Jesse Sanders
Ever since the days of the early settlement of Greene county the Sanders family has been a numerous connection hereabout, this family having been one of the families that became established here about the time of the organization of the county. One of the original members of this family in this county was Jesse Sanders, who was a soldier of the War of 1812 and who developed in Spring Valley township a fine piece of farm property, the place now owned by his oldest daughter and only surviving child, Miss Rebecca Ann Sanders, who has lived there all her life.
Jesse Sanders was a native of the state of North Carolina, born in the vicinity of Salisbury, in Stokes county, that state, in 1792, and was thirteen years of age when he came with his parents. Forest Sanders and wife, a Redick, and the other members of the family to Ohio in 1805, the family settling on a farm on the Cincinnati road, five miles out of the then humble village of Xenia and a mile and a half north of Spring Valley, Forest Sanders being the first settler in that neighborhood. He and his wife were earnest Quakers and their children were reared in that simple faith. Forest Sanders lived to be seventy years of age. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, of whom Jesse was the second in order of birth, the others being Forest, who moved to Indiana and spent his last days in Laporte, that state; John, who remained in Spring Valley township and there spent his last days; Susan, who died at the age of thirty years; Mrs. Mary Graham, whose last days were spent in Indiana; Jeremiah, Mrs. Salsbury and Mrs. Beason.
As noted above, Jesse Sanders was but thirteen years of age when he came to this county and he walked all the way over from North Carolina, it having been his job and that of his sister to drive the family cow along behind the wagon in which the household goods were stored. The family had started during the fall, but it was well along toward spring before they reached their destination in this county. He was twenty years of age when the War of 1812 broke out and he went to the front as a member of the company raised by Capt. John Davis and served as a soldier until the close of the campaign, being mustered out with the rank of captain, after which he returned home and resumed his place on the farm, which he continued to operate until growing infirmities of age compelled his retirement, after which he rented the fields and spent the rest of his life in retirement, his death occurring on May 21, 1880, he then being in the eighty-eighth year of his age. His wife had preceded him to the grave something more than six years, her death having occurred in November, 1873, and both were buried in Woodland cemetery at Xenia. Jesse Sanders had ever retained his birthright in the Friends church and his wife was a Presbyterian. She was born, Elizabeth Simison, in Spring Valley township, a member of one of the pioneer families of that township, and was married on November 5, 1840, to Jesse Sanders. To that union were born four children, two sons, both of whom died in youth, and two daughters, Susan Margaret, who died in 1885, at the age of thirty-eight years, and Rebecca Ann, who is still making her home on the old home place.
William H. Babb, who for many years has made his home with the Sanders family and is still living on the Sanders place, operating the farm, was born in the neighboring county of Clinton in March, 1843, son of Abner and Ann (DeHaven) Babb, who had come to Ohio from Virginia in 1833 and had settled in Greene county, later moving down into Clinton county. In 1855 Abner Babb moved to Indiana with his family and for ten years made his home at Kokomo, returning in 1866 to Ohio, where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1871. His widow survived him for more than twenty years, her death occurring in 1893. Abner Babb and his wife were the parents of five children, of whom William H. is now the only survivor, the others having been J. R.. Harriet, John .A. and Mary Ellen, William H. Babb grew to manhood in Indiana and was twenty-three years of age when he came back to Ohio with his parents in 1866. Three years later he took up his residenca on the Sanders place, taking charge of the farm for Mr. Sanders, and has lived there ever since, having established his home there after his marriage in 1887. His wife, who was Clarissa A. Peterson, a member of one of the old families of Caesarscreek township, died in January, 1914.
From Portrait and Biographical Album of Clark and Greene Counties, Chapman Bros., Chicago, published 1890