Terms of Service

• House, 16th ⁽¹⁾ Legislature
  1/14/1879 - 1/11/1881
  Democrat
  

Biographical Notes and Resources

Other Resources

• Account of the election of 1878, Texas House of Representatives, candidates: R.C. Saunders, Ibzan William Middlebrook, and Jahu Worner [John Warner] Johnson. "Early on, Johnson tried to distance himself from his Republican roots, claiming he had been urged to run . . . as an 'independent and non-partisan candidate.'" Jahu W. Johnson forfeited his seat when he moved out of the district; Johnson and his son Gail Borden Johnson had decided to move to Houston by November 1879. Alex F. Kinnison, a Republican and "black county county commissioner and school teacher," elected in a special election 2/17/1880; however, "the legislature never convened while he held the office." Part 9: 1878-1883. Consider the Lily: the Ungilded History of Colorado County, Texas .
• Census of 1880 - R.C. Sanders, Lavaca County, age 65, born circa 1815 in Mississippi, farmer, widowed. FamilySearch . 1880
• R.C. Saunders, birth date 4/11/1815, death date 7/25/1889, burial in Bennett Cemetery, Sweet Home, Lavaca County. Find a Grave .
• Obituary, Col. R.C. Saunders, Hallettsville Herald, 8/1/1889, p. 8, crediting Friench Simpson Memorial Library. Born 4/11/1815 in Franklin County, Mississippi; married Ellen Maria Lewis 1840 at Oxford, Mississippi; died Thursday, 7/25/1889 near Sweet Home [Lavaca County]. "He was at one time a member of two terms of the Mississippi Legislature, and has also represented Texas in the same capacity from this county." Portal to Texas History (University of North Texas Libraries) .
• Biographical sketch, Richard Campbell Saunders, p. 268. Born in Mississippi, served 3 sessions in the Mississippi Legislature. Moved to Texas in 1869. Texas Legislative Manual, 1879-80 1879.

Committee Information

• 16th R.S. - 1879
• Agriculture and Stock Raising  
• Federal Relations