|relatives = William Henry Harrison III (grandson){{Cite news |date=October 10, 1990 |title=Former U.S. Rep. William Henry Harrison, Descendant of Presidents |work=Associated Press |url=https://apnews.com/article/5760ec5b95334a65f73052584899a8b5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210611003352/https://apnews.com/article/5760ec5b95334a65f73052584899a8b5 |archive-date=June 11, 2021}}

|signature = Signature of Alvin Saunders.png

}}

Alvin Saunders (July 12, 1817{{spaced ndash}}November 1, 1899) was a U.S. Senator from Nebraska, as well as the final and longest-serving governor of the Nebraska Territory, a tenure he served during most of the American Civil War.

Education

Saunders was born in Fleming County, Kentucky. He attended the common schools and pursued an academic course; he moved with his father to Illinois in 1829 and then to Mount Pleasant, Iowa (then a part of Wisconsin Territory) in 1836.

Political career

He was the postmaster of Mount Pleasant for seven years. Saunders studied law but never entered into practice; instead, he engaged in mercantile pursuits and banking. He was a delegate to the Iowa State constitutional convention in 1846 and was a member of the Iowa State Senate from December 4, 1854, to May 14, 1861. Saunders served the first two years of his legislative tenure as a Whig for District 5, then changed his party affiliation to Republican, holding the District 7 seat until 1860, when he assumed the District 9 seat.{{cite news |title=Senator Alvin Saunders |url=https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/legislator?personID=5606&ga=5 |access-date=May 23, 2024 |agency=Iowa General Assembly}} Saunders was one of the commissioners appointed by Congress to organize the Union Pacific Railroad Company.

He served as the last Governor of Nebraska Territory from 1861 to 1867. He was a delegate to the 1868 Republican National Convention. Saunders was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served a single term from March 4, 1877, to March 3, 1883; chairman of the Committee on Territories (Forty-seventh Congress). He died in Omaha on November 1, 1899; interment in Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Family

Saunders' father, Gunnel, was said to be of "old stock" in Culpeper County, Virginia. His mother was Mary Mauzy of the same county. They moved to Kentucky and later to Illinois, where Alvin attended school and did farm work until 1836, when the young man removed to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, which was then part of Wisconsin.[https://www.newspapers.com/image/690017665/?terms=senator%20saunders&match=1 "Alvin Saunders Is Taken," The Leader, Fremont, Nebraska, November 10, 1899, page 1]

At his death he left a wife and two children, Charles B., and a daughter, Mary (later Mrs. Russell Harrison of Washington, D.C.)[https://www.newspapers.com/image/465997312/?terms=Alvin%20Saunders%20wife%20senator&match=1 "Harrison-Saunders," The Daily Bee, Omaha, January 10, 1884, image 8][https://www.newspapers.com/image/28913253/?terms=Alvin%20Saunders%20wife%20senator&match=1 "White House Visitors Keep Mrs. Wilson Busy," The Washington Post, March 7, 1913, image 7, column 4]

Saunders was the grandfather of William Henry Harrison III, who served several terms as Wyoming's member of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1950s and 60s. His son-in-law was Russell Benjamin Harrison.

Legacy

Saunders County, Nebraska and Saunders School in Omaha were both named after him. Alvin Saunders Johnson, the founding editor of The New Republic, was named in honor of Saunders.McKee, J. (June 1, 2014) [http://journalstar.com/news/local/mckee-alvin-saunders-johnson-a-nebraskan-with-a-vision/article_9ffc4444-620b-54f4-928c-3edcf652ee3d.html "McKee: Alvin Saunders Johnson, a Nebraskan with a vision"], Lincoln Journal-Star.

References

{{Cite web | title= The Political Graveyard | work=Saunders, Alvin| url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/saunders.html| access-date=January 8, 2006 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20051224032143/http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/saunders.html| archive-date= 24 December 2005 | url-status= live}}
{{Cite web | title= Congressional Bioguide| work=Saunders, Alvin| url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000076| access-date=January 8, 2006 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20051129122011/http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000076| archive-date= 29 November 2005 | url-status= live}}

{{succession box |

before= Algernon S. Paddock
Acting Territorial Governor |

title= Governor of Nebraska Territory |

years= 1861–1867 |

after= position abolished

}}

{{U.S. Senator box

|state=Nebraska

|class=2

|before=Phineas W. Hitchcock

|after=Charles F. Manderson

|alongside=Algernon S. Paddock, Charles H. Van Wyck