Sanderson, Benjamin

SANDERSON, MCKAY, CALDER, BROOKE

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/15/2009 at 09:10:54

Benjamin Sanderson, a well-known farmer of Jasper County, has witnessed the development of this section of the state and has contributed to the development of Richland Township, where his estate is situated. Upon locating here, he purchased eighty acres of unimproved land, to which he added from time to time until his landed possessions aggregated three hundred and twenty acres. He has disposed of a portion of the tract, and now retains two hundred and eighty acres. He gives his personal supervision to his property, and devotes his land to mixed farming and stock raising.

Born in Waltham County, Mass., June 10,1832, our subject is the son of Abner and Sally (Sanderson) Sanderson. His father was born in the same county November 7, 1789, and was a farmer by occupation. He was never over twenty miles from his lifetime home, and there he died at the age of sixty-four years. Grandfather Abner Sanderson also spent his entire life in Waltham County. Of the union of the parents of our subject, which took place April 4, 1811, nine children were born, of whom three sons and three daughters are now living. The Sanderson family is of English descent, and some of its members served in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

The father of our subject was one of three children, two boys and a girl. The mother was one of eight children, six boys and two girls. So far as known, all were farmers. Mrs. Sally Sanderson was born in Waltham County October 9, 1789, and died in the same county at the age of sixty-seven years. Benjamin was reared upon a farm, and received his education in the district school, also attending the high school for a few terms. He remained at home until twenty-four years old, and then, going to astern Kansas, remained there for one and one-half years. Upon disposing of his interests in that state, he went to Minnesota, and, with a brother, purchased one hundred and eighty acres of wild land, which he cleared and improved.

In 1861, at the opening of the Civil War, Mr. Sanderson enlisted as a member of Company B, Third Minnesota Infantry, under Capt. J. B. Hoyt, and served for three years. Wounded in Arkansas, he was confined to a hospital for nearly three months, after which he went home on a furlough. He was honorably discharged at Ft. Snelling, October 3, 1864. After the war he returned to his farm in Minnesota. In the spring of 1866 he married Catharine McKay, who was born near London, Canada, May 23, 1845, and is a daughter of Alexander and Catharine McKay, natives respectively of New York and Scotland. Grandfather James McKay was born in Scotland, and was a tailor by trade; both he and his wife died in Canada. Alexander McKay died in Minnesota at fifty-two years of age; his widow still lives on the old Minnesota homestead. Four of their children still survive, three daughters and one son.

After his marriage, Mr. Sanderson continued to reside upon his farm in Minnesota for about two years, and then, disposing of that property, he came to Iowa and bought an eighty-acre tract of unimproved land in Jasper County. Here he has since lived, meanwhile cultivating the soil and improving the property with substantial buildings. He engages in mixed farming, and also makes a specialty of stock raising. In politics he is a Republican, and cast his first Presidential ballot for J. C. Fremont. For several years he has filled the office of Trustee. As a partial compensation for his services during the Rebellion, the Government has granted him a pension. He and his wife are attendants at the services of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They have had two children: Sarah J., who was born March 9, 1871, and has received a good education; and Benjamin, who was born April 20, 1873, and died at the age of five months. Portrait and Biographical Record, Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, IA Page 590.
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Sanderson, Benjamin

It is with a great degree of satisfaction that reference is made to the life of one who has made a success in any vocation requiring definiteness of purpose and determined action. Such a life, whether it be one of prosaic endeavor or radical accomplishment, abounds in valuable lesson and incentive to those who have become discouraged in the fight for recognition or to the youth whose future is undetermined. For many years Benjamin Sanderson, of Richland Township, Jasper County, directed his efforts toward the goal of success in the great arena of agriculture, and by patient continuance had won. But we are not surprised at this when we consider the fact that he was of sterling New England stock; that he had been persistent and self-reliant, and that his every relation with his fellowmen had been characterized by honesty.

Mr. Sanderson was born in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, June 10, 1832, the son of Abner and Sally (Sanderson) Sanderson, both natives of Massachusetts, but not related. The paternal grandfather, also named Abner Sanderson, was a well-known Puritan and a prominent man in his town. The maternal grandfather, Nathan Sanderson, was also influential in his community, and a blacksmith by trade. The father of the subject of this sketch devoted his life to farming near Waltham, Massachusetts. His family consisted of nine children, all now deceased. The parents are also deceased. They were excellent people.

Benjamin Sanderson was educated in the common schools of his native community and reared on the home farm, where he worked during the summer time when a boy. At the age of twenty years, in 1852, he moved to Ohio, but returned to Massachusetts, then a year later he went to Kansas, and in 1856 moved to Minnesota, located at Minneapolis and spent eight years in all in that country. It was during his residence in the Gopher State, that the great Civil War came on, and on October 8, 1862, he enlisted in Company B, Third Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, in which he served with much credit until discharged for disability as the result of wounds received on the expedition of Generals Banks and Steele, having been twice wounded, once so severely that he was left on the field for dead. According to his comrades he was a brave and efficient soldier. Returning to Minnesota, he lived in that state until 1868, and there he was married in 1866. He came to Jasper County, Iowa, and located on eighty acres where he lived until his death, having worked hard, managed well and consequently, at time of his death, he was very comfortably established, owning two hundred and eighty acres of rich, desirable land in Richland Township. On this he had placed modern and extensive improvements of all kinds and carried on general farming and stock raising on an extensive scale, but for a number of years he had been practically retired, merely overseeing his farm. Politically, he was a Republican, and he had been township trustee.

On March 15, 1866, Mr. Sanderson was united in marriage with Catherine McKay, a native of Waterloo County, Ontario, and the daughter of Alexander and Catherine (Calder) McKay, the father a native of New York and the mother of Scotland. They were married in Canada about 1835 and in 1855 moved to Minnesota and there spent the balance of their lives. Mr. McKay devoted his life to farming.

Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Sanderson, namely: Sarah Jeannette, who married D. A. Brooke, lives next to the old homestead; Benjamin died when six months old. On September 14, 1911, at the old homestead, surrounded by family and friends, Mr. Sanderson passed to the great beyond, loved, honored and respected by all who knew him. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 884.