John Sanford (1803)

John Sanford was born in Roxbury, Connecticut. He was the second son of Sarah Curtis (1771–1856) and her husband Stephen Sandford I (1769–1848). His brother was Nehemiah Curtis Sanford, who was the father of Henry Shelton Sanford, the diplomat who founded the city of Sanford, Florida.

He moved to Amsterdam, New York, in 1821 where he taught school. He later taught in Mayfield and also engaged in mercantile pursuits there. He was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1843). He returned to Amsterdam and founded a carpet mill but the factory was destroyed by fire in 1854, whereupon he retired from active business.

In 1822, he married Amsterdam native Mary Slack (1803–1888). They had three daughters and three sons:

• Sarah Caroline (1824–1871)
• Stephen (1826–1913)
• Nelson (1828–1848)
• David (1830–1885)
• Aledah (born 1833)
• Harriette (born 1836)

He died in Amsterdam in 1857 and was interred there in the Green Hill Cemetery.

His son Stephen served in Congress and operated the family carpet business, as did his grandson John Sanford II. Originally Sanford Carpet, the company merged with another manufacturer to become Bigelow-Sanford. Bigelow-Sanford later became part of Mohawk Industries, a maker of carpet and other flooring.