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Permanent LinkSenator Charles George Saunders View All Years
CHARLES G. SAUNDERS was born at Westmoreland, Oneida County, New York, April 10, 1861, and died at Council Bluffs, Iowa, March 2, 1924. His parents were George W. and Mary E. Walker Saunders, both natives of England. The family removed to Iowa City, Iowa, in 1868, to a farm in Adair County, near Stuart, in 1873, and to another farm near Vail, Crawford County, in 1876. Charles attended public school and entered Drake University in 1882, and was graduated in the classical course in 1886. He taught school a year in Des Moines, read law with Hon. C. C. Nourse, entered the Law Department of the State University of Iowa and was graduated in 1888, and that fall commenced practice in Council Bluffs. ln 1894 he was elected county attorney of Pottawattamie County and was re-elected in l896, serving four years. In 1902 he was elected senator to fill a vacancy, was re-elected in 1903, and again in 1908, serving inclusively from the Thirtieth to the Thirty-fourth general assemblies. He took high rank as a legislator. In the Thirtieth General Assembly he was appointed on behalf of the Senate with M. L. Temple and F. F. Jones on behalf of the House as a committee to investigate the “Indeterminate Sentence and Elmira Reformatory System.” The committee reported to the Thirty-first General Assembly and largely by reason of this report and its recommendations the Thirty-second General Assembly enacted an indeterminate sentence and parole law which, with very little change, remains in force. Mr. Saunders was a man of various activities. In 1895 Governor Drake appointed him an aide on his military staff with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1897 Governor Shaw appointed him judge-advocate general of the Iowa National Guard, and by reason of reappointments of Governors Cummins and Carroll he served until December 31, 1913. In 1901 he was elected a director in the Modern Woodmen of America and served four years. For many years he was a member of the board of trustees of Drake University, chosen by the alumni. His firm, Saunders & Stuart (David E.), were local attorneys for years for the Rock Island and the Great Western railroad companies. He was president of the State Bar Association in 1912. He was an accomplished public speaker, a citizen of high ideals, and rendered valuable service to his community and state.