Member Biography

George Sanderson Sr.

Member
Sessions Office Position District Party
1851       17 Whig
1852       17 Whig
1853       17 Whig
1854       17 Whig

Biography

02/25/1810 - 04/01/1886


George Sanderson, Sr. (W17) Bradford, Susquehanna, Wyoming Counties 1851-1854

Early Life:

George Sanderson, Sr., born February 25, 1810, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; son of Jacob and Jerusha Gardner Sanderson; engaged, merchandising, New York City, New York, moved to Geneva, New York; married, Marion Kingsbury Sanderson, children, Emily Eliza Sanderson, James Gardner Sanderson, Colonel George Sanderson, Anna K Sanderson, Marian S. Sanderson Sturges; moved, Towanda, Pennsylvania; studied law; served, District Attorney, six years; elected, Whig, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1851-1854; land developer, Scranton Pennsylvania, 1853-1855; engaged, banking and financial career, 1855-1873; died, April 1, 1886 (aged 76) Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania; interment, Forest Hill Cemetery, Dunmore, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania.

Early Career:

Befriended Colonel George W. Scranton became one of the founders of Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. Worked as a land developer who was responsible for transforming much of Green Ridge a largely unsettled area into a desirable suburb of Scranton, 1853-1855.

Engaged, banking and finance career, forming George Sanderson and Company, which merged with the Lackawanna Valley Savings Bank, finally evolving as the Lackawanna Trust and Safe Deposit Company, 1855-1873.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Served, District Attorney, six years, resigned, to work in private business.

Elected, Whig, Pennsylvania State Senate, 17th district, Bradford, Susquehanna, Wyoming Counties, 1851-1854.

Legacy:

Acquired, plot of land for the Forest Hills Cemetery, from the Pennsylvania Coal Company.

A Green Ridge community street bears his name, Sanderson Avenue, Scranton, Pennsylvania, 18509

The Boston Latin School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States; established, April 23, 1635, making it both the oldest public school in the British America and the oldest existing school in the United States.

Cited:

A Half Century in Scranton, Benjamin Henry Throop; Scranton, Pennsylvania: Press of the Scranton Republican, 1895.

The Evening Leader Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania Friday, April 2, 1886, Page 1.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27467400/george-sanderson