Nansemond County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries......Saunders, Benjamin L., 1940 

************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm
************************************************

BENJAMIN L. SAUNDERS 

[photo, headed:] 
      Succumbs Here
[captioned:] 
      B. L. SAUNDERS 

B. L. SAUNDERS RITES TOMORROW 

  Funeral services for B.L. Saunders, prominent citizen who died here 
yesterday afternoon, will be held tomorrow afternoon at the funeral home of 
I.O. Hill and company at 3 o'clock. 

  The Rev. Sam T. Habel, Jr., and Dr. H.J. Goodwin will conduct the services. 
Burial will be made in Cedar Hill cemetery. 

  Active in the affairs of Suffolk, and president of the American Bank and 
Trust company, Mr. Saunders was another one of that great host of 
contributions to Suffolk's citizenship made by neighboring Gates county in 
North Carolina. 

  Born in 1861, the year in which the tragic War Between the States broke like 
a bombshell to desolate the South, Mr. Saunders knew hard times at their 
hardest for his homeland.  He grew to young manhood during the "tragic era" 
and came to Suffolk to seek his fortune. 

  It was not an idle pursuit.  Such energy, such application to a set purpose 
to achieve, could not be denied. Suffolk, like all "occupied" towns was 
accustomed to "hard times" during the '70's and 80's.  Young Benjamin Saunders 
invested his frugally saved dollars in a small wholesale grocery business.  In 
passing years he built his small wholesale establishment into one which for 
many years has been recognized as a leading firm in its field over wide area. 

  It was 1912 when the newly elected board of directors of the American Bank & 
Trust Co. met for the first time to elect officers that they turned to Mr. 
Saunders in their selection of a president. 

  During his business and civic life in Suffolk, Mr. Saunders has made for 
himself many friends. 


Benjamin L. SAUNDERS, merchant & banker, 
b. 26 May 1861, Gates Co., NC, d. 24 Oct 1940, Suffolk, 
interred in Cedar Hill Cemetery (Block E, Lot 6*), Suffolk, 26 Oct 1940, 
"Suffolk (VA) News-Herald," Vol. 18, No. 185, Fri., Oct. 25, 1940, pp. 1 & 8 

*Additional information: 

Cedar Hill list, an extension of the Southampton County Historical Society 
   {SCHS} Cemetery Project: 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/cemeteries/cedar_s.txt 

Photos of his gravestone & plot - added by Jake Dog - are posted with 
   Find a Grave Memorial #123050216. 

D.Cert. 23055 (Suffolk #324) gives his mother as Armelia. 

Rather, his parents were Benjamin L. & Permelia F. (SAVAGE) SAUNDERS, who 
   m. 29 May 1855 in Gates Co., NC.  They are buried in a SAUNDERS family 
   cemetery at Drum Hill, Gates Co., NC  (Find a Grave Cemetery ID #2512358). 

His wife's obits ("Virginian-Pilot" & "Suffolk News-Herald," Nov. 29, 1945) 
   are posted at: 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/obits/s536a5ob.txt 


Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by 
Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), 
and re-formatted by File Manager. 

file at: 
http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/obits/s536b1ob.txt