ROBERT B. SANDERS

The following bio was taken from page 382 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

Robert (Bob) Bluford Sanders was born in Georgia. His father was from England. He had one sister, Willie (Bill), and one brother, Jake, who married Lou. Robert Bluford married Sally Adeline Israel, who was born in Alabama. Her father was George Israel, and her mother’s name is unknown. She had two stepmothers, Oris Hackney and Florence Goggan. The Israels were railroad people.

Robert and Sally had seven children. Lee Arker, born June 3, 1895, in Polk County, Georgia, married Osburne Howard, November 9, 1913 in Rusk County, Texas. Lee Arker and Osburne had five children. Willie Edna, born July 5, 1897, married Zachriah Gray, November 5, 1913 in Rusk County, and they had three children. George Ethel, who was born August 23, 1900 in Forney, Texas, married James Malcolm Salters on October 9, 1920 in Gilmer. The couple had four children. Nellie Elena was born July 3, 1902 in Polk County, Georgia, and she married Howard Salters in Upshur County, Texas. They had six children. Charlie Jutson, who was born November 5, 1904 in Rusk County, married Sallie Mae Duncan, October 7, 1923 in Rusk County. This couple had five children. Bluford was born in Rusk County in 1907 and died two years later in 1909. Bobby Lou, who was born August 10, 1910 in Rusk County married Gertie Milam, April 20, 1940.

The Sanders family came to Texas around 1899. Robert (Bob) Bluford died December 23, 1909 and was buried Christmas Eve day amid a cold drizzling rain. He died without knowing that his wife was expecting their seventh child. The struggle of raising her family alone was undertaken. Working at any available jobs to help out, the children, one by one, dropped out of school. Charlie went to work full time at the end of his third year in school.

When her youngest child was a teenager, Sally remarried. Her son, bobby (Bob) Lou, was hit by a car on the Oak Hill Highway and as a result lost his leg. Bob went on to barber school and became a barber. He and his wife, Gertie, moved to Orange, Texas during World War II as did his brother and his family. Georgia and Nellie both live in East Mountian. Lee and Willie stayed in Rusk County and raised their families. Sally Adeline died in

March, 1931 and was buried beside her husband and son in the Stewart Community in Rusk County.

Submitted by Cecil Williams