Emma Lucy Varner Sanders (1843-1908) was the mother of Pensacola Mayor Frank Dent Sanders, mother-in-law (by her daughter Rosa) to Escambia County Sheriff George E. Smith, and grandmother of Pensacolians Ernestine Smith Fleming and Gladys Smith Champlin.
| Lucy Varner Sanders | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 25, 1843 Lexington, Georgia |
| Died | August 9, 1908 Pensacola |
| Spouse | Cicero Marion Sanders |
| Parents | Lucy Callaway Varner |
| Children | Frank Dent Sanders Rosa Sanders Mitt Watson |
Emma Lucy Varner was born in Lexington, Georgia on March 25, 1843. Her family traced its roots to the German Rhineland-Palatinate, and her notable relatives included great uncles Joseph Henry Lumpkin, the first Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, and Wilson Lumpkin, who served as Congressman, Governor and Senator of Georgia and whose daughter Martha was the namesake of Marthasville, now Atlanta.
Lucy married Confederate veteran Cicero Marion Sanders, and their children included Frank Dent Sanders, Rosa Sanders and Mitt Watson. She lived in Eufaula, Alabama, until the death of her husband, after which she moved to Pensacola and stayed with Rosa and her family at their Chase Street residence. (This house was later relocated by architect Hugh Leitch to its current location opposite Seville Square at 226 East Government Street.)
Mrs. Sanders died on August 9, 1908, and is buried in St. John's Historic Cemetery, 1 North, Section 3.