Alvin Saunders
Alvin Saunders was a U.S. Senator from Nebraska, as well as the final and longest-serving governor of the Nebraska Territory, a tenure he served during most of the American Civil War.
Education
Saunders was born in Fleming County, Kentucky. He attended the common schools and pursued an academic course; he moved with his father to Illinois in 1829 and then to Mount Pleasant, Iowa in 1836.Political career
He was the postmaster of Mount Pleasant for seven years. Saunders studied law but never entered into practice; instead, he engaged in mercantile pursuits and banking. He was a delegate to the Iowa State constitutional convention in 1846 and was a member of the Iowa State Senate from December 4, 1854, to May 14, 1861. Saunders served the first two years of his legislative tenure as a Whig for District 5, then changed his party affiliation to Republican, holding the District 7 seat until 1860, when he assumed the District 9 seat. Saunders was one of the commissioners appointed by Congress to organize the Union Pacific Railroad Company.He served as the last Governor of Nebraska Territory from 1861 to 1867. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention">Republican Party (United States)">Republican National Convention. Saunders was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served a single term from March 4, 1877, to March 3, 1883; chairman of the List of defunct [United States congressional committees|Committee on Territories]. He died in Omaha on November 1, 1899; interment in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Family
Saunders' father, Gunnel, was said to be of "old stock" in Culpeper County, Virginia. His mother was Mary Mauzy of the same county. They moved to Kentucky and later to Illinois, where Alvin attended school and did farm work until 1836, when the young man removed to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, which was then part of Wisconsin.At his death he left a wife and two children, Charles B., and a daughter, Mary
Saunders was the grandfather of William [Henry Harrison III], who served several terms as Wyoming's member of the U.S. [House of Representatives] in the 1950s and 60s. His son-in-law was Russell Benjamin Harrison.