Saunders - Perry

"Saunders - Perry: 400 Years of Family History" is centered on Jefferson Muse Saunders and Mary Ramsey "Rubie" Perry, the author's great-great-grandparents. The first half of the book documents eight generations of the Saunders and Perry families from the time they arrived in the New World from England in the 1600s until Jefferson and Rubie marry in East Texas in the mid-1850s. The book then follows all the descendants of Jefferson Muse Saunders from two marriages down to generation twelve of the Saunders family since coming to the United States.

On the 7th day of February 1855, the Saunders and Perry families were officially brought together through the marriage of Jefferson Muse Saunders and Mary Ramsey "Rubie" Perry near the East Texas frontier town of Marshall located forty miles west of Shreveport, close to the Louisiana border. The two families' histories leading up to this union are interesting ones and provide a fascinating look into early American history. You will read about duels in the defense of one's honor, a baby's birth in the back of a wagon as the family moves west, and about the importance of strong family ties in surviving the hardships of life in a new land. Through his research, the author traced each family's journey, by generation, from the time they came to America in the early 1600s until they met in East Texas two hundred years later. The second half of the book then follows all the descendants of Jefferson Muse Saunders down to the twelfth generation of the Saunders family in the United States. This includes Jefferson's six children from two marriages (generation 9), thirty-five grandchildren (generation 10), and seventy-nine great-grandchildren (generation 11). Also listed, but not elaborated on, are Jefferson's one hundred sixty-eight great-great-grandchildren (generation 12).

John Harwood Toles, the great-great grandson of Mary Ramsey "Rubie" Perry and Jefferson Muse Saunders, is a native of New Mexico. John graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder and holds master's degrees in business and international management from the University of Denver. After a decade of living overseas in Europe and Southeast Asia, John returned to Colorado where he has called Denver home for the past thirty years.