SANFORD, John, Congress, NY (1803-1857)

SANFORD, John, (father of Stephen Sanford and grandfather of John Sanford [1851-1939]), a Representative from New York; born in Roxbury, Conn., June 3, 1803; received a good education; moved to Amsterdam, N.Y., in 1821; taught school in Amsterdam and afterward in Mayfield, where he also engaged in mercantile pursuits; returned to Amsterdam and continued in commercial pursuits until 1840; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1841-March 3, 1843); founder of a carpet manufacturing firm in New York, but the factory was destroyed by fire in 1849, whereupon he retired from active business; died in Amsterdam, Montgomery County, N.Y., on October 4, 1857; interment in Green Hill Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present