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Facts and Events
Census: 1800 Petersburg, Rensselaer Co., New York
Census: 1830 Verona, Oneida Co., New York
Russel was the seventh of eight children born to Isaac and Watey Saunders between 1783 and 1800 in Hopkinton, Washington Co., Rhode Island. The family moved to Petersburg, Rensselaer, New York around 1800. [They do not show up in the 1800 census records for Hopkinton.] Not long after the move, Russel's mother Watey (May 1802), brother Thomas (Nov 1802), and sister Susannah (Apr 1804) died. They were buried in a family plot either at the edge or across the road from their farm on the west edge of Petersburg. [According to Earl Crandall, Russel's father Isaac remarried a month after Watey's death to Susannah Potter, widow of Samuel Wells. Russel was only 5 at the time.]
In Dec 1814, two more of the children died, William and Lydia.
In 1820 Russel married Susan Peckham, daughter of Braddock Peckham and a member of the same church in Berlin. At about that same time Russel and Susan moved to Verona, Oneida Co., NewYork. Somewhat after 1820 Russel is listed in the registery of the First Verona, Oneida Co., Seventh-day Baptist Church on Blackmon Corners Road.
Russel and Susan had four children, all boys, between 1821 and1829 in Verona where Russel farmed.
Russel died in 1834 at the age of 37 at home on the farm. He is buried in the West Verona Cemetery along with the wives of two of his sons and the adopted son of another son.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 .
"The Protestant Sentinel", Volume V, 1834-35, page 503, Jan 1835.
DIED - At his residence in Verona, Oneida Co., on the 20th ult[of the prior month], Mr. Russel Saunders, in the 38th year of his age. As a citizen, a neighbor, and a Christian, Mr. Saunders stood high. He has long been an efficient member of the Sabbath Baptist Church in that place, and has left a widow and four children to mourn his loss. "His last hours were such as we might anticipate from his life. An extract from a letter from Eld. Sebeus M. Burdick, to his brother Isaac Saunders, states - "I arrived at his house on the 18th of the month, and found him sick of a fever: and when I inquired into the state of his health, he informed me that he was quite sick. He had taken cold about two weeks previous to this time, and had a relapse of the same disease from which he had partially recovered. He was glad to see me, and wished me to pray with him. He entered deeply into the spirit of devotion, and his resignation to the will of Heaven was so complete that he could say, not my will but thine, O God, be done. I stayed with him that night, and in the morning, in conversation, he expressed himself on this wise: said he, "I know that it is a great thing to change worlds; but it will be a good change to exchange this world of pain and distress for glory." The Church has sustained a great loss in one whose pious example shone like the meridian sun to all who knew him. But I must forbear, the loss is more sensibly felt by the widow and orphans, who mourn with tears their irreparable loss; but they mourn not without hope." "The news of Br. Saunders death is truly painful, from a long personal acquintance with him, and as the good report which he maintained associated him with the best interests of the church with which he was connected, and with the general interests of the cause of Christ. Although he only sustained a private relation, yet he was a member of influence, and a pillar in the church."
The following was added by the editor of the Sentinal - "We feel moved with sympathy for our brethren in Verona, as the hand of God seems laid heavily upon them. Since the receipt of the foregoing obituary notice, we have received a notice of the death of Br. Joshua Williams, between whom and Br. Saunders, in point of piety and usefulness, we know not how to discriminate, as they both sustained the confidence of their brethren, and were not behind the first members of that church. We certainly hope that others who have not been prominent may arise to fill their places, and sustain the interests of that now flourishing church."
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