Alvin Saunders
| Alvin Saunders | |
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United States Senator from Nebraska |
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In office March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1883 |
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| Preceded by | Phineas Hitchcock |
| Succeeded by | Charles F. Manderson |
| 10th Governor of Nebraska Territory | |
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In office May 15, 1861 – February 21, 1867 |
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| Preceded by | Algernon S. Paddock |
| Succeeded by | David Butler (as Governor of the State of Nebraska) |
| Member of the Iowa Senate | |
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In office 1854-1856, 1858-1860 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
July 12, 1817 Fleming County, Kentucky |
| Died | November 1, 1899 (aged 82) Omaha, Nebraska |
| Political party | Republican |
Alvin Saunders (July 12, 1817 – November 1, 1899) was a U.S. Senator from Nebraska, in the United States, as well as the final and longest-serving governor of the Nebraska Territory, a tenure he served during most of the American Civil War.
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.
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 1854 to 1856 and 1858 to 1860. 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 4, 1883; chairman of the Committee on Territories (Forty-seventh Congress). He died in Omaha on November 1, 1899; interment in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Saunders was the grandfather of William Henry Harrison, 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.
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