KY-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest       13 April 2001          Volume 01 : Issue 56


______________________________X-Message: #1
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 22:21:07 -0500
From: "Nancy Trice" <trice@vci.net>
Subject: NEWS: Sanders / Perkins Drowning, 1885 Madison Co

The Kentucky Register
Richmond, Kentucky
Jan. 1, 1886
MOTHER AND THREE CHILDREN DROWN

A heart-rending tragedy occurred in the Kentucky river, just below the mouth of Silver 
Creek, between this and Jessamine counties on last Monday  night.  Mr. John Sanders, his 
wife and three children, who reside in this  county, had  been over in Jessamine county to 
visit the parents of Mr. Sanders.  About 9 o'clock they left for home. Mr. Sanders carried a 
lantern. Upon reaching the river he placed the lantern in the canoe in front of him, and 
started across. One report says the lantern went out leaving such apparent darkness that Mr. 
Sanders could not see where he was rowing, and another says that the lantern so blinded him 
that he could not see. Be that as it may, the canoe ran into a chute, which beads 
immediately below the crossing, and capsized. The mother and three children were instantly 
drowned, but Mr. Sanders escaped. Mrs. Sanders was a daughter of the late Mitchell Perkins 
of this county, and was twenty-five or thirty years old. The oldest child was six or eight 
years old, the youngest a baby of twelve months, and the other one was between those ages. 
The crossing where this fearful accident occurred, has for many years been used by a 
neighboring church on occasions of baptisms. A large crowd of men, women and children 
assembled there on Tuesday, but not one of the bodies could be found.

LATER - The bodies have all been found. The children were all close together and not far 
from the mother. It is now learned that the canoe did not get into the chute, but struck a 
pile of drift, and Sanders thinking it the shore, stepped out upon it. It sank with him, and 
in some way the canoe turned over with the results already stated.

[researcher's notes:
Oliver John Sanders, b. June 1856, Jessamine Co., KY d. ???
Letha A. Perkins, b. about 1856, Madison Co., KY, d. Dec. 28, 1885
My great-aunt, who was alive when this tragedy occurred, said John was drunk and was so 
distraught, he packed his belongings and left, never to be heard from again. Most family 
members believe he went to Missouri and raised another family.]

End of ky-footsteps-digest V01 #056
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