was in command of the fort, Ft. Worth being named in honor of him. And it was through the three brothers' influence that the Collins family came to Texas in the pioneer days, and Collin county was named in honor of some of the Collins boys. Levi Sanders was a settler to Texas from Alabama. In Oak Cliff, Dallas county, he established his home. The town was then in embryo, and he opened a shop, engaged in blacksmithing, and continued there for a few years. He moved then to Brownsboro, in Henderson county, going there prior to the war, and after four years of residence there he joined the Confederate army as a mechanic in the company of Captain Bridges, Company 0, Sixth Texas Infantry Regiment in General Ross's Brigade, and he was made brigade blacksmith by General Ross. He served throughout the war without accident or untoward happening, and when peace was restored he returned to his place at the anvil, moving his shop to Ben Wheeler, in Van Zandt county, continuing there in his trader until about 1870, when he established himself in the merchandise business in Ben Wheeler, continuing in that enterprise until 1905. During the passing years he prospered, in whatever line of business he was engaged in, and he acquired considerable farm lands thereabout and developed a number of fine farms, at the same time engaging to a greater or less extent in the business of stock raising. He was well in the advance of his community in the introduction of blooded horses and cattle and in the breeding of fine mules, as well, and the influence he had thus spread abroad over a considerable portion of the country. He has ever been an active man in the Methodist church, and is a Master Mason. He is a Democrat, and as a veteran of the Civil war is an enthusiastic member of the Confederate Veterans of the South.
The first wife of Levi L. Sanders died in 1877
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Note 1: This does not seem to square with the fact that he was listed in the 1850 Census living with his parents Benjamin and Matilda in Jackson County, Alabama.
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