John H. Sanford Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1073-1074 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.



	JOHN H. SANFORD is the owner of a fine ranch of six hundred and 
forty acres in Bon Homme county, while he maintains his business 
headquarters and residence in the attractive town of Tyndall, the county 
seat. The state of Illinois figures as tine place of his nativity, since 
he was horn in Ogle county, on the 12th of December, 1847, a son of 
Jared W. and Henrietta (Sturgis) Sanford, of whose eight children only 
three are living at the present time — James W., who is a resident of 
Santa Clara county, California; Sarah, who is the wife of Aaron Rood, of 
Pueblo, Colorado; and John H., who is the subject of this sketch. Jared 
Sanford was born in the state of Connecticut, where he was reared to the 
sturdy discipline of the farm and where his marriage was solemnized. 
Some time after thus assuming connubial responsibilities he removed to 
Ogle county, Illinois, where he was engaged in farming until about 1870, 
when he removed to Missouri and later to Dickinson county, Kansas, where 
he passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1876, at 
which time he was seventy-one years of age. While his vocation in life 
was  farming, he had distinctive mechanical ability, and for a number of 
years he did much work  along this line, in connection with his 
agricultural operations, while he was also a successful  stockgrower, 
our subject having gained his initial experience in the breeding of 
stock under the  effective direction of his father. Jared Sanford was a 
stanch Republican in his political  proclivities and he and his wife 
were zealous members of the Congregational church, the latter  having 
entered into eternal rest in 1854, at the age of forty-five years.  

	John H. Sanford was reared to farm life and secured his early 
educational discipline in the  public schools, supplementing the same by 
a course in F. E. Arnold,s business college, at  Rockford, Illinois. On 
attaining his legal majority he came into possession of a valuable farm,  
of one hundred acres, the same having been a part of his father’s old 
homestead in Ogle  county, Illinois, and he devoted his attention to the 
cu1tivation of the same until the time of his  marriage, which occurred 
on the 30th of December, 1869, when he led to the hymeneal altar  Miss 
Louisa E. Stone, the only daughter of Joseph and Mary Stone, of Ogle 
county,  Illinois, and thereafter he was associated with his father-in-
law in the management of the  latter's farm until 1880, while for a 
number of years he was extensively engaged in the  buying and shipping 
of live stock, in which line of enterprise he was very successfu1,  
gaining a knowledge which has made him one of the best judges of stock 
to be  found in South Dakota. In 1880 he came to South Dakota and 
secured a quarter section of  land in Bon Homme county. He has since 
added to his landed estate in the county until he is  now the owner of 
an entire section, as previously stated, and though the tract is 
valuable  farming land he devotes his attention more specially to the 
cattle industry, being an extensive  feeder of stock and a breeder of 
registered cattle and hogs. He has done much to improve the  grade of 
stock raised in this section and his finely improved farm shows some of 
the finest  specimens of cattle and hogs to be found in the confines of 
the state. He is progressive and discriminating in his methods and has 
been very  successful in his operations since conning to South Dakota. 
In politics he gives his support to  the Republican party, but he has 
never been an aspirant for public office. Fraternally he is  identified 
with Bon Homme Lodge, No. 101, Free and Accepted Masons. He and his wife 
are  the parents of one child, Harry Otis, who is a veterinary surgeon, 
being successfully  established in the practice of his profession at 
Tyndall.