John Frank settled at Union Fork, a few miles south of Salt Lake. A short while later he met Mary Irene Clement, who had been born July 23, 1837 at Dryden, Tompkins, New York. She was a daughter of Thomas Clement and Betsy Foote, early converts to the church who had died before coming to Salt Lake.

Her mother had died of the dread malaria near Council Bluffs, Iowa. Mary Irene had arrived in Utah in 1848 in the Heber C. Kimball Company. John Frank and Mary were married at Union Fort July 15, 1855. Their first children, Nancy Irene Sanders, born October 1, 1856 and John Franklin Jr. born November 4, 1858 were born in this Union. On March 22, 1858, John Franklin took Jane Gibson as his second wife in plural marriage. She was but 15 at the time and did not really live with the family until several years later. Her first child was not born until around 1865. She and John Frank had four other children.

In 1859, John Franklin was called to help settle Fairview, Sanpete County, Utah. Because of Indian troubles, their first winter of 1858-59 was spent quarrying and hauling rock from a nearby canyon to build a fort. In 1860 the walls of three sides were finished. The other side was made by the backs of log houses adjoining at the ends. There were portholes in the top walls for watchers. Inside the fort were rows of houses, a tithing office, and a schoolhouse which also served as a church.

The names of the men who worked on this fort with a description of it are on a marker at the site of Fairview today. John Frank's name as well as his brother Joseph, his wife's brother Thomas Clement, and his brothers-in-law Henry Sanderson and Warren Bradys names were all included in this list.

John Franklin was called by Brigham Young to be a Captain to take flour and other necessities to the saints who had arrived in Florence, Nebraska and were waiting for help from Utah. He made two trips back there the last in 1863.
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(Desert News reported: In Church Chronology, by Andrew Jensen)
Spring - April, 1963 - For John Sanders, Church property, 50 wagons, 398 oxen, 5 horses, 4 quards, 5 teamsters, 32, 854 pounds of flour, sent for Company D J.F.S. private possesions: 3 wagons, 26 oxen, 12 oxen for sale.

On June 6, 1863, about 250 Saints, under Sanders' direction, started on their way to Utah. The Company consisted mostly of Scandanavian Saints who crossed the Atlantic on the ship Antartic. Cattle showed signs of fatique and were very poor from the two long journeys from Nebraska and back again.

On this trip he had eight hundred immigrants besides his regular company. They had been on a sailing vessel six weeks and living on short rations so were in a bad and weakened conditions. A few of the wagons were loaded with food and the rest with merchandise. There was plenty of fresh meat, such as deer, buffalo and antelope, but being used to seafood for so long a time, this caused sickness and many died. Even with the rationing of a variety of foods: flour, salt, soda, pepper and bacon, most would overeat and become ill. Captain Sanders could not speak their language but was kind and did all he could do to help in their suffering.

John Frank became well-to-do in Fairview. Swen Neilsen, a man who came in one of Franks' companies at the age of 11, knew him very well and told of his selling $1,100 worth of cattle, 2 teams and wagons and a load of produce, mostly honey, which in those days was a lot of money. He also had a large farm in Thistle Valley, near Indianola, about 15 miles from Fairview.

The Utah Adjutant General's Office Records show that Captain John Franklin Sanders Company C. Calvaria Militia of Utah, Sanpete Military District, etc. having served in the Blackfoot War in Central Utah.

John's father had befriended a young Indian boy named Batesse. He and John Frank became bosom friends. The boy would do anything for him. He was an excellent scout and hunter and on the trips east kept the camp in fresh meat and water. If given a horse to ride, there was nothing he couldn't do. He liked to do chores for everyone and carry their water.

John Frank became a good Indian interpreter.

John and Mary Irene had six more children while living in Fairview, Mary Eliza, born July 15, 1861; Amanda Elizabeth, born March 3, 1863; who died at a year and a half of age; Martin Henry, born January 16, 1866; Thomas Alma, born February 13, 1865; Olivia Loretta, born October 19, 1870; and David Darius, born February 19, 1873. Mary Irene was a very sweet quiet person. She was noted for her beautiful handwork and sewing. Their house in Fairview was still standing and in use in 1942. Mary Irene took ill and died August 22, leaving seven children.

Around 1879, John Franklin received a call to settle the Tonto Basin in Arizona. Before the Saints had been in Salt Lake Valley a year, President Brigham Young started the "Planting of Colonies Program" in Utah, Arizona, California, Idaho and Mexico, which continued some years after his death. The purpose, of course, was to start Mormon settlements where the immigrant converts and others could come and find a place to live in peace. The sites for these colonies were chosen by Church Authorities; their most outstanding qualification seemed to be a place no one would have. Tonto Basin, chosen for the Sanders party was no exception. It was called "reclaiming the wastelands, conquering the desert", etc. Leaders of the "Founding Fourties" of Companies were called by church leaders and "set apart" as are bishops, missionaries and auxiliary heads today. They were also released from the calling when their work was completed.

Each person in the group going to Tonto Basin had a special skill or craft which would ensure the success of each settlement. Joseph Moroni, John Frank's brother was supposed to go with the group but was ill when the call came; after waiting a year for him and he was not better, the company went on without him.

During the year's wait, John's son Frank with the help of hired cowboys moved everybody's cattle to the Arizona range. John took Martin and Thomas, the two younger boys with him, also his wife Jane and her children. Olive Loretta and David Darius were left with Nancy Irene, the oldest married daughter. As the youngest children it was felt they would be better off with her than facing the rigors of such a long journey.

His daughter Mary Eliza who had married John Clark Thompson went down to Arizona in 1880 to the Little Colorado Colonies, but records show that John Franklin and his group remained in St. George from 1879-1882. The 1880 census shows them living at the home of his father, Moses, who had died there in 1878. They did a great deal of temple work while there until the spring of 1882 when they were able to make the move to Arizona. He took his widowed mother, Amanda with them on the trek.

Ellen Sanders Cardon, youngest daughter of John Frank and Jane said she had only seen her mother shed tears three times in her life. When they landed in Tonto Basin was one of them. She had been through a lot of pioneering, but she wilted when she first looked out over the wilderness they were sent to make "Blossom as a Rose". She didn't think there could be a more forsaken place to bring a family up in. But it looked all right to Ellen Sanders Cardon. There were horses, cattle, hills, space, a few mesquite trees and more space.

Land Records showed that Mart and John Sanders bought the land from a Mr. David Gowan, discoverer of the Natural Bridge and first white settler there. He had taken advantage of the presence of a beaver built log dam and had made an irrigation ditch from it. The records state that Sanders gave Gowan the grapevines and fruit planted on the bridge and some of those are still producing.

The area was very desolate and lonely. It was given the dainty name of "Gisela" by a school teacher and is still found on the Arizona map, but she resisted all efforts to cultivate her. Skeletal buildings 5 miles from the road are the only evidence of the Sanders family having been there.

John Frank was the Presiding Elder, though because of distance they didn't get to church often. Ellen stated that her father was called "Bishop" but that was perhaps just a title of respect. It was the respect the Indians had for John that saved the settlement from their attacks. They told him, "We hear John laugh and leave."

Around 1882, John C. Thompson and Mary Eliza Sanders Thompson, joined the Sanders at the Tonto Basin. John Thompson ran a burro train packing supplies to the pioneers between Flagstaff and Tonto. Indians and outlaws caused constant trouble. Young Martin Henry was shot in the back by outlaws in 1891 who wanted his team of horses to get away from a posse who was after them. They had left Mart dead on his wagon seat, taking his boots, too.

John's mother, Amanda, died at Gisela in 1885, and was buried there. About 75 years later, Wesley Jones, a great-grandson visited her grave. He found it a most desolate, lonely place, a few dried grasses, rocks on which lizards were warming themselves and snakes slithering amng them all. It moved him to do something about it, so he bought two very nice stones and set them in cement to mark the resting places of a great pioneer lady and her grandson, Martin Henry.

In 1890, President Wilford Woodruff ordered the abandonment of the Tonto Basin Settlement on August 11th, and shortly thereafter Jon Franklin was released from his call and told to go to Mesa in the Salt River Valley. Many others had already become discouraged and gone. John C. Thompson and Mary Eliza Sanders Thompson came back to Utah.

He spent his last years in Mesa, Maricopa County, Arizona and died there May 19, 1896 and was buried in the Sanders plot of the Mesa Cemetery. He contributed much to the coloniation of the two states.

Brigham Young's son, John R. Young who lived in Arizona and knew John Frank well said of John Frank "He was a superior man, no braggart, but convincing, kind without patronizing. His proud bearing and general countenance made a staunch friend of me. I was proud to know him. He wa a real gentleman."

John was of medium build, good in running, wrestling and other sports. He had a sandy complexion, light hair and blue eyes. He must have had an excellent character because he had many positions of great responsibility which he was given. He was a man who could get the confidence of those around him and at the same time command respect from them.

- From the Sanders Sage Newsletter, July 1978, written by Roselyn Woodward Slade and shared with Rhonda by Marilyn Woodward Thacker.
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John Franklin Sanders was born March 5, 1830 in Montgomery County, Illinois. He was the third child of Amanda Armstrong Fausett and Moses Martin Sanders Sr.

His father Moses Martin Sanders Sr., of English ancestry was born August 17 1803, near Homer, Bank County, Georgia, the grandson of Moses Sanders, founder and first pastor of the Line Grove Level and Naila Creek Baptist Church of Franklin County. John's mother, Amanda Armstrong Fausett was born May 6, 1810 in Maury County, Tennessee.

John Franklin's older brother, William Carrol was born in Bedford County, Tennessee on December 4, 1826. He died a few months later. The next brother, Richard Twiggs Sanders, was born May 31, 1928 in Maury County. In 1829, John's father and his uncles, William and David Sanders and his Aunt Nancy moved to Montgomery County, Illinois where John and the next three siblings were born: Rebecca Ann Sanders, March 5, 1832; Martha Brown Sanders, May 25, 1824; and David Walker Sanders, September 1, 1835.

Mormon missionaries came to their home about this time and Moses Martin was baptized January 28, 1835 by an Elder William Joy. Soon the family felt the urge to join with the body of saints in Missouri, but this was a terrible time in church history. Mobbings and persecutions were taking place daily in Missouri. The family arrived just as the saints were being driven from Clay County. Their next son Joseph Moroni Sanders was born in Clay County, December 25, 1836. Along with the rest of these driven people, they arrived in Far West, Caldwell County, but the persecutions followed and in two years they were on their way again. Despite all these troubles which caused so many to lose their faith and apostatize, the Moses Martin Sanders family remained steadfast. When you realize that their prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were in the Liberty Jail most of this time facing a very dim future, you realize how strong their faith must have been. In the hard winter of 1838-39, the saints were again driven from their homes and this time followed along the Missouri River to Quincy, Adams County, Illinois where they located before moving up to Commerce, later to become Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois. Moses and Amanda's next child Sidney Rigdon, was born at Adams County April 10, 1839.

Around 1840, the family made the move to Nauvoo and built a little home which the 1840 census shows was next to the prophet's uncles home, John Smith. It was also very near Joseph Smith Sr. home, the prophet's father. On January 23, 1941, a sister, Emma Sanders, joined the family. She was named by the Prophet Joseph Smith. Eliza Jane Sanders followed on June 4, 1843 and Hyrum Smith Sanders on June 10, 1845. All three of these siblings were born in Nauvoo. Little six year old Sidney died this same year of 1844.

As a young boy, John Franklin helped the builders of the Nauvoo Temple as a water boy. Along with the rest, they suffered the increasing mobbings and hardships of the people there. Often John was the only one home to help his mother and younger brothers and sisters as his father and Richard were gone so much on church duties.

A month before the big exodus of the saints from Nauvoo in February of 1846, his father and mother were able to go to the almost completed temple for their endowments. They were sealed for time and eternity by Heber C. Kimball, January 20, 1846.

In 1845, Mary Jane Sparks Sanderson had brought the body of her husband, James Sanderson from St. Louis to Nauvoo for burial. This little family was left very impoverished. Moses Martin Sanders befriended them and rented them a small log cabin which he owned. Later at Council Bluffs, Iowa, Moses took Mary Jane as his plural wife. (She became John Franklin's step-mother)

When the Sanders family left Nauvoo with the exodus, they settled at Pigeon Grove, near Council Bluffs and here Moses worked in a saw pit during the year of 1847. The saw was run by hand and was a very slow, hard process.

Richard the oldest brother, at age 18, joined the Mormon Batalion and marched away on that long trek to California. This was the last sight his mother had of him as after the Battalion disbanded, he remained in California for several years, married a Spanish girl and had a little family. His wife died in 1858 and shortly after, he started for Utah. He was killed on the way, shot in the back with an arrow by Indians. No one has any record of his children.

Mary Jane's son, Henry W. Sanderson, had also joined the Battalion. Before he left, he loaned Moses Martin his team and several head of oxen. So in 1848, Moses, Mary Jane, Mary Jane's daughter Marie and Moses' son David, age 14, left for Utah to prepare a home in Salt Lake Valley for the others who would follow as soon as they were able.

The U.S. census of 1850, locates the remainder of the family in Plain City, Pottawattomie County, Iowa. In March of 1850, Henry Sanderson had returned from Salt Lake Valley and married Moses daughter, Rebecca Ann. One week later he and John Frank, as he was usually called, prepared to leave for Salt Lake and to take with them the remaining family members. Moses had left an old wagon which they fixed up. They also bought a new one. They made an exellent ox bows and wagon bows for them. They bought one yoke of oxen for $50.00 and four or five other cows. Warren Foote was Captain of the hundred, Lysander Terry, Captain of the fifty and they traveled in the Jared Porter Company, he being the Captain of the ten. At this time, John Frank was 20 years old.

As they neared the valley, David Sanders came out to meet them, which was the first news they had had from the rest of the family of Sanders that had come out in 1848. About this time, mother Amanda took sick with pleurisy in her sides and it grew worse. It hurt so much to even ride in the wagon. When they arrived at the Weber River it was decided to leave David in charge of the wagon and for Henry to ride on horseback to get Moses to take a springboard and go out to meet the company so that Amanda could ride with more ease. Henry engaged a horse in the evening, arose to ride the next morning fully expected to reach his distination by that night. He was disappointed in the endurance of his horse. When he got between the mountains east of Salt Lake, the horse tired out and he was compelled to make camp for the night. The next morning he arrived at Moses Martin Sander's place twelve miles south of Salt Lake on the Jordan River. Moses Martin Sanders then went out to meet the company.

Moses and Amanda had one more child, Moses Martin Sanders Jr. February 21, 1853 at Jordan, Utah. No children were born to Moses and Mary Jane.

John Franklin "John Frank" Sanders is the son of Amanda Armstrong Fausett and Moses Martin Sanders Sr.

He married Mary Irene Clement, July 15, 1855 at Union Fort, Salt Lake, Utah and Jane Gibson March 22, 1858 in Brigham Young's Office, Salt Lake City, Utah.

He was Bishop of Tonto Basin (Gisela) Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Bishop Nose Peak was named for Bishop John Franklin Sanders.

Mary and John Franklin had eight children together: Nancy Irene Sanders, John Franklin Sanders, Mary Eliza Sanders, Amanda Elizabeth Sanders, Martin Henry Sanders, Thomas Alma Sanders, Olive Loretta Sanders and David Darius Sanders.

Jane Gibson and John had six children: Phebe Jane Sanders, Amanda Ann Sanders, Amy Elmira Sanders, William Franklin Sanders, Ellen Clymena Sanders and Joseph Myron Sanders.

Grandfather: Moses Sanders,