Nathan Sanford Family
Nathan Sanford started the first Sanford family in Lawrence County, Ohio (Union Township). He worked as a boatman on the river and came from the state of Connecticut, town unknown. The names of his parents are unknown. He was born in 1798 and died in 1868. In the year of 1825 he bought two hundred and eight (208) acres from the land grant company of Chillicothe, Ohio and settled in Rockwood, Ohio, which is across the river from Huntington, West Virginia.
Nathan married Sarah Smith (1805-1883) from Virginia on October 7, 1827 in Ironton, Ohio. Sarah's father was Augustine Smith and her mother was Sarah Hall. After Nathan married, he traveled around working on a riverboat, and later settled on the property he bought in Lawrence County around 1830. Nathan and Sarah had seven children.
The first child was William (1829-1850). He drowned in the state of Indiana in August of 1850 at twenty-one years old. He never married and had worked as a boatman.
The second child was Mary (1830-1919). She married Amaziah Thompson (1821-1865) in Portsmouth, Ohio in the year of 1850. They had three children, William (1852-1923), Joseph (1854-1936), and Adah (1856-1868).
John (1832-1917) was the third child and marriage is unknown. He was a merchant in Ironton, Ohio for a dry goods store. He purchased this store from Mr. Goldcamp.
George (1836-1921) was the fourth child and married Clarinda Davisson (1838-1920) of the French Grant settlement near Haverhill, Ohio on October 14, 1862. They had one child, Carolyn G. (1863-1907) who married Markus Marshall at Greenup Kentucky in 1884. Carolyn had one child, Birdie Helen (1883-1973).
Birdie was later adopted by her grandfather, George Sanford. Birdie graduated from Marshall University in 1908 with a Master's Degree in music. Birdie married John Harvey Gholson Jr. (1882-1957) who owned Gholson Funeral Home. Birdie and John had one son named George S. (1924-1987) who married Harriett Beodda (1924-1995).
Margaret (1838-1925) was the fifth child and married Allen T. Brattin (1829-1892). Allen served as a captain in the Civil War, Company F Ninth West Virginia Infantry. They had three children, Nolia (1856-1941) who married George Cox (1849-1915), Nettie (1858-1890) who married M. G. McKnight, and a son named Lincoln Grant Brattin (1861-1945) who moved to California.
Hester Ann (1840-1930) was the sixth child. She married William Porter (1837-1924). William served in the Civil War with the sixth Ohio Calvary Company H as a sergeant. Hester had two children. Nettie (1876-1956) was the firstborn and married Ben Oswald (1865-1945). They lived in Huntington, West Virginia. The second child was George (1878-1965) who married Anna Maude Kitts (1887-1981) and they had one daughter named Nettie (born in 1917) who drowned in the Ohio River near Rockwood, Ohio at the age of 18.
Nathan was the seventh child (1843-1921). Nathan served in the Civil War for Company E Fifth West Virginia Infantry. He married Barbara Gruber (1860-1948) in Ironton, Ohio on the day of October 7, 1883. Barbara's father was Daniel Gruber (1830-1910) and her mother was Sarah Rook Gruber (1837- 1905). Nathan and Barbara had four children. The firstborn was Sarah (1884- 1885) who died as an infant. Cora was the second child (1886-1940) who married Pearly Gibson (1869-1939) and had one child, Wilma (1923 - ). Wilma married Sanborn and they live in Ironton, Ohio. Hester (1889-1894) was the third child and died at the age of five. William Daniel (1893-1975) was the fourth child and married Golda (Rose) Sanford (1903-1986). William was an electrician for the C & O Railway. William had four children, William H. (1924-1995), Martin D. (1926-2005), Mary Rose (1930-1986), and Barbara Ann (1932-). William lived at 1550 Sixth Avenue in Huntington, WV.
Nathan fathered a child named Merton Sanford (1875-1946) before he married Barbara Gruber. Merton's mother was Nathan's sister, Hester Ann Sanford Porter. Merton Sanford married Elizabeth Wilkes (1890-1970) in Cabell County, Huntington, WV. Merton fathered seven children, Nathan (1909-1985), Clyde (1910-1940), Dora (1912-1976), Flora (1914-2005), Barbara Ann (1919- 1984), Grace Marie (1923-1999), and Merton Jr. who died at six weeks old in 1926.
Submitted by
Donald L. Sanford P.O. Box 155
Lavalette, WV 25535
Ph. (304) 523-7341