Hi! I was looking for any information on Starling T. Sanders and Mary Owings Sanders she was born Jan. 1862 in Missouri and he was born in Missouri. I can't prove it's him, but there is a 1860 census in Medicine Mercer, Missouri with a Starling Sanders age 14. It appears that there are no parents in the house. James age 19 is head of household then Starling, Edith, Catherine, Coalden?, Eliza, David age 23 and Catherine age 86 (possibly the grandmother?) it says she is from N.C. it also says they are all white

Starling married Mary probably in Missouri then moved to Montana and had all their children there from approx. 1885 through 1888. Their kids: Alma, Marvin, Oakie, Ruby and Mary Beulah. Starling is listed in the Missoula, Montana city directory of 1890 in Stevensville the county of Ravalli.

There is a grandson who is still alive who says that Starling looked like a typical Native American. Also, he remembers driving with his dad in a Model T Ford when he was a boy, from Montegue California to Montana to see his Grandpa Sanders and an Uncle Charlie. While there, they went to an Indian festival where the Indians danced around what looked like to him a may pole. They were possibly Cherokee?

Starling died in Portland Oregon 27 Oct. 1929 and his wife Mary died in Portland Oregon 25 Aug 1939.

I descend from their daughter Mary Beulah Sanders. Beulah's first husband Fred Terwilliger and 2nd husband I don't know. She died from a brain tumor in 1930's?

Another side note: Mary is found in a couple of census records but it always says she is widowed. However, her husband was very much alive. Was she embarrassed that she wasn't with her husband or that she didn't want anyone to know he was Native American? It's just odd, that Starling doesn't show up in any census records as an adult. Was this common for people that were Native American or part Native American to not want to be part of a census?

Does anything sound familiar to anyone???

Thanks for any help!
Betsy