Thomas Henry Sanders and Ellen Hood were married in 1885 registered in the Queenstown parish. They had 5 children: George, b. 1895, William, b. 1886, Sarah, b, 1888, Jane, b. 1892, Robert, b, 1889. The births were also registered in the Queenstown parish. I am the granddaughter of jane. I am trying to find living relatives of her siblings. Does anyone know anything about this family. I have found a listing for William Sanders marrying Katherine Philp June 25, 1912 that sounds about right regarding age. However its the only marriage for any of them that shows up and makes any sense.

Ellen appears in the 1893 electoral roll
Surname SANDERS
Given Name Ellen
Number 3059
Electorate Wakatipu
Voting Qualification Residential
Residential Address Arthur's Point
Occupation Married woman

there is a Henry who could be yours:

Surname SANDERS
Given Name Thomas
Number 3062
Electorate Wakatipu
Voting Qualification Residential
Residential Address Arrow River
Occupation Miner

cenotaph has this: http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/cenotaph/locations....
Full Name George Sanders
Forename(s) George
Surname Sanders
War World War I, 1914-1918
Serial No.42713
First Known Rank Rifleman
Occupation before Enlistment Goldminer
Next of Kin Mrs Sanders (mother), Arthur's Point, Queenstown, New Zealand
Body on Embarkation New Zealand Rifle Brigade
Embarkation Unit Reinforcements J Company
Embarkation Date 2 April 1917
Place of Embarkation Wellington, New Zealand
Transport HMNZT 80
Vessel Corinthic
Destination Plymouth, England
Nominal Roll Number 57
Page on Nominal Roll 37
[his mother as nok suggests he wasn't married at that stage]

the only marriages I could find too... for Queenstown Presbyterian Church
http://archives.presbyterian.org.nz/marriageregisters/synodr...

SANDERS Thomas Henry 31y HOOD, Ellen 22y 5 Sep 1885 ref:23/4/2
SANDERS William 25y PHILP, Katherine 21y, 25 Jun 1912 ref:23/4/4

I found these on burial locator:
Source NZSG Cemetery Fiche
Surname SANDERS
Given Names Ellen
Year of Death 1935
Record Number 799
Record Type B/R
Age 73
Location Queenstown Cemetery S05.09

Source NZSG Cemetery Fiche
Surname SANDERS
Given Names Thomas
Year of Death 1908
Record Number 529
Record Type B/R
Age 54
Location Queenstown Cemetery S05.09

Source NZSG Cemetery Fiche
Surname SANDERS
Given Names William
Year of Death 1940
Record Number 861
Record Type B/R
Age 56
Location Queenstown Cemetery S05.09

Source NZSG Cemetery Fiche
Surname SANDERS
Given Names Catherine Agnes
Year of Death 1959
Record Number 1078
Record Type B/R
Age 69
Location Queenstown Cemetery S05.09

Source NZSG Cemetery Fiche
Surname SANDERS
Given Names Twins
Year of Death 1973
Record Number 1248
Record Type B/R
Age Stillborn
Location Queenstown Cemetery S05.09

Source NZSG Cemetery Fiche
Surname SANDERS
Given Names William James
Year of Death 1965
Record Number 1147
Record Type B/R
Age 51
Location Queenstown Cemetery S05.09

there is also this early one:
Source NZSG Cemetery Fiche
Surname SANDERS
Given Names Thomas
Year of Death 1872
Record Number 39
Record Type B/R
Age 64
Location Queenstown Cemetery S05.09

there are also two Thomas Sanders listed as holders of mining licenses at http://www.kaelewis.com maybe these are yours too.

wow-thanks so much. this gives me some location help. I don't know about the mining thing because what I remember my grandmother telling me was that they lived on a sheep ranch. But, perhaps he got into mining later. is the burial locator online? if so could you tell me the url?

The burial locator is a CD. You can purchase it online, as with many other helpful books and CD's from the New Zealand Society of Genealogists (you don't have to be a member to buy) http://www.genealogy.org.nz

There are many resources online where you can look though. I tried the old newspaper site but found nothing:
http://www.oldbios.com
you could look in Paperspast and see what you can find, it is great http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast

use this site for bdm:
http://bdmhistoricalrecords.identityservices.govt.nz/home/

My father was friends with a Gerry Sanders for many years. They lived at Alexandra, however have passed on now. I don't know anything about their ancestry. There were two sons Peter and David.

Perhaps you could contact the council who look after the Queenstown cemetery and ask them about the next of kin of the most recent burials. Google the cemetery and it should come up who looks after that. They may refer you to the sexton or funeral director. Its worth a try. That way you will find out living relatives.

good luck,
Amanda

wonderful help thanks again. I'll give that a try.