Biographical Sketch:  Baldy Sanders (1797-1866) was a member of one of Johnston County's largest slave-holding families. He was the son of Col. John and Jemima Jones Sanders of what is now Cleveland Township, Johnston County. In 1822 he married his cousin Delia Sanders (1798-1864), daughter of Reuben and Keren Smith Sanders, and they had intermittently owned at least 128 slaves by the end of the Civil War. Their landholdings were at 1,650 acres as early as 1833. Their Greek Revival-style home, built circa 1830, still stands on Polenta Road in Cleveland Township. Baldy and Delia Sanders are buried in the family plot at Oakland Presbyterian Church.

Collection Description:  The collection contains records of 128 slaves born 1774-1865; loose papers relating to cotton gin operations and corn and pork productions, 1841-1853, and Dr. A. F. Telfair's butter account with Mrs. Delia Sanders, 1859-1860; records of plantation productions, overseers, boarders, and guardianships, 1841-1868 (including receipt from "Virginia Department" for "work of Merritt" (slave); accounts from estate of John Sanders, 1830-1833; and a register kept by descendant Bettie Lee Sanders of attendees at a family reunion, including two former slaves, in 1931.