160
- During his later years he recalled the political ups and downs, fortunes and misfortunes in North Carolina. While he had fond memories of several political leaders of that time, the state suffered from political apathy caused by a one-party system controlled by the landed aristocracy. The planters from the east were unwilling to spend money for internal improvements or education, which caused a migration out of the state. Driven by unattractive conditions and lured by the opportunities of the rising West, Simon T. Sanders left his position with the governor and moved to Tennessee about 1830 (3).
- He settled in the community of Denmark, located in the county of Madison, where he pursued a career in the mercantile business. There, in 1831, he met and married Zenobia Meredith. Raised and educated in Virginia, she was "a very queen of society." She had three married sisters, Salome, Isabelle, and Sarah. Salome lived in Culpeper, Virginia, with her husband, Albert G. Simms, a teacher in a school for young men; Isabelle was the wife of Dr. James H. Walker, a graduate of West Point and a physician by profession; and Sarah had wedded Ephraim Mirick, a merchant from New England. About 1830, the Walkers migrated to Columbus, Hempstead County, Arkansas Territory, where Dr. Walker established a practice. The Miricks also moved to Columbus where Ephraim opened a mercantile store. Not surprisingly, Simon T. Sanders and his bride soon settled in Columbus (4).
- Five miles from Washington, the county seat, Columbus was a thriving town, known, as one observer said, for its outstanding citizens:
-
- The men were noted for their wealth, culture, and hospitality; the women for their refinement, wit, and beauty; both sexes for their high social qualities, their love of neighborly intercourse, and the observance
- of those little courtesies and amenities that contribute so much to render the journey through life agreeable and pleasant.
- The men were noted for their wealth, culture, and hospitality; the women for their refinement, wit, and beauty; both sexes for their high social qualities, their love of neighborly intercourse, and the observance
- Dr. James H. Walker and Ephraim Mirick were among the leaders in community
(5).
- ___________________
- 3. "In Memoriam," 2; American Peoples Encyclopedia, s.v.
"North Carolina."
- 4. Peggy Jacoway, First Ladies of Arkansas (Kingsport, Tenn., 1941), 139; "In Memoriarn," 2; Mary
- Medearis, Washington, Arkansas: History on the Southwest Trail (Hope,
Ark., 1976), 46. In about 1855, Albert G. Simms also movcd to Hempstead
County.
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