Papers : 1775-1910.

The Saunders family was established in Virginia long before the outbreak of the American Revolution. John Saunders' father, Jonathan Saunders, owned an estate of 1200 acres when he and his wife died within a few years of each other. The management of the property, and the care of the younger children, fell to Jacob Ellegood and his wife Mary, John's older sister. In 1775 John Saunders assumed control of the estate, and as the Revolution progressed his situation became more difficult. Finally, because he refused to endorse the Continental Association of October 1774, he was denounced and ostracized.

After he raised a company in Ellegood's, Queen's Loyal Virginia Regiment, and accompanied Governor Lord Dunmore to New York, his property was confiscated by the rebels. Later at the Battle of Brandywine, Pennsylvania, on 12 September 1777, he was wounded, and when he was able to rejoin his regiment it was commanded by Maj. John Graves Simcoe and called the Queen's Rangers.

In 1780 Capt. Saunders was sent to South Carolina where he took part in operations around Charleston, and was in command at Georgetown for a period of time before returning to New York in 1782. He sailed for England the same year, and in 1784 entered the Inns of Court to study at the Middle Temple. He was admitted to the bar in 1789. Appointment as a judge of the New Brunswick Supreme Court soon followed, as did his marriage in 1790 to Arianna Chalmers (1768-1845), the daughter of Lt. Col. James Chalmers (1727-1806), the wealthy and distinguished Loyalist who raised the Maryland Loyalists during the American Revolution, and to whom the pamphlet, Plain Truth, written in 1776, is attributed.

John Saunders built a house in Fredericton, but his ambition was to establish an estate, modeled on the one he had lost in Virginia, and to this end he built the Barony, 40 miles above Fredericton on the St. John River. In addition to his judgeship, he held many offices, including: member of the Legislative Assembly; a lieutenant-colonel in the militia; member of the Executive Council; and finally, Chief Justice of New Brunswick from 1822-1834.

John Saunders's only son, John Simcoe Saunders (1795-1878), was born in Fredericton and educated at Oxford. He was appointed to numerous offices in the New Brunswick government including: advocate general, surveyor general, provincial secretary, member of the Executive Council, and member and later president of the Legislative Council, which office he held until his death. John Saunders' daughters were Eliza Chalmers (1794-1821), who married R. Flood, and Arianna Margaretha Chalmers (1790-1868), who married Capt. George Shore (1787-1851) in 1815. He led one of the six companies of the 104th Regiment of Foot during its famous march overland from Fredericton to Upper Canada in the winter of 1813. Later he held several government offices, was a member of the Executive Council, and became adjutant general of the militia. Through his efforts, the New Brunswick militia system was greatly improved.