USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Redding > The history of Redding, Connecticut : from its first settlement to the present time > Part 28
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Aaron Sanford, Jr., settled on Redding Ridge, in the eastern part of the town. He married, December 19th, 1813, Fanny Hill, daughter of Andrew L. Hill. Their children were eleven in number: Andrew H., Daniel, Mary, Clara, Henry, Aaron, Fanny, Jesse Lee Mary Elizabeth, John, and Julia H.
Of the above children of Aaron Sanford, Jr., Andrew H. married Louisa Taylor, of Easton, and had one son, Andrew H who died while a soldier in the Civil War. Daniel, the second son, married first Anna Maria Ames, by whom he had one child, Mary. After the death of his first wife he married second Helen E. Sammis, of Norwalk, by whom he had three children, Helen, Belle and Daniel S. Mr. Sanford was founder and for many years principal of the Sanford School on Redding Ridge, now conducted by his son Daniel. (See Chap. xxii.)
Henry, the third son, entered the employ of the Adams Express Com- pany, and rose by application and ability to be President of that great corporation. He married first Nancy Lockwood, of Bridgeport, by whom he had one son, Samuel Simons, now Professor of Music in Yale Uni-
*For sketch of Aaron Sanford, see Chapter XIX.
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versity. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Sanford married second Mrs. Olive Burchard, of New York City.
Aaron, the fourth son, married Flora Jane Bradley, of Newtown, and settled in that town. His children were, Mary and William H., the lat- ter now connected with the Century Magazine. Mr. Sanford was for a term of years High Sheriff of Fairfield County, and held other offices of trust.
Fanny, the third daughter, married Edward P. Shaw, for many years Principal of the Sanford School. (See Chap. xxii.) Their children were Emma, Henry, Edward, and Samuel.
Mary Elizabeth, the fourth daughter, married Marshall S. Driggs, of New York, and had one child, who died in infancy.
Jesse, the 5th son, married Fanny M. Osborn, of Redding. Their children are Marshall D., Jesse O., Samuel H., Sarah E., Olivia, George, and Aaron.
John, the 6th son, married Jennie Miller, of Redding. Their children are Elbert M. and John C.
Hawley, the second son of Aaron Sanford, Sr., married Betsey How, November 2d, 1814, by whom he had three children, Jesse Lee, John Russell, and Betsey. On the death of his wife he married second Sarah Ketchum, November 20th, 1823. The children of this marriage were Francis A., Hawley, Aaron K., David B., Lydia, Morris H., and Mary A. S.
Of the last named children, Hawley, the second son, married Eliza- beth Johnson, of Easton, Conn., and had children Mary L., now Mrs. John Burrill; Alcimore M., now a prominent member of the Wisconsin Conference ; Wilbur Y., Harriet, John, Nellie, Jennie, Frank, and Charles.
Aaron K. married Frances L. Burnham, and had one child, Clarence R. He has received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Syracuse University. He is a well known member of the New York Conference of the M. E. Church, having been Presiding Elder for two terms, and Missionary Superintendent of the New York City Church Extension and Missionary Society, as well as having held other prominent official posi- tions. He was a delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1880, and also a member of the Ecumenical Meth- odist Conference at City Road Chapel, London, Eng., in 1901.
David B. Sanford married Cornelia A. Lacy, of Bethel. They had one child, Cornelia. On the death of his wife Mr. Sanford married sec- ond Julia A. Janes, who bore him three children, Harriet, Lydia, and Edward. On her death he married third Charlotte Willey. David B. Sanford removed while still a young man to Independence, Ia., where several of his children are now living. He died in 1904.
Morris H. Sanford entered the Civil War as Second Lieutenant of
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Company C in the Nineteenth Infantry, afterward the Second Heavy Artillery, Conn. Volunteers, and was promoted for merit to be First Lieutenant and later Captain; was severely wounded at the battle of Cedar Creek, Va. On November 23, 1859, he married Elizabeth A. White, of Easton, and shortly after his honorable discharge from the service he removed to Iowa, where he died, September 30, 1875. He was a man of large ability and of much influence in his community. His death, as the result of an army disease, in his early prime brought grief to a wide circle of friends. His children were: Wilbur, Minnie, Fred- eric, Fanny, and Morris D., of whom Frederic and Morris D. are now living in Iowa. Mrs. Sanford, now Mrs. Plane, resides in Cedar Rapids, Ia.
Of the daughters, Lydia married the Rev. Henry B. Mead, a Meth- odist clergyman, who died April 15th, 1906. Her oldest son, George B., is a Methodist clergyman, a member of the New York Conference. Emory L., the second son, is head master of the Utica N. Y. Free Acad- emy. Hawley S., the third son, is in the life insurance business in Toledo, O. A daughter, Mary, died July 13, 1898.
Mary A. S. married the Rev. Alexander McAllister, of the New York East Conference, who died July 28, 1906.
Francis A. Sanford, the eldest of the above named children, remained in Redding and was for forty years one of the central figures in the life of the town. He married Lucy Hawley Knapp. Their children were: Caroline Knapp, Arthur Benton, Myron Reed, Emma Caroline, and Frank Herbert. The following sketch of his career will be appreciated by those who knew him in life:
Francis Asbury Sanford, eldest son of Hawley and Sarah Ketchum Sanford, was born on August 13, 1824. Though his boyhood was spent on the far-extended farm of his ancestors in the valley of the Saugatuck, and though river, meadow, and mountain always attracted him, his stronger inclination early led him to a commercial life. After the usual time at school, completed by a brief course in more advanced studies at Amenia Seminary, and a short experience in teaching, he became clerk for Edward Starr who owned the general store on Redding Ridge, where, through various circumstances, in a few years he passed from employe to owner.
In other days the country store stood to the needs of the community in a far different relation from that now held by its small and unim- portant successor. All of the wants of the neighborhood were there sup- plied, the luxuries as well as the necessities of the daily life. Silks, satins, and broadcloth were as much a part of the stock as the calicoes and the jeans; drugs and lotions were to be found there, as well as the staples that maintained the community. If the carpenter did not find the
FRANCIS A. SANFORD,
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odd hinge or lock necessary to the new house, the order for it was left at the "store." Here the housewife could furnish from garret to cellar her new home, if it were not too pretentious ; no department was forgotten in the multifarious supply that streamed forth from the unfailing source. An amusing incident related of two men in a neighboring town will show how complete was the assortment carried, even though the story cannot now be verified. One had wagered the other that he could not ask for anything which the merchant could not supply. Devising what seemed to him an impossible request, the other of the two went to the store and innocently asked if he might see a "second-hand pulpit." The clerk led him to a loft in an adjoining storeroom and showed him the article in question, which had been bought some time before at the dismantling of an abandoned church.
Perhaps nowhere in New England was a stock more varied than at the Ridge store. Under Mr. Sanford's management the circle of trade grew until, in some directions, its radius was six and seven miles. To illustrate by a detail or two, in the height of its activity, the grocery department needed a hogshead of molasses each month to supply its customers ; flour was, one year, bought by the carload ; tons of butter were yearly sent to the Bridgeport market and even to New Haven; eggs by the thousands of dozen were barreled and sent out in continuous flow ; earthen ware came each year by the wagon-load from the pottery at Norwalk; the contents of crates of the better ware, straight from the packers in England, were awaited by the dames who loved a tastily fur- nished table.
Where all the hides, hickory nuts, and huckleberries came from was as great a wonder as where the cases of calico and loads of corn and "feed" disappeared to. Why has not some one written up the relation of the country store to the economics of the early republic? What dick- erings and bargainings there were in the thirty years of the development of trade at the Ridge! What pleasantries, what arguments in religion, politics, the social order over the bartering-discussions out of which came changed views of life and duty. To illustrate the pleasantry of those sturdy men, one incident will be sufficient. Late, one zero night, a prominent member of the Ridge community stood buttoning his coat and drawing on his gloves. "Boys, I'd give a dollar if I had that stove to go home by." "You shall have it," shouted some one, and, bars be- ing found, and the stovepipe detached, four men carried the red-hot stove out into the arctic temperature and over the hill to the west, while the rash proposer tried to extract a dollar's worth of warmth out of the venture.
The Ridge is no longer a center of trade. The farmers, the drovers, the clergymen of that evening circle are gone. One name only remains
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unstarred-that of the genial village tailor, with his English pleasantries, who measured critically, if he did not weigh in a balance, his fellow townsmen. Honor and reverence be to him while he still lingers in green old age, most worthy representative of departed colleagues strong and true.
But though he built up and managed the business in all its details, Mr. Sanford's real forte from the first was to be seen in other than the daily barter. The conduct of this, so far as possible, he left to others. He loved a larger line of work. In 1852, two years after he acquired the business, a petition was circulated by the people of the Ridge which brought him the post-mastership; the same year saw him notary public and Justice of the Peace, offices which he held practically continuously until he left Redding in 1879. At the breaking out of the Rebellion, he was a Selectman, and united with his two associates in the call for a special town meeting "to consider the expediency of appropriating funds to defray the expenses of the families of those who enlist in the service of the United States army." Throughout the strife he was a staunch and enthusiastic supporter of the national administration. In 1865, while the clouds of war yet hung over the land, he was elected Senator for the IIth District, and filled an important place in the counsels of that Legis- lature, originating useful measures still in force. Again, in 1868, he was a member of the Legislature, as a Representative. Long he was a Com- missioner of the Superior Court. In the passing years there also came to him constant opportunities for advice in the more unnoticed, but hard- ly less important, offices of administrator of estates, executor of wills, treasurer of his church, chairman of school boards, and banker of the community-and these, with other trusts, occupied all the spare hours of a busy life. His safe was always full of papers, not only of those of the immediate neighborhood, but of those of adjoining localities.
What varied scenes the store beheld in the changing years! Here came complainants to "Squire Frank" concerning those who were dis- turbing the public peace or welfare; here men were more than once sent behind prison walls; here droves of cattle were exchanged for endorsed notes ; here was heard the "I give, devise, and bequeath" of the last will and testament ; the annual tax was on certain days to be paid here ; here the hard-working farmer came to leave his small gains to be put into some saving institution, or some widow to apply to the Government for pension ; committees of all kinds and complexions met here and arrived at decisions that affected the interests and welfare of a wide-spread com- munity. The center of this life, Mr. Sanford gave the best of his years to these and similar activities. When remonstrated with that some par- ticular act was unrewarded he would answer, "Oh, well, he cannot afford to pay a lawyer's fees." It was in the same spirit that he sent a substitute
FORMER RESIDENCE OF FRANCIS A. SANFORD. Redding Ridge. burned May 13, 1879.
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to the war, though exempt by official position. Who shall say that he did not reap full reward in the joy of service to his fellow men?
The burning of his residence, store, and other buildings on May 12, 1879, marked the end of his activities in Redding. Afterwards he lived in New York, later in Fairfield and in Bridgeport.
From his early years he was a most conscientious and valuable mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church-of which his grandfather, Aaron Sanford, had been the first male member and the first steward, class lead- er, and local preacher in New England. Throughout his long life, he illustrated in his daily walks the many virtues of Christian discipleship. In serenity and a good man's hope of the life immortal, he died at Bridge- port, Conn., September 13, 1899.
Lucy Knapp Sanford, his wife, the faithful, untiring companion of all his enterprises-herself a resident of Redding, and a descendant of sturdy and historic families, both on the paternal and maternal sides- died a few months later, May 23, 1900.
Of the children of Francis A. and Lucy H. Sanford :
Arthur Benton Sanford was educated in preparatory schools and at Wesleyan University, becoming a member of the ΓΈ B. K. Society at grad- uation, and afterwards taking the M. A. degree in course. Having joined the New York East Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he served as pastor in Connecticut, New York City, and Brooklyn-one pastorate being at John Street, New York City, the mother church of American Methodism. In 1890, he became Assistant Editor of the Methodist Review, filling that position till 1901, and for a short period was acting editor of the publication. He was, besides, at the General Con- ferences of 1888 and 1892, one of the editors of the Daily Advocate; in 1891, editor of the Proceedings of the Second Ecumenical Methodist Conference, at Washington, D. C .; in 1891-1901, editor of the Methodist Year Book and the General Minutes of the Church.
After long service as an Assistant Secretary of his Conference, he became Secretary of that body in 1897, and yet fills this important office, being also editor of the annual Minutes of the Conference. In 1900, he was a delegate to the Ecumenical Missionary Conference of all Denom- inations, in New York City; in 1901, he was a member of the Third Ecumenical Methodist Conference, held in John Wesley's "Cathedral Church," the City Road Chapel, London, England ; in 1904, he went as a delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at Los Angeles, California. In 1904-5, he served as President of the New York Preachers' Meeting, of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In 1886, he married Miss Nellie M. Hunt, daughter of the late Sand- ford Hunt, D. D., Agent of the Methodist Book Concern in New York City. Their children are Arthur Hunt Sanford, now a Sophomore at
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Princeton University, and Laurence Hunt Sanford. In 1893, the subject of our sketch received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the Syra- cuse University. Among other prominent positions he has filled, Dr. Sanford is now a member of the Methodist Historical Society in the city of New York, and one of its Vice-Presidents ; a member of the Board of the Deaconess Home, Brooklyn, N. Y .; a Trustee of the John Street M. E. Church Trust Fund Society ; a Manager of the American Sabbath Union; a Manager of the Tract Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church; and a Trustee of Syracuse University. He has been a some- time lecturer on early Methodism and on European and American travel. At present, he is a pastor in the New York East Conference.
For a sketch of Prof. Myron R. Sanford, see Chap. xix.
Walter, the third son of Aaron Sanford, Sr., married, December 6, 1821, Harriet M. Booth. She bore him one son, Charles, who died October 29, 1901. After her death Mr. Sanford married second Emily Gorham.
William, fourth son of Aaron Sanford, Sr., married, May 2d, 1832, Harriet Tuttle. They had one daughter, Martha Tuttle, who died April 30, 1852, aged eighteen years.
Of the daughters of Aaron Sanford, Sr., Betsey married John Read Hill, of Redding. Hannah married the Rev. Aaron Hunt, a Methodist clergyman, celebrated in his day as being the first to successfully contest the old colonial law which forbade all ministers except those of the "Standing Order" to perform the marriage ceremony. Mr. Hunt was at one time located and resided for several years in Redding. Charlotte married Thomas B. Fanton. Lydia married Aaron Sanford Hyatt.
Lemuel Sanford, second son of Lemuel Sanford, settled in the Centre, near his father. He married, September 20th, 1768, Mary Russell, of North Branford, Conn. The circumstances attending his marriage are thus narrated : He left Redding on horseback, early on the morning of his wedding-day, but was delayed on the road and did not reach Branford until midnight. By that time the wedding guests had dispersed and the family had retired ; but he roused them up, collected the guests, and the ceremony was performed. The next day bride and groom returned to Redding, travelling on horseback. The children of Lemuel and Mary Sanford were : Lemuel, born July 18th, 1769 ; Roda, born Mar. 4th, 1773; Mary, born May 18th, 1776, married Dr. Thomas Peck; Abigail, born 1779, died in infancy ; Jonathan R., born February IIth, 1782; Abigail, born April 18th, 1784; Lucretia, born May 4th, 1786.
Mr. Lemuel Sanford died March 12th, 1803, at Danbury, in the per- formance of his duties as Judge of the County Court, leaving a most honorable record. He had filled all the positions of honor and trust in his native town, and during the Revolution had been a member of the
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Committee of Supply, the duties of which kept him absent in Danbury and Fairfield nearly the whole period of the war. He several times represented the town in the General Assembly, and also held the office of Associate Judge of the County Court.
Lemuel Sanford, eldest son of Judge Sanford, after being educated at President Dwight's famous academy on Greenfield Hill, returned to Redding, married Mary Heron, daughter of Squire Heron, and settled in the Centre, on the farm now owned by Albert Gorham. He was a man of much ability, and quite prominent in town affairs. He had but two children, Mary and Julia.
Jonathan Russell Sanford, second son of Lemuel and Mary Russell Sanford, married Maria, daughter of Dr. Thomas F. and Hannah Chrissy Davies, October 17, 1808. Their children were: Amanda, Maria, Lem- uel, Jonathan R., and Thomas. It has been the lot of very few men to be so closely identified with the affairs of their native town. In 1808, the year of his marriage, he was elected Town Clerk and Treasurer, and held these offices by consecutive appointment the remainder of his life, a period of nearly half a century. After his election as Judge of Pro- bate he continued in that office till he reached the age of seventy. In 1831, he succeeded his brother Lemuel as Clerk and Treasurer of the Congregational Society and continued to serve the church in that capacity till two years before his death. At different periods he represented the town in the State Legislature, and it is said of him in Crosby's Obituary Records that he discharged the duties of all the various trusts both of a public and private nature with a sternness of integrity and a purity of purpose seldom equaled, and through a long life he enjoyed in an emi- nent degree the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. He died August 21, 1858.
Judge Lemuel Sanford, eldest son of Jonathan Russell and Maria (Davies) Sanford, was born in Redding, September 18, 1816. Following closely in the footsteps of his father and grandfather he became in his early manhood deeply interested in the affairs of his native town. Under the personal instruction of his uncle, Rev. Jonathan Bartlett, he acquired a fine classical education, and early in life developed a taste and talent for legal studies which continued all through his life. His habits of close investigation into any case that came to his notice gave him the enviable record of never having a decision given by him reversed, when cases decided by him were carried into the higher courts.
During the time his father was Probate Judge, he filled the office of Probate Clerk, and at the retirement of his father, he was elected to suc- ceed him, and with the exception of one year continued to hold the office till he also reached the age of retirement. At the Town Meeting im- mediately succeeding his father's death, he was unanimously elected to
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fill the offices of Town Clerk and Treasurer, left vacant. In con- tinuous faithful service of nearly fifty years, although for much of the time his party was in the minority, he continued to hold these offices, with an interim of but one year, till the time of his death, in 1890.
In 1847 he represented the Eleventh Senatorial District in the State Senate to the entire satisfaction of his constituents, being at that time the youngest member of the Senate. His whole life was spent in his native town, taking the deepest interest in whatever pertained to its welfare, and that he had the esteem and confidence of his fellow townsmen was evidenced by the numerous positions of trust and respon- sibility that were given to his care irrespective of party. He was also an honorary member of the Fairfield Historical Society.
For many years he was a member of the Congregational Church, and succeeded his father as Clerk and Treasurer of the Society, con- tinuing in office till his death. He married Abby Maria, daughter of Bradley and Betsey Hill, and built, in 1847, the house adjoining that of his uncle, Rev. Jonathan Bartlett. He died June 9th, 1890. His only son, Jonathan Bartlett Sanford, married Edith Dayton, of Philadelphia, Pa., and occupies the old homestead. There were six daughters: Mary Russell, who married Henry S. Osborn, of Redding, died Dec. 9th, 1895; Sarah Elizabeth; Abbie Bartlett, married Rev. Wm. Bailey Hague, of Galesburg, Il1; Martha Hill, married Henry S. Osborn; Alice Amanda, married Wm. Barlow Hill, of Greenfield, Conn .; Gertrude Lucretia, mar- ried LeRoy Woolsey Randle, of Wilton, Conn.
Jonathan R., the second son, represented his town in the Connecticut General Assembly, 1854, 1870, 1874, and was Senator from the Elev- enth District in 1878-9. He also held many town offices, was high in his party councils, and was often appointed to appraise and administer estates. He married, May 16, 1847, Clarissa, daughter of the late Deacon Samuel Read. They had but one child, Hannah Maria, who died suddenly at the age of twenty-five. He died February 28, 1897.
Thomas Sanford, the youngest son, was for many years one of the best known and most influential imen in his county. In 1850 he was appointed Deputy Sheriff, which office he held for six years. In 1860 he was elected Sheriff of the County, which office he filled for three years to the satisfaction of his constituents, but declined a re-nomination. He served in the State Legislature in 1856, and again in 1877, and at various times served on important State Commissions appointed by the Governor. He was also largely 'employed in the settlement of estates. He married Charlotte A. Hewitt. They had a son, Thomas F., now a Professor in the University of California, and a daughter, Mary A.
Ezekiel, third son of Lemuel Sanford the first, married Abigail Starr, November 21st, 1773, and settled in Boston district, in the western part
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of the town. His children were: Mollie, baptized December 18th, 1774. Rebecca, baptized April 24th, 1777. Ezekiel, baptized November Ist, 1778. Abigail, baptized March 19th, 1780; perhaps others. He is called captain in the old records. Some of his descendants are now living in Amenia, N. Y.
Samuel Sanford the first, settled in Umpawaug. He is called captain in the records. His children were: Daniel, baptized April 22d, 1734; Seth, baptized August 23d, 1735; Mary, March 19th, 1738; David, De- cember 2d, 1739; Abigail, January 30th, 1743; Samuel, May 5th, 1745; Sarah, May roth, 1747; Esther, April 16th, 1749; Ezra, March 25th, 1751 ; Rachel, February 25th, 1753; Peter, May 23d, 1756. Captain Sam- ttel Sanford died November 6th, 1768, aged sixty-two years.
Daniel, married Esther Hull, April 18th, 1758. Children: Eli, bap- tized August 16, 1761 ; Chloe, July 5th, 1767; and others. Seth married Rebecca, daughter of Deacon Stephen Burr, April 25th, 1759. Her chil- dren, named in Deacon Burr's will, 1776, were: Elias, Ebenezer, Joel, Elijah, Samuel, and Seth. Mary married Timothy Sanford, son of Joseph. Abigail married John Hawley, December 21st, 1762. Samuel, Jr., married Sarah Olmsted, July 23d, 1767. (Town record.) His chil- dren recorded were: Uriah, baptized February 14th, 1768; Thomas, De- cember 17th, 1769. Peter married Abigail Keeler, June Ist, 1780.
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