ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY, Volume 39, Summer 1980, p. 159   Simon T. Sanders: Public Servant   BY DONALD RAY MONTGOMERY* Washington, Arkansas   OF ALL THE PEOPLE who have graced the pages of southwest Arkansas's history, very few served the area as long as Simon T. Sanders. While the story of governors, senators, and representatives from the town of Washington entered the history books, the life of Sanders remains obscure. Yet, he served as the Hempstead County clerk for thirty consecutive years and as the town's postmaster for many more years. He was a popular figure who touched the lives of numerous citizens from the region (1).   He was born in Wake County, North Carolina, on April 16, 1797. During his childhood he had the benefit of a common school education, which was not available to every child in the state at that time. When he reached the age of seventeen, he went to the state capital, Raleigh, and obtained a position in the office of the secretary of state. There he performed his duties with skill and acquired an excellent reputation for steady work. As a result, Governor Montfort Stokes appointed him to the post of private secretary to the governor. As one of his friends stated, "his faithfulness and attention to business secured the confidence of those by whom he was employed." He displayed great personal integrity which was complemented by his punctuality and orderliness (2).   While working in the governor's office, he became the friend and acquaintance of the leading politicians in the state. ___________________ *The author is park historian at Old Washington Historic State Park. This article won the Lucille Westbrook Local History Award for 1980. 1. Fay Hempstead, Pictorial History of Arkansas from the Earliest Times to the Year 1890 (New York, 1890), 860. 2. "In Memoriam," an anonymous obituary located in the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives (SARA), Charlean Moss Williams Collection, p. 1; Washington, Arkansas, Telegraph, October 4, 1880. For more information on North Carolina, see Hugh T. Lefler and Albert R. Newsome, North Carolina: The History of a Southern State (Chapel Hill, 1963).           Contents  Words  Study Questions  Related Sites Next Page