{{short description|President of the College of William and Mary from 1847 to 1848}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Robert Saunders Jr. | image = Robert_Saunders,_Jr.jpg | image_size = 150px | caption = | order = 14th | title = President of the<br />College of William & Mary | term_start = 1846 | term_end = 1848 | predecessor = Thomas Roderick Dew | successor = John Johns | office2 = Senate of Virginia | term_start2 = 1852 | term_end2 = 1858 | party = Whig | birth_date = January 25, 1805 | birth_place = | death_date = September 11, 1868<ref name=Wiki/> or 1869<ref name=JSTOR/> | spouse = Lucy Burwell Page Saunders | alma_mater = College of William & Mary <br /> University of Virginia }}
'''Robert Saunders Jr.''' (January 25, 1805 – September 11, 1868 or 1869) was an American politician and school administrator who served as president of the College of William & Mary from 1847 to 1848.<ref>{{cite web|title=19th Century Presidents|url=http://www.wm.edu/about/administration/president/history/nineteen/index.php|publisher=College of William and Mary|accessdate=January 25, 2011|archive-date=May 28, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528155323/http://www.wm.edu/about/administration/president/history/nineteen/index.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> Prior to that, Saunders served as professor of mathematics from 1833 to 1847. He also served as a Virginia state senator from 1852 to 1858 and as mayor of Williamsburg, Virginia in 1859 and 1868<ref>{{cite web|title=Past Mayors and Governors|url=http://www.williamsburgva.gov/Index.aspx?page=262|publisher=City of Williamsburg, Va.|accessdate=February 4, 2011|archive-date=March 8, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308053711/http://www.williamsburgva.gov/Index.aspx?page=262|url-status=dead}}</ref> as well as the head of Eastern State Hospital (then known as the Eastern Lunatic Asylum).<ref>{{cite web|title=Page-Saunders Papers|url=http://scrc.swem.wm.edu/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=6764|publisher=Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary|accessdate=January 25, 2011}}</ref> His family papers are held by the Special Collections Research Center at the College of William & Mary.<ref>{{cite web|title=Page-Saunders Papers|url=http://scrc.swem.wm.edu/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=6764|publisher=Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary|location=Williamsburg, VA|accessdate=January 25, 2011 }}</ref>
==Ancestry== The first of the Saunders family is thought to have moved to Virginia in the late Seventeenth century. During this time, Robert Saunders Jr.'s great-great-great-grandfather John Saunders (died c. February 1700) accumulated large amounts of property–both land and slaves–along the York River in York County.<ref name=JSTOR>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1915172|journal=The William and Mary Quarterly|publisher=The College of William and Mary in Virginia|location=Williamsburg, VA|title=Saunders Family|date=January 1906|access-date=May 31, 2021|volume=14|number=3|pages=145–150|doi=10.2307/1915172|jstor=1915172|url-access=subscription}}</ref>{{rp|145}}
==Biography== Robert Saunders Jr. was born January 25, 1805, to Robert Saunders (born 1761) and his second wife Susannah Jones.<ref name=JSTOR/>{{rp|147–148}} Like his father, Saunders attended the College of William & Mary, receiving an A.B. in 1823. He also attended the University of Virginia in 1825, the university's first year of operation, taking courses in law.<ref name=Wiki>{{cite web|url=https://scdbwiki.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index.php/Robert_Saunders_(1805-1868)|title=Robert Saunders (1805–1868)|work=Special Collections Research Center Wiki|publisher=Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary|location=Williamsburg, VA|access-date=May 31, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601042005/https://scdbwiki.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index.php/Robert_Saunders_%281805-1868%29|archive-date=June 1, 2021}}</ref>
On June 17, 1828, Saunders married Lucy Burwell Page, daughter of John Page, the former Virginia Governor and congressman of the U.S. House of Representatives.<ref name=JSTOR/> Lucy became an author, writing short stories including at least one ghost story.<ref name=papers>{{cite web|url=https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=wm/viw00059.xml|title=Inventory of Page-Saunders Papers 1790–1932|via=ead.lib.virginia.edu|publisher=Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary|location=Williamsburg, VA|access-date=May 31, 2021}}</ref>
Saunders was elected professor of mathematics at the College of William & Mary in 1833 and served in this position until 1848.<ref name=JSTOR/>{{rp|148}}<ref name=Wiki/> While the college's president, Thomas Roderick Dew, was away on an extended honeymoon trip to Europe with his new wife Natalia Hay, Saunders was to serve in the role ''pro tem''.<ref name=Wiki/> However, Dew died in Paris in August 1846, leading to Saunders being narrowly selected to assume the role officially.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://scdbwiki.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index.php/Thomas_Roderick_Dew|title=Thomas Roderick Dew|work=Special Collections Research Center Wiki|publisher=Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary|location=Williamsburg, VA|access-date=May 31, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601050147/https://scdbwiki.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index.php/Thomas_Roderick_Dew|archive-date=June 1, 2021}}</ref> Saunders is notable as he was the sole president of the college not to reside in the President's House during his presidency, instead electing to remain in his residence along the Palace Green near the former site of the Governor's Palace.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wm.edu/about/history/historiccampus/presidentshouse/index.php|title=The President's House|work=wm.edu |publisher=The College of William and Mary in Virginia |location=Williamsburg, Virginia | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513011208/https://www.wm.edu/about/history/historiccampus/presidentshouse/index.php|archive-date=May 13, 2021 }}</ref>
Saunders's time as President of the college was fraught with divisiveness and a general decline in the college's wellbeing. John Millington and other professors urged Saunders to move the college to Richmond, but Saunders's support for such an action and his inability to stabilize the college led to the forced resignation of Saunders and nearly every professor.<ref name=Wiki/><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1921591|title=John Millington (1779–1868)|last=Gladden|first=Sanford Charles|journal=The William and Mary Quarterly|publisher=The College of William and Mary in Virginia|location=Williamsburg, VA|date=July 1933|access-date=May 31, 2021|volume=13|number=3|page=159|doi=10.2307/1921591|jstor=1921591|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Staunch slavery advocate Nathaniel Beverly Tucker of the Law School was spared this fate as his politics secured favor with the Board of Visitors.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/nbtucker/|title=1834–1851: Nathaniel Beverly Tucker|publisher=William & Mary Law School|access-date=May 31, 2021|location=Williamsburg, VA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228000932/https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/nbtucker/|archive-date=February 28, 2021}}</ref>
After leaving the college, Saunders was elected to the Virginia state senate in 1852, representing Williamsburg for three two-year terms.<ref name=Wiki/> Faltering in the political sphere, Saunders travelled alone to seek employment with the Confederate States of America in Richmond, ultimately finding some clerical work.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://scrcguides.libraries.wm.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/127100|title=Robert Saunders at Richmond to his wife Lucy, 1862 November 16|access-date=May 31, 2021|publisher=Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary|location=Williamsburg, VA}}</ref> Robert Saunders Jr. died in either 1868<ref name=Wiki/> or 1869.<ref name=JSTOR/> Lucy died in 1885.<ref>{{cite news|title=Death in the Louise Home.|work=National Republican|date=June 18, 1885|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/38537988/lucy-burwell-page-saunders/|via=newspapers.com|access-date=May 31, 2021|page=4|location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://scrc.swem.wm.edu/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=6764 Finding aid for the Page-Saunders Papers] * [http://scrc.swem.wm.edu/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=8065 Finding aid for the Robert Saunders Letters] * [http://scrc.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index.php/Robert_Saunders SCRC Wiki page for Robert Saunders]
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{Succession box |title=Mayor of Williamsburg, Virginia | before=John J. Maupin <br />John H. Barlow | after=R. M. Garrett <br />Robert F. Cole | years=1859 <br />1868}} {{s-end}} {{College of William & Mary presidents}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Robert Jr.}} Category:1805 births Category:1868 deaths Category:19th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly Category:College of William & Mary faculty Category:Mayors of Williamsburg, Virginia Category:People of Virginia in the American Civil War Category:Presidents of the College of William & Mary