Emma Lucy Varner Sanders

Emma Lucy Varner Sanders (1843-1908) Homemaker, Wife, Mother, Southern Lady: American with deep roots in Georgia, the British Isles and Germany

On driving into St. John’s Historic Cemetery through the main gate, looking to the left, one is impressed with the long, military-like rows of grave markers representing the 100 or so British seamen who died in Pensacola around 1900. Looking to the right are scores of time-encrusted graves of those Pensacolians who were interred in the cemetery’s earliest years. The first gravesite on the right side, next to the road, is a simple Victorian slab inscribed: Emma L. Varner, wife of C. M. Sanders, born in Lexington, Georgia March 25, 1843, died in Pensacola, Florida August 9, 1908. Like so many other gentle ladies of her times, Lucy Sanders was not recognized as a leading citizen, but only as a “wife of …”or “mother of…”. Indeed, she was the wife of a Confederate soldier; mother of Frank Dent Sanders, mayor of Pensacola in 1919; mother-in-law of George E. Smith, sheriff of Escambia County, Florida, 1894 to 1904; and grandmother of Pensacolians Ernestine Smith Fleming and Gladys Smith Champlin. Judging from the persona, style and graciousness of Lucy Sanders’ daughters, Mitt Watson and Rosa Smith (and Rosa’s six daughters) – all known to the writer – Lucy must have been a very charming and spunky Southern Lady. At the turn of the 20th century it was common for a gentle lady, on the death of her husband, to leave a substantial home and position in her community to move and live with her children or, alternately, with two or more of her children’s families. A new community probably would not know much about her. When Cicero Marion Sanders died, Lucy moved from her home in Eufaula, Alabama to live with her daughter, Rosa, and her family in a spacious house on East Chase Street. (This house was moved years later by architect Hugh Leitch to its current site at 226 East Government Street and is now a land- mark building, a lawyer’s office, facing Seville Square). Lucy Varner Sanders knew who she was. Her father’s family roots went back to Rhineland- Palatinate in western Germany near the Moselle valley. Her mother, Lucy Callaway Varner had taken her on visits to the many Callaway and Lumpkin cousins in Georgia and Virginia. Her grandmother, Martha Lumpkin, told her about being the only girl in her family with six brothers. One brother, Joseph Henry Lumpkin, was the first Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, before “The War Between The States”. Another brother, Wilson Lumpkin, was the governor of Georgia in the 1830’s when he named a busy railroad junction:“ Marthasville”. She liked to think that it was a little bit for her but Governor Lumpkin’s daughter also was named “Martha”. Anyway, the “Marthasville” name, eventually, was changed to “Atlanta”. Martha’s father, as a veteran of the Revolutionary War, came from Virginia to Georgia, to claim “Head Right” land, in spite of hostile Indians and pioneer conditions. There were family stories about ancestors in Northumberland and Scotland, and accounts of Cromwell’s seizing land from their Anglo-Norman ancestors in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Lucy must have passed on some of her determination, common sense and gumption to her daughter, Rosa, who relayed to her children: “ You are no better than anyone else – but nobody is better than you are!” Lucy died in 1908 and is buried in St. John’s Historic Cemetery, 1 North, Section 3 , the first lot on the right , next to the road. Lucy’s daughter, Rosa, was widowed at at 37 years of age when her husband, George E. Smith died suddenly; he was 50 years old. There were nine children, with ages ranging from infancy to late teens. George E. Smith’s mother, of Columbus, Georgia, was a Reese, descended from Welshman, David Reese, a signee of the Mecklenberg Declaration. A relative, banker J. Simpson Reese served as executor and helped Rosa and her family to conserve their resources. The youngest children, assigned the task of presenting the reasons for special withdrawals, called him Mr.“Skin’em” Reese, when he pretended to give them a hard time, always in their best interest. The family grew up together and retained a very close, lifetime relationship. They all had a sense of assurance and support, without arrogance, of a kind, loving and caring family – perhaps a gift from Lucy Varner Sanders, Rosa Smith Sanders, Rosa’s siblings and their forebears. George and Rosa Smith, and daughters Evelyn, Sybil and Marjorie are buried in St. John’s Historic Cemetery 4 North, Section 51. Ernestine Smith Fleming, along with her husband James Monroe Fleming and their infant daughter, Beth, and son, Richard Marion Fleming, M.D. are buried in St. John’s 5 North, Section 71.