When Blanche Alma Thorp was born on 4 February 1889, in Jewell, Jewell, Kansas, United States, her father, Winfield Scott Thorp, was 28 and her mother, Mary Frances Mason, was 25. She married William Merritt Saunders on 31 May 1909, in Baker City, Baker, Oregon, United States. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 2 daughters. She lived in Sparta Election Precinct, Baker, Oregon, United States in 1910 and Baker City, Baker, Oregon, United States in 1930. She died on 21 October 1969, in Eugene, Lane, Oregon, United States, at the age of 80.