Fayette Co., AL: John B. SANFORD

John B. SANFORD, attorney-at-law, at Fayette Court House, was born in Jefferson county, Ala., February 19, 1844. He is the only son of Thomas and Marguerite (BURFORD) SANFORD, the former of whom was a native of Tennessee and the latter of Alabama. Thomas SANFORD came to Alabama in an early day, settled in Jefferson county, and there engaged in farming and in merchant tailoring. The father of Mrs. Marguerite SANFORD was John BURFORD, who was also one of the early setters of Jefferson county and one of its leading citizens.

John B. SANFORD was reared in Alabama and educated in private schools. He is a lawyer and has been in active practice for the past twenty-five years.

He was married, in 1870, to Miss Marguerite S. ROBERTSON, a native of Alabama and a daughter of John C. ROBERTSON. To this marriage there have been born six children, viz.: Samuel F., John T., Mary J., Susie, Earline, and Pinkie.

Mr. SANFORD was in the late war, enlisting, in 1861, in company B, Tenth Alabama infantry, which surrendered at Appomattox Court House in 1865. He was engaged in several of the important battles of the war, Sharpsburg, Gettysburg, second battle of Manassas, Seven Pines, Williamsburg, and the battles around Richmond and Deep Bottom. He was slightly wounded at Salem Church near Fredericksburg.

Mr. SANFORD is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, the Masonic fraternity and of the order of Odd Fellows. He is a democrat and has filled several official positions. He was a superintendent of instruction in Jefferson county when only twenty-nine years of age. He was county solicitor from 1870 until 1890. He was sent to the state legislature from Fayette county in 1882, and filled all these positions with credit to himself and with satisfaction to those whom he served. He has lived at Fayette Court House for thirty-five years and has served as mayor of the town for the past six years. He is a representative citizen and is widely and popularly known to the people of this part of the state.

Source: Memorial Record of Alabama: A Concise Account of the State’s Political, Military, Professional and Industrial Progress, Together With the Personal Memoirs of Many of Its People, (Brant & Fuller, Madison, Wisconsin, 1893), Vol I: Fayette County, p. 1026.