Gwen Boyer Bjorkman, “John Sanders of Nansemond County, Virginia” The Quaker Yeomen 14 (Jan 1988) pp.10; 15 (Apr 1988), pp. 8-9; 15.
THE SANDERS FAMILY by Gwen Boyer Bjorkman, 4425-132nd Ave. S.E., Bellevue, WA 98006, in correction of an article written by me and published in THE QUAKER YEOMEN Vol. 10, No. 3, Oct. 1983.
“Whereas John SANDERS of Nanzemond County in Virginia and Prissilla PRITLOE Dafter of John PRITLOE of ye County of Albemarl in Pequimans River in North Carolina haveing declared their Intentions of takeing each other in mariage before severall Publick meetings of the people Called quakers in Caralina” were married on the 8th day of the 1st month called March 1715/6.
Included in the witnesses to the marriage were Abraham SANDERS, son of John, and the parents of Priscilla, Elizabeth and John PRITLOE, along with their daughters Leah, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Judith, and Rachel with her husband Robert Wilson. In five months Abraham SANDERS, “Late of Virginia” was to marry Judith PRITLOE at a meeting at John PRITLOE’s house where three of his daughters were married and “Timothy CLARE and Samuel NICHOLSON were appointed to stay at John PRITLOE’s the night after the wedding to see that there be no disorders.” It must have seemed like an occasion for a celebration for the PRITLOES.
John SANDERS did not attend the wedding of his son, Abraham. I believe that he had returned to Nansemond County with his bride. There are no deeds or tax records for John SANDERS in Perquimans as there are for Abraham SANDERS. Since all of the Nansemond County records have been destroyed, there is only the 1704 tax list which lists two John SANDERS. There are some land grants in Nansemond, but it cannot be determined for sure if they are for this John SANDERS.
John and Priscilla SANDERS had two daughters born to them before Priscilla’s early death. Then John SANDERS died in 1728. The estate was complicated by the death of John PRITLOE and his wife Elizabeth and their estates were probated in 1728. Elizabeth had left a negro slave to her granddaughters, Judith and Priscilla SANDERS. Zachariah CHANCEY, who had married Rebecca PRITLOE, immediately filed for guardianship. The subsequent struggle over the estate gives us the genealogical proof that we need for this line from the Perquimans records.
The Friends took up the cause of their staunch member, Abraham SANDERS. “1728, 12,5 It was agreed on by this mtg that Abraham SAUNDERS have his sister, Judeth to take care of & bring up according to his father’s desire.” “1728/9,1,5 Whereas Zachariah CHANCEY & His wife refuse to comply with ye order of last mo mtg concerning letting Abraham SAUNDERS having his sister, Judeth ye mtg appts W. MOOR, Sr., Thos. JESSOP, Nathan NEWBY & Francis NEWBY to go & discourse with them whether they think themselves to be of us or to be not in unity with us.”
Meanwhile, another son of John SANDERS, Richard SANDERS had married and applied for guardianship of the two girls. “July Court 1735. CHANCEY petition vs SANDERS: The Petition of Zach. CHANCEY praying the Estate of Judeth and Percila SANDERS out of the hand of Richard SANDERS dismist the said Richard SANDERS giving Bond and Security for the said Estate which said Bond is filed in this office.”
By this time the girls had grown up and after the marriage of John PENDLETON with Judith SANDERS, he sued for her estate from Richard SANDERS. In 1737 Priscilla SANDERS asked to name her own guardian, Thomas PIERCE, and to get her estate from her uncle Zachariah CHANCEY.
The family is further verified when Abraham SANDERS names his brother Richard SANDERS as Executor of his will in 1750 and when Richard SANDERS names his cousin John SANDERS, son of Abraham as Executor of his will in 1769. With the above records, we can construct the following family.
1. John1 SANDERS was born before 1676 and died probably in Nansemond Co., Virginia circa 1728. His first wife is unknown. He married (2) at Perquimans Co., N.C., 8, 1m, 1715/16, Priscilla PRITLOE, daughter of John and Elizabeth PRITLOE.
Children of John SANDERS and his first wife:
2. i. Abraham SANDERS, m. 16, 6m, 1716, Judith PRITLOE, dau of John and Elizabeth PRITLOE, the sister of his father’s 2nd wife. She was b. 2 Dec. 1696, Perquimans Co., N.C., d. aft. 1751. He d. bef. Oct. 1751 when his will was probated in Perquimans Co., N.C.
+ 3 ii. Richard2 SANDERS , m. Hannah NICHOLSON, dau of John NICHOLSON and Priscilla TOMS, 14, 8m, 1730, Perquimans Co., N.C. He d. bef. April 1770 when his will was probated in Perquimans Co., N.C.
Children of John and Priscilla (PRITLOE) SANDERS :
4 i. Judith SANDERS , m. bef. 1736, John PENDLETON.
5 ii. Priscilla SANDERS , m. 3, 8m, 1739, Samuel SKINNER.
3. Richard2 SANDERS married at Perquimans MM 14, 8m. 1730, Hannah NICHOLSON, daughter of John NICHOLSON and Priscilla TOMS who had married 20 Nov. 1700. John NICHOLSON died before the 2nd marriage of Priscilla to John KINSEY 23, 6m, 1711 at Perquimans MM. On the 12 August 1712, John NICHOLSON’s will was proved naming his wife “Pressela” and children, Samuel, Mary and Hannah. Priscilla and John KINSEY had one daughter, Elizabeth, born before he died and the 3rd marriage of Priscilla to John SYMONS 8, 1m, 1721/22 at Perquimans MM. John KINSEY’s will was proved 14 April 1719 naming his daughter, Elizabeth, and his daughters-in-law Mary NICHOLSON and Hannah NICHOLSON and his son-in-law Samuel NICHOLSON. [The term daughter-in-law was at that time used for stepdaughter.]
The proof of the NICHOLSON line is further verified by the Deed Records. By his will probated in 1698, Joseph NICHOLSON had left a 100a plantation on the Perquimans River to the male heirs of his brothers John, Nathaniel and Benjamin and all of them failing to have male heirs to the heirs of his five brothers, Samuel, John, Nathaniel, Benjamin and Christopher. Therefore in 1743 this piece of land, called “Log House Land” was sold for £236 “and for divers other good causes & considerations” by the heirs of Samuel, Nathaniel and Christopher [Benjamin dying without heirs] to Richard SANDERS who had married the only surviving heir of John NICHOLSON, Hannah (NICHOLSON) SANDERS who had a one fifth right to the land.
Then in the will of Richard SANDERS dated 4 Dec. l769: “I give to my son John SANDERS Twenty Acres of Land which was his Mothers Right to him and his Heirs for ever. I give to my Daughter Elizabeth SANDERS all the Remainder of my Land and Plantation whereon I now Live being Eighty Acres” I believe that this amply proves that Hannah was the daughter of John NICHOLSON and Priscilla TOMS.
Children of Richard and Hannah (NICHOLSON) SANDERS, born at Perquimans County:
+ 6 i. John3 SANDERS, b. 28 July 1731, m. 7, 11m, 1754 Miriam SYMONS, d. bef. 1770, Perquimans Co., N.C. She d. 1781, Perquimans Co., N.C.
7 ii. Elizabeth SANDERS, b. 27 April 1735, m. 2, 12m, 1772 Joseph PERISHO, d. bef. Jan. Court 1785 [probate of will], Perquimans Co., N.C.
8 iii. Mary SANDERS, m. 4, 5m, 1774, William ARNOLD.
6. John3 SANDERS was born 28 July 1731 in Perquimans Co., N.C. and died there before his fortieth birthday when his wife Miriam SANDERS, her brother John SYMONS, and Benjamin ALBERTSON made bond at the Perquimans County Court to administer his estate on the 12th of October 1770. He left a large family and a small estate. John SANDERS had married Miriam SYMONS at Pasquotank Monthly Meeting and the births of their first five children are recorded there. Miriam SYMONS was born 17, 6m, 1728, the daughter of Thomas SYMONS and Ann (KEATON) BUNDY SYMONS.
Miriam SANDERS died and left a will that was probated at Perquimans County Court in 1781 naming her seven living children. Her son Thomas SANDERS died in 1789 leaving a will naming his sisters and brothers and the family can be constructed from these two wills and the Pasquotank Monthly Meeting records.
Children of John and Miriam (SYMONS) SANDERS, born at Pasquotank Co., N.C.:
9 i. Richard SANDERS, b. 28, 10m, 1755, m. 1, 11m, 1780 Hannah HENBEY, a widow with children.
10 ii. Abraham SANDERS, b. 16, 3m, 1758, d. bef. 1781.
+11 iii. Anne4 SANDERS, b. 8, 1m, 1761, m. 15 Oct. 1785 Joseph PERISHO, d. bef. 1798, Perquimans Co., N.C. when Joseph m. (3) Elizabeth ALBERTSON.
12 iv. Thomas SANDERS, b. 5, 1m, 1762, d. 1789, Perquimans Co., N.C.
13 v. Hannah SANDERS, b. 29, 11m, 1764.
14 vi. John SANDERS
15 vii. Joseph SANDERS
16 viii. Benjamin SANDERS
11. Anne4 SANDERS was born 8, 1m, 1761 in Pasquotank Co., N. C. and died probably before 1798 in Perquimans Co., N. C. A marriage bond in Perquimans Co., N.C. was made for Ann SANDERS and Joseph PERISHO 15 Oct. 1785 and Benjaman SANDERS was bondsman. Ann PERISHO, formerly SANDERS was dismissed for marriage contrary to discipline by the Perquimans MM 5, 12m, 1785. Joseph PERRISHO was dismissed for marrying a near relative to his former wife contrary to discipline 4, 1m, 1786. Anne SANDERS was the niece of Joseph PERISHO’s former wife, Elizabeth (SANDERS) PERISHO who had died before January Court 1785 when her will was probated.
Elizabeth (SANDERS )PERISHO had inherited the NICHOLSON “Log House Land” of 80a from her father, Richard SANDERS. Immediately after the settlement of her father’s will in 1770, her brother, John SANDERS, had sold to her the 20a that he had inherited as his Mother’s right to him. Elizabeth owned the full 100a when she married Joseph PERISHO in 1772. Then in her will in 1783 she left this land where she lived in the “Old Neck” to her husband during his natural life and after his death it was to go to her cousin [nephew] Richard SANDERS as long as he would make over to his two youngest brothers Joseph and Benjamin SANDERS the land where he then lived at the head of Suttons’s Creek. Elizabeth (SANDERS) PERISHO did not have children.
Anne (SANDERS) PERISHO probably died before 9, 12m, 1797 when Joseph PERISHO condemned his marriage contrary to discipline and was reinstated at Suttons Creek MM. Joseph PERISHO, son of John PERISHO deceased, of Perquimans Co. than married Elizabeth ALBERTSON, daughter of Elihu ALBERTSON deceased, of Perquimans Co., 14, 1m, 1798 at Suttons Creek MM. Joseph PERISHO died in 1802 leaving a will naming his two sons, Joseph and John PERISHO. Elizabeth settled his estate as both Elizabeth PERISHO and Elizabeth PARKER for on the 11, 4m, 1807 Elizabeth PERISHO was reported married to Enoch PARKER at Suttons Creek MM.
Children of Joseph and Anne (SANDERS) PERISHO, born at Perquimans Co., N.C.:
+17 i. Joseph5 PERISHO, b. 27 Dec. 1786, m. ca. 1814 at Washington Co., IN, Barbara Ellen (ZINK) SEATON, d. 23 April 1838 at Grandview, Edgar Co., IL., buried at Augusta Cemetery.
18 ii. John PERISHO, b. 10 Sept. 1793, m. 15 Nov. 1816 at Washington Co., IN, Rosannah ZINK, d. 17 June 1877 at Grandview, Edgar Co., IL., buried at Augusta Cemetery.
