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Born January 12, 1849, Pontypool, Monmouthshire, Wales; d. August 26, 189, Martin's Ferry, Belmont, Ohio, USA; m. Louisa Morris before June 6, 1870, prob. Newburgh, Cuyahoga, Ohio.3 Louisa was born June 19, 1850, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales; d. December 6, 1920, Martin's Ferry, Belmont, Ohio. They are buried in Riverview Cemetery, Martin's Ferry Belmont, Ohio.
Wattie as he was known spent his early years in southern Wales. He had an older brother and sister, William and Maria. He was only 1 when his mother died. His father remarried immediately. A half-sister was born in 1852.
The family story...
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Born January 12, 1849, Pontypool, Monmouthshire, Wales; d. August 26, 189, Martin's Ferry, Belmont, Ohio, USA; m. Louisa Morris before June 6, 1870, prob. Newburgh, Cuyahoga, Ohio.3 Louisa was born June 19, 1850, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales; d. December 6, 1920, Martin's Ferry, Belmont, Ohio. They are buried in Riverview Cemetery, Martin's Ferry Belmont, Ohio.
Wattie as he was known spent his early years in southern Wales. He had an older brother and sister, William and Maria. He was only 1 when his mother died. His father remarried immediately. A half-sister was born in 1852.
The family story is his father's work in the steel mills ended when they shut down. The Industrial Revolution was in high gear in northern England. Sheet steel rolling mills were all the rage. Many Welsh families moved there to find work. Wattie and his family left Wales and walked to Witton-le-Wear in County Durham.
The exact year they made their journey is sometime after the birth of Elizabeth in Wales in 1852, and the birth of another daughter, Hephzibah, in Witton Park, England in 1855. 2 more children, Thomas and George, came in short succession. In 1861 a census was conducted, Wattie and his brother William were at the steel mill at ages 12 and 14 respectively. They would have started as young lads of 8 years old. Child labor was rampant at this time. The family is all together except for Maria who would be 17. It is possible she was married so out of the house. It is also possible she could have emigrated to Australia and was never heard from again (as the family story goes). His stepmother was 4 months into her 5th pregnancy on April 7, 1861 which resulted in another half-sister, Mary Jane.
In late 1862/early 1863 his father wants to go to America to find better work, to live better, anything. The boys it is assumed would be eager to go at ages 14 and 17. Neither would have known anything else. Did anyone know America were embroiled in a civil war? They may not have known. The family story is Wattie's stepmother refused to go. It turned out she was pregnant again by December 1862, expecting late summer 1863. It was decided they would go. Tom and Wattie left before August 29, 1863 when another half-brother, Joseph, was born. Neither Wattie nor his father would ever see this child.
Liverpool where they found a ship bound for America. They paid for passage onboard and found themselves very much like at home - cramped overcrowded quarters below-decks in steerage. Even with the civil war on lots of folks were leaving the United Kingdom for greener pastures.
They landed in Philadelphia. Upon debarkation their surname was misspelled as "Sanders". Since neither of them could read or write, this spelling remained for many records going forward.
It is now mid-to late 1863 as it would have taken some time to cross the ocean – at least a month. Union Army recruiters waited at the docks for passengers coming off the ships to use as "fresh recruits" to fill holes left in regiments due to heavy Union casualties. Wattie's father was recruited and immediately enlisted into an Ohio Regiment. The promise of immediate food and clothing, with the added enticement of land ownership at the end of his military service, would have been seen as a great relief. At only 14 years old Wattie could possibly have also been recruited for some sort of duty. His size is unknown to us. But no family story has been passed down which suggests he also enlisted.
Wattie's father would have required some training. He went into battle, perhaps many, and at some point was severely wounded. The Army discharged him. Since we do not know into which Ohio Regiment he enlisted, we don't know which battles he fought in. Whether or not the Army made good on its promise of free land is also not known. Somehow both Wattie and his father ended up in Martin's Ferry, Ohio, a town on the Ohio River across from Wheeling, West Virginia. Here they lodged with an Irish woman who had a house in town. She was a widow with two children. Her name is unknown to us. As they were together when they lodged with this woman Wattie could not have been in the Army. How else would he have gone to Martin's Ferry when his father did? The question is what DID he do during this time?
This Irish woman took them in and nursed his father's wounds. Either his wounds were such that he was not going to survive, or he developed cancer. Some time has passed, at least a year, probably a bit more. It is now 1865. The war is winding down or is over. A letter was written to Wattie's stepmother in England to let her know her husband was dying. This letter must have stated where they were because she managed to make the journey to found them. When she got to Martin's Ferry she found her husband dying, but still alive. To her horror she discovered he had married the Irish woman (while still married to her), AND there was a newborn baby born -- yet another half-brother and stepmother to Wattie. It wasn't long after her arrival Wattie's father died, his English stepmother returned to England and her children, and nothing more is known about the Irish woman or the infant.
Wattie decided to stay in America. His prospects were better there. The war is over and America is rebuilding. There would be a lot of work available for a young man and Wattie was just about the right age 16. It is not known if he remained in Martin's Ferry for a time or decided on prospects in a larger town right away as nothing is known of his life between 1865 and 1870.
Wattie found himself in the Cleveland area and hooked up with folks recently arrived from Wales – Richard and Eliza Jenkins. They were from the same area of Wales where Wattie had been born, though he would not have any memory of it. Possibly through them Wattie met Louisa Morris. She also a recent immigrant from the same part of Wales. Perhaps the Jenkins and Morris families came together or met on the ship? It is apparent these folks, the Jenkins and Saunders families, became good friends as William Jenkins, 12 years old in 1870, boarded with Wattie and Louisa 10 years later in 1880 with his bride, Rosella.
Wattie and Louisa got married. The exact date of their marriage is unknown but is believed to be in in the spring of 1870, before June 6. The 1870 census was taken August 24, 1870 but requested persons to be included who had been within the household on June 6, 1870. The census shows Wattie and Louisa as married. They were listed within the household of William and Eliza Jenkins. Therefore, although the census was conducted August 24, they would have been married before June 6. And since Louisa's family had just immigrated to America from Wales earlier that year, they would had to have gotten married in the late spring of 1870. Wattie was 21, Louisa 19. She hadn't yet reached 20 years of age as of the date the census was taken for June 6. She turned 20 on June 19.
They proceeded to raise a family. Census records show their 1st of 8 children was born around the time Americans were celebrating Thanksgiving – November 23, 1871 in Cleveland. Wattie was 22 years old.
A set of twins were born about 1873/74 neither of which survived. Then another set of twins were born in August 13, 1876, a male a & a female child. The 1880 census has the family moved to Martin's Ferry, back to where Wattie had been where his father died. He was working as a boiler (furnaceman) stoking the coal-eating boilers to create the necessary heat to forge iron into steel. Belmont Iron Works was located across the river in Wheeling, West Virginia -- the largest employer around. Hard work for any man. It wasn't all as great as it sounds. The census record revealed Wattie was out of work for 2 months in the past 12 months. Not fun for a family of 5 – or however many more children there may have been at that time.
Their son William Henry was 8 that year and in school – the first male Saunders child to do so. The two younger boys, Richard and Edwin, were at home with Louisa, ages 4 and 1. The family had their friends' son, William Jenkins & his wife Rosella boarded with them. William also worked in the mill. It is possible the Jenkins were related to Louisa's family – the Morris's.
Due to a catastrophic fire, the US 1890 census was destroyed. Louisa would have given birth to another 2 children between 1880 and 1890, neither of whom survived as both the 1900 & 1910 census records show the couple as having had 8 children born but only 3 were living. Given her propensity for delivering twins, it is probable these 2 children were yet another set.
It is interesting to note the spelling of their surname went back and forth in census and other records as "Saunders" and "Sanders." It is assumed the family pronounced their name as "Saunders" in order for these distinctions to be made.
Wattie and Louisa raised their family in a house on 56 1st Street. Their eldest child William married the day after Christmas 1892 - December 26. Wattie suffered from catarrah of the stomach.
Hopefully he was well enough to enjoy his son's wedding. The young couple were expecting their first child the following year in November. Wattie died August 26, 1893. He did not live to see his any of his grandchildren. He was 45 – just 5 years longer than his father had. Wattie's surname on his gravestone is "Sanders".
Children of Walter Saunders (Sanders) and Louisa Morris:
i William Henry Sanders b. November 23, 1871, Cuyahoga, OH / d. March 24, 1916, Martin's Ferry, OH
m. Mary Pearson Ellks December 26, 1892, Belmont, OH
ii [unk.] b. abt. 1874/75 / d. bef. 1900
iii [unk.] b. abt. 1874/75 / d. bef. 1900
iv Richard Sanders b. August 13, 1876, Cleveland, OH
d. August 20, 1959, Martin's Ferry, OH
m. Ida Rachel Harris,
March 3, 1902 Belmont, OH
v [daughter] b. August 13, 1876
d. too soon after birth to be named
vi Edwin Sanders b. March 18, 1879, Martin's Ferry, OH
d. September 25, 1924
m. Emma Ruff,
February 24, 1907, Belmont, OH
vii [unk.] b. bet. 1881-1900 / d. bet. 1881-1900
viii [unk.] b. bet. 1881-1900 / d. bet. 1881-1900
1 Monmouthshire, Wales, Anglican Baptisms, Marriages & Burials, 1551-1994, Trevethin, p. 359 // p. 71
2 FindAGrave Memorial # 176442818; 111027548; 110460700 // Gravestone
3 1870 census, Newburgh Heights Village, Newburg, Cuyahoga,, Ohio, p. 88, Lines 31 & 32
4 England and Wales Civil Registration Birth Index, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales, Vol. 26, p. 7
5 1880 census, Martin's Ferry, Belmont, Ohio, ED 23, p. 9, Sheet 137A
6 Ohio Deaths 1908-1953, File #1365 // Death Certificate #21382
7 Ohio Marriages, 1800-1858
8 1851 census, Trevethin, Monmouthshire, Wales, Piece 2440, Folio 220, p. 14, Registration #H1017, Roll GSU, #104188104189, Family #48
9 England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008, Vol 26, Affiliate Line # 7 or 14 / Wales, Glamorganshire, Parish Registers, 1538-1912
10 Saunders Family Research — Thomas Saunders (grandson)
11 Conversations with Margaret Saunders (granddaughter)
12 Conversations with Margory Keith Sweetser (great-granddaughter)
13 Saunders Family Research – Frank Saunders (great-grandson)
14 1861 census, Witton Park, Durham, England, Piece 3707, Folio 13, Registration HG09
15 1871 census, Stockton-on-Tees, Durham, England, ED 41, Piece 4899, Folio 50, p. 39
16 Ohio Births & Christenings, 1821-1962 // Ohio Births & Christenings, 1774-1993 #902140
17 Ohio, Cty Births, 1841-2003, p. 113
18 1900 census, Martin's Ferry, Belmont, Ohio, ED 10, Sheet 14, p. 205A
19 1910 census, Martin's Ferry, Belmont, Ohio, ED 16, Sheet 4B
20 Ohio, Cty Marriages, 1789-2016, p. 349; p. 418 // 1800-1958
21 Ohio, US Compiled Marriage Index, 1803-1900
22 Ohio, Cty Deaths, 1840-2001, p. 229
23 US Social Security Death Index
24 Probate Court, Belmont, Ohio, #1602 // Probate Court, Belmont, Ohio, p. 92
25 Application for Marriage License, Record # 4394
26 Ohio, US Cty Marriages, 1774-1993 Record #4394, p. 418
Saunders Family Research—Krista H. Sweetser |
