Of Canterbury, the second son of Ebenezer and Eunice (Hutchins) Sanger, was born in the town of Brooklyn, Conn., April 12th, 1827. In the year 1828 his parents removed to Canterbury, which has since been his residence. His paternal grandfather was James Sanger, of Windsor, Hartford county, Connecticut, and his grandmother, Olive (Chaffee) Sanger. Mr. James Sanger died in Windsor,. Some years after Mrs. Sanger returned to Canterbury, where she resided until her death at an advanced age. The children of this marriage were three sons, James, Ebenezer and Ira, and one daughter, Sally. Immediately after the death of his father, Ebenezer removed from his native town (Windsor) to Canterbury, and remained a resident thereof until his decease in 1863, with the exception of a brief time in Brooklyn. He was twice married, his first wife being Olive Chaffee, a cousin bearing the maiden name of his mother. His second wife ,was Eunice, daughter of Amasa Hutchins, of Plainfield, to whom were born five children: George, Marvin Hutchins, Hannah, Olive Chaffee and Sarah Wright.
The subject of this sketch at the conclusion of his educational period, which was passed in the common schools of the vicinity and at Bacon Academy in Colchester, Conn., devoted three years to business as a mercantile clerk in Plainfield and Providence, R. I. In 1849 he returned to Canterbury and engaged in business for himself as a merchant, continuing with success for a period of twenty years. During this time he was also interested in the cultivation of a farm, which still continues to occupy a part of his time and attention. He had meanwhile not been idle in another field of action, and for a number of years was honored by the suffrages of his townsmen when a candidate for many local offices. In the years 1857 and 1860 he was elected to represent the town at the general assembly. Affiliating, as he always had, with the democratic party, in 1873 he was elected by that party to the office of secretary of state, and re-elected in 1874, 1875 and 1876, holding the office four terms or four successive years. In the years 1882, 1887 and 1889 he was again honored by the citizens, as representative in the legislature of the state, serving as a member of the committees on banks, insurance, temperance and capitol furniture and grounds. In 1864 he was elected judge of probate for the district of Canterbury and is the present incumbent of that office. For more than a quarter of a century he has been town treasurer, and for nearly that time town clerk.
He is president of Brooklyn Savings Bank and a member of Moriah Lodge of F. and A. M., of Danielsonville. He was a member of both legislative committees as a representative of the state at the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the city of Columbus, Ohio, in September, 1888, as also at the centennial celebration of the inauguration of George Washington as president of the United States, in New York city in May, 1889. Mr. Sanger has often been called to fill important positions of trust, among which have been the settlement of several estates of considerable magnitude outside of his judicial district.
On the 14th of November, 1855, Mr. Sanger married Miss Mary J., daughter of Benjamin Bacon, Esq., of Plainfield, and has two daughters, Olive Douglas and Hattie Bacon Sanger, who reside with their parents at Canterbury.