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Edwards S. Sanford

Edwards Sewall Sanford (March 17, 1817 – September 9, 1882) was an American businessman and soldier.

Brevet Brigadier General
Edwards S. Sanford
President of the American Telegraph Company
In office
1861–1866
Preceded byZenus Barnum
Succeeded byAcquired by Western Union
Personal details
Born
Edwards Sewall Sanford

(1817-03-17)March 17, 1817
Medway, Massachusetts
DiedSeptember 9, 1882(1882-09-09) (aged 65)
Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania
SpouseMary Downing
RelationsMilton H. Sanford (brother)
Children2
EducationPierce Academy
Day's Academy

Early life

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Sanford was born on March 17, 1817, in Medway, Massachusetts. He was the second son of prominent businessman and manufacturer Sewall Sanford (1790–1831) and Edena (née Holbrook) Sanford (1786–1876).[1] Among his siblings were Milton Holbrook Sanford, George Francis Sanford, and Edna Jane Sanford (wife of Richard Merritt Le Favor).[2] His father made "the first cotton thread manufactured in America."[1]

His maternal grandfather was Capt. Joseph Holbrook and Meletiah (née Fisher) Holbrook,[3] and his paternal grandparents were Philo Sanford and Lydia (née Whiting) Sanford.[1]

He was educated at Pierce Academy in Middleborough, Massachusetts, before attending Day's Academy in Wrentham, Massachusetts.[4]

Career

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To improve his health, Sanford went to New Orleans, then to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he went into business, however, he lost everything in the panic of 1837, leading him to relocate to New York City in September 1842.[4] In New York, Sanford began working, on commission only, under William B. Dinsmore for the Adams Express Company, the predecessor of which had been founded by Alvin Adams in 1840.[5] He prospered and, not long after, he was put in charge of the company's business in Philadelphia which he expanded greatly into Baltimore and Pittsburgh. He eventually became vice-president and served in that capacity for many years.[6] While vice-president of Adams Express, he was among the organizers of the American Telegraph Company, of which he became president in 1861,[7] four years after it was formed, succeeding Zenus Barnum.[8][9][a] He served as president of the company until it merged into Western Union.[4][11][12]

At the start of the U.S. Civil War, he volunteered his expertise in telegraph communications to the Union Army and was commissioned a Colonel of the U.S. Volunteers and served as Military Supervisor of Telegraphic Messages for the Union Army. In April 1861, the lines of the American Telegraph Company "were extended from their main office, 432 Pennsylvania avenue, Washington, D.C., to the War Department, Navy Yard, Arsenal, Chainbridge, and other outlying points. There was no appropriation to meet the expenses of a government telegraph service, and for six months or more General Sanford paid all the bills, aggregating thousands of dollars, for poles, wires, instruments, salaries of operators, etc."[13] On March 13, 1865, he was brevetted Brigadier General for "meritorious services".[14]

In 1881, he was a founding trustee of the Metropolitan Trust Company.[15]

Personal life

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Sanford was married to Mary Downing (1818–1893), a daughter of George Ryall Downing and Mary (née Riggs) Downing. Together, they were the parents of two children:[4]

  • Mary Riggs Sanford (1846–1903), who married Nathaniel William Taylor Hatch.[16]
  • Edwards Sewall Sanford Jr. (1847–1914),[17] who later worked at Adams Express Company;[18] he married Lilless Ferrier Martin.[4]

Sanford died on September 9, 1882, at Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania.[19] He was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.[20]

References

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Notes
  1. ^ In 1862, the directors of the American Telegraph Company were: Samuel Morse, Amos Kendall, Zenus Barnum, Francis Morris, William M. Swain, John McKesson, Wilson G. Hunt, Hiram O. Alden, John H. Purdy, Edwards S. Sanford, Cambridge Livingston, Caleb A. Burgess, and Marshall Lefferts.[10] The officers were: Sanford as President; Francis Morris as treasurer; Cambridge Livingston, as Counsel and Secretary.[10]
Sources
  1. ^ a b c Sanford, Carlton Elisha (1911). Thomas Sanford, the Emigrant to New England: Ancestry, Life, and Descendants, 1632-4. Higginson Book Company. pp. 9, 269–270, 495. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  2. ^ The Chapin Book of Genealogical Data: With Brief Biographical Sketches, of the Descendants of Deacon Samuel Chapin. Chapin family association. 1924. p. 2159. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  3. ^ Hurd, Duane Hamilton (1884). History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts: With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men. J. W. Lewis & Company. p. 158. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e Sanford, Carlton Elisha; Hoppin, Charles A. (1911). Thomas Sanford, the emigrant to New England; ancestry, life,and descendants, 1632-4. Sketches of four other pioneer Sanfords and some of their descendants. Rutland, Vt., The Tuttle company, printers. pp. 877, 1208. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  5. ^ "The Adams Express Company". www.encyclopedia.com. Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  6. ^ Stimson, Alexander Lovett (1858). History of the Express Companies: And the Origin of American Railroads. Together with Some Reminiscences of the Latter Days of the Mail Coach and Baggage Wagon Business in the United States. A. L. Stimson. p. 381. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  7. ^ "THE AMERICAN TELEGRAPH COMPANY". The Daily Exchange. 1 February 1861. p. 1. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  8. ^ "THE AMERICAN TELEGRAPH COMPANY.; The Controversy between the Company and the Press--An Interesting Discussion. YESTERDAY'S PROCEEDINGS". The New York Times. 30 June 1860. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  9. ^ "The American Telegraph Company.; ANNUAL MEETING OF THE STOCKHOLDERS". The New York Times. 31 January 1861. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  10. ^ a b "Election of Officers of the American Telegraph Company". The New York Times. 2 February 1862. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  11. ^ "AMERICAN TELEGRAPH COMPANY". The New York Times. 20 July 1864. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  12. ^ "History of the U.S. Telegraph Industry". eh.net. Economic History Association. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  13. ^ Bates, David Homer (1907). Lincoln in the Telegraph Office: Recollections of the United States Military Telegraph Corps During the Civil War. Century Company. pp. 32–34. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  14. ^ House, United States Congress (1864). House Documents, Otherwise Publ. as Executive Documents: 13th Congress, 2d Session-49th Congress, 1st Session. United States Congress. p. s. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  15. ^ "GEN. HILLHOUSE RETIRES" (PDF). The New York Times. November 19, 1881. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  16. ^ Revolution, Daughters of the American (1907). Lineage Book - National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Daughters of the American Revolution. p. 187. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  17. ^ "Died -- SANFORD". The New York Times. December 29, 1914. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  18. ^ Stimson, Alexander Lovett (1881). History of the Express Business: Including the Origin of the Railway System in America, and the Relation of Both to the Increase of New Settlements and the Prosperity of Cities in the United States. Baker & Godwin, printers. pp. 25–26. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  19. ^ "DEATH'S SHINING MARKS; YESTERDAY'S RECORD OF BUSY LIVES BROUGHT TO A CLOSE". The New York Times. 10 September 1882. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  20. ^ "September 9: Edward Sewall Sanford". www.green-wood.com. Green-Wood Cemetery. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
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