11. James Monroe Saner

Eleventh Sheriff of Kendall County- April 1908 - December 1916

When James Monroe Saner (Monroe) passed away in 1923, a three-man committee consisting of F. W. Schweppe, chairman, Edward Bierschwale and Joseph Graham, wrote a touching resolution honoring his life. They described him as "a valliant [sic] and efficient officer, a just and upright citizen; the people who knew him a true friend and his family a loving and devoted husband and father." Monroe was born in Boerne in 1855. During the Civil War, his family moved to Bandera County where his father was a teacher and the Clerk of Court for the county. After the war, they returned to Boerne. Monroe worked cattle for a time and became a deputy sheriff serving with Albert Bodemann later George Zoeller. During his time with Sheriff Bodemann, Monroe assisted in the capture of the Pitts and Yeager gang. This gang was a splinter group of the James gang in Missouri. When Sheriff George Zoeller died in 1908, the county asked Deputy Saner to finish Zoeller's unexpired term. Saner served as sheriff for four more terms. The county continued to grow, and the courthouse and jail received several improvements. The jail improvements included a telephone, electricity, and a "flush closet." Saner retired in 1916, after thirty years in law enforcement, Saner retired.

Source: Adam Hurst, Kathryn. "James Monroe Saner" Keys to the Past. Vol. XXXVIII No. 1,

     Spring/Summer 2019.