Edward J. Sanford
Encyclopedia
Edward Jackson Sanford was an American manufacturing tycoon and financier, active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee
, in the late 19th century. As president or vice president of two banks and more than a half-dozen companies, Sanford helped finance Knoxville's post-Civil War
industrial boom, and was involved in nearly every major industry operating in the city during this period. Companies he led during his career included Sanford, Chamberlain and Albers, Mechanics' National Bank, Knoxville Woolen Mills, and the Coal Creek Coal Mining and Manufacturing Company.
, in 1831. He was trained as a carpenter
, and moved to Knoxville at the age of 22 to work in this trade. He initially worked for Shepard, Leeds and Hoyts, which built railroad cars. Later in the decade, he cofounded a lumber and construction company. Although many people fled Knoxville during the city's cholera
outbreak of 1854, Sanford stayed behind to help care for the sick and dying.
At the outset of the Civil War in November 1861, Sanford helped fellow Unionist William Rule
sneak out of Confederate-occupied Knoxville to carry messages to newspaper editor William G. Brownlow
, who was in hiding in the mountains. In 1862, Sanford fled to Kentucky
to join the Union Army, but fell ill before he could enlist (Sanford's account of his escape to Kentucky was later published as an appendix in Thomas William Humes
's The Loyal Mountaineers of Tennessee). He returned to Knoxville following Burnside
's capture of the city in late 1863. Sanford fought at the Battle of Fort Sanders
on November 29, 1863, and years later, provided historian Oliver Perry Temple
with an account of the battle for Temple's book, East Tennessee and the Civil War.
.
During the late 1860s, Sanford helped establish the Coal Creek Mining and Manufacturing Company, which purchased over 60000 acres (242.8 km²) of land in the coal
-rich Coal Creek Valley of western Anderson County
. This company in turn leased the land to various mining firms, most notably the Knoxville Iron Company
and the Tennessee Coal Mining Company (TCMC). In 1891, an uprising known as the Coal Creek War
erupted when the latter attempted to replace its free miners with convict laborers. While Sanford blamed a "fool contract" made by TCMC president B.A. Jenkins for the uprising, he nevertheless supported the use of convict labor as a means to keep regional coal companies competitive.
In 1882, Sanford helped organize the Mechanics' National Bank, and initially served as the bank's vice president. In October of that same year, however, the bank's first president, Thomas O'Connor, was killed in a notorious shootout in Downtown Knoxville. Sanford served as an interim president until Samuel B. Luttrell was elected president of the bank in 1883.
During the late 1880s, Sanford became enamored with social theories regarding the development of planned cities, where company workers could live free from the vices that plagued large cities. In 1889, he and his long-time associate, Charles McClung McGhee
, founded the Lenoir City Company with plans to establish such a town. The company purchased the Lenoir
estate in Loudon County and platted what is now Lenoir City
in 1890. While the Panic of 1893
seriously stunted the new city's growth, the city survived, and today, part of the city still follows the Lenoir City Company's early-1890s grid.
During the 1880s and 1890s, Sanford served as president of the Knoxville Woolen Mills, which under his leadership had grown to become Knoxville's largest textile firm by 1900. During this same period, he served as a director of several other companies, including the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railway, the Knoxville Brick Company, and the Knoxville Iron Company. In 1898, Sanford purchased both the Knoxville Journal and the Knoxville Tribune, and combined the two into a single newspaper. He retained his old Civil War-era associate, William Rule, as the paper's editor.
still stands (presently occupied by Arby's), and is a contributing property in the National Register of Historic Places
-listed Gay Street Commercial Historic District. Maplehurst Park, an apartment complex in Downtown Knoxville, is named for Sanford's mansion, Maplehurst, which once stood on the property.
Sanford was a lifelong advocate for education in Knoxville. In 1869, working as an agent for East Tennessee University (now the University of Tennessee
), he helped secure for the institution the state's Morrill Act (land-grant) funds. During the same period, he advocated the establishment of a public school system in Knoxville, and served as the president of the city's Board of Education in the early 1880s.
Sanford's son, Edward Terry Sanford
(1865–1930), was a prominent Knoxville attorney who served as an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court from 1923 until 1930. Another son, Alfred (1875–1946), continued publishing the Knoxville Journal until 1928, when he sold the paper to senator and publisher, Luke Lea. Sanford's son, Hugh (1879–1961), was a Knoxville-area iron manufacturer who advised the War Industries Board
and the Council of National Defense
during World War I
.
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, in the late 19th century. As president or vice president of two banks and more than a half-dozen companies, Sanford helped finance Knoxville's post-Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
industrial boom, and was involved in nearly every major industry operating in the city during this period. Companies he led during his career included Sanford, Chamberlain and Albers, Mechanics' National Bank, Knoxville Woolen Mills, and the Coal Creek Coal Mining and Manufacturing Company.
Early life
Sanford was born in Fairfield County, ConnecticutFairfield County, Connecticut
Fairfield County is a county located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The county population is 916,829 according to the 2010 Census. There are currently 1,465 people per square mile in the county. It is the most populous county in the State of Connecticut and contains...
, in 1831. He was trained as a carpenter
Carpentry
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
, and moved to Knoxville at the age of 22 to work in this trade. He initially worked for Shepard, Leeds and Hoyts, which built railroad cars. Later in the decade, he cofounded a lumber and construction company. Although many people fled Knoxville during the city's cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
outbreak of 1854, Sanford stayed behind to help care for the sick and dying.
At the outset of the Civil War in November 1861, Sanford helped fellow Unionist William Rule
William Rule (American editor)
William Rule was an American newspaper editor and politician, best known as the founder of the Knoxville Journal, which was published in Knoxville, Tennessee, from 1870 until 1991. A protégé of vitriolic newspaper editor William G...
sneak out of Confederate-occupied Knoxville to carry messages to newspaper editor William G. Brownlow
William Gannaway Brownlow
William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow was an American newspaper editor, minister, and politician who served as Governor of the state of Tennessee from 1865 to 1869 and as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1869 to 1875...
, who was in hiding in the mountains. In 1862, Sanford fled to Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
to join the Union Army, but fell ill before he could enlist (Sanford's account of his escape to Kentucky was later published as an appendix in Thomas William Humes
Thomas William Humes
Thomas William Humes was an American clergyman and educator, active in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the latter half of the 19th century. Elected rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in 1846, Humes led the church until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he was forced to resign due to his Union...
's The Loyal Mountaineers of Tennessee). He returned to Knoxville following Burnside
Ambrose Burnside
Ambrose Everett Burnside was an American soldier, railroad executive, inventor, industrialist, and politician from Rhode Island, serving as governor and a U.S. Senator...
's capture of the city in late 1863. Sanford fought at the Battle of Fort Sanders
Battle of Fort Sanders
The Battle of Fort Sanders was the decisive engagement of the Knoxville Campaign of the American Civil War, fought in Knoxville, Tennessee, on November 29, 1863. Assaults by Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet failed to break through the defensive lines of Union Maj. Gen...
on November 29, 1863, and years later, provided historian Oliver Perry Temple
Oliver Perry Temple
Oliver Perry Temple was an American attorney, author, judge, and economic promoter active primarily in East Tennessee in the latter half of the 19th century. During the months leading up to the Civil War, Temple played a pivotal role in organizing East Tennessee's Unionists...
with an account of the battle for Temple's book, East Tennessee and the Civil War.
Business interests
Toward the end of the war in 1864, Sanford formed a drug company, E.J. Sanford and Company. In 1872, this firm consolidated with Chamberlain and Albers, which had been established by Knoxville businessmen Hiram Chamberlain and A.J. Albers, to form Sanford, Chamberlain and Albers. In subsequent years, this new company grew to become one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the SouthSouthern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
.
During the late 1860s, Sanford helped establish the Coal Creek Mining and Manufacturing Company, which purchased over 60000 acres (242.8 km²) of land in the coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
-rich Coal Creek Valley of western Anderson County
Anderson County, Tennessee
Anderson County is a U.S. county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, its population is 75,129. Its county seat is Clinton.It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee, Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
. This company in turn leased the land to various mining firms, most notably the Knoxville Iron Company
Knoxville Iron Company
The Knoxville Iron Company was an iron production and coal mining company that operated primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, and its vicinity, in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The company was Knoxville's first major post-Civil War manufacturing firm, and played a key role in bringing heavy...
and the Tennessee Coal Mining Company (TCMC). In 1891, an uprising known as the Coal Creek War
Coal Creek War
The Coal Creek War was an armed labor uprising that took place primarily in Anderson County, in the American state of Tennessee, in the early 1890s. The struggle began in 1891 when coal mine owners in the Coal Creek watershed attempted to replace free coal miners with convicts leased out by the...
erupted when the latter attempted to replace its free miners with convict laborers. While Sanford blamed a "fool contract" made by TCMC president B.A. Jenkins for the uprising, he nevertheless supported the use of convict labor as a means to keep regional coal companies competitive.
In 1882, Sanford helped organize the Mechanics' National Bank, and initially served as the bank's vice president. In October of that same year, however, the bank's first president, Thomas O'Connor, was killed in a notorious shootout in Downtown Knoxville. Sanford served as an interim president until Samuel B. Luttrell was elected president of the bank in 1883.
During the late 1880s, Sanford became enamored with social theories regarding the development of planned cities, where company workers could live free from the vices that plagued large cities. In 1889, he and his long-time associate, Charles McClung McGhee
Charles McClung McGhee
Charles McClung McGhee was an American railroad tycoon and financier, active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the latter half of the nineteenth century...
, founded the Lenoir City Company with plans to establish such a town. The company purchased the Lenoir
William Ballard Lenoir
Major William Ballard Lenoir was the eldest son of General William Lenoir and his wife, Ann Ballard. Born in North Carolina, the younger Lenoir moved in 1810 with his wife, Elizabeth Avery Lenoir , to a tract of land in Tennessee, near modern-day Lenoir City, Tennessee, which originally had been...
estate in Loudon County and platted what is now Lenoir City
Lenoir City, Tennessee
Lenoir City is a city in Loudon County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 8,642 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area....
in 1890. While the Panic of 1893
Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893. Similar to the Panic of 1873, this panic was marked by the collapse of railroad overbuilding and shaky railroad financing which set off a series of bank failures...
seriously stunted the new city's growth, the city survived, and today, part of the city still follows the Lenoir City Company's early-1890s grid.
During the 1880s and 1890s, Sanford served as president of the Knoxville Woolen Mills, which under his leadership had grown to become Knoxville's largest textile firm by 1900. During this same period, he served as a director of several other companies, including the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railway, the Knoxville Brick Company, and the Knoxville Iron Company. In 1898, Sanford purchased both the Knoxville Journal and the Knoxville Tribune, and combined the two into a single newspaper. He retained his old Civil War-era associate, William Rule, as the paper's editor.
Death and legacy
Sanford died at his home in Knoxville on October 27, 1902. He is interred in Old Gray Cemetery. The company he cofounded, Sanford, Chamberlain and Albers, continued operating in Knoxville as Albers, Inc., until 1994. The company's former store and office at 430 South Gay StreetGay Street (Knoxville)
Gay Street is a street in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, that traverses the heart of the city's downtown area. Since its development in the 1790s, Gay Street has served as the city's principal financial and commercial thoroughfare, and has played a primary role in the city's historical and cultural...
still stands (presently occupied by Arby's), and is a contributing property in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
-listed Gay Street Commercial Historic District. Maplehurst Park, an apartment complex in Downtown Knoxville, is named for Sanford's mansion, Maplehurst, which once stood on the property.
Sanford was a lifelong advocate for education in Knoxville. In 1869, working as an agent for East Tennessee University (now the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
), he helped secure for the institution the state's Morrill Act (land-grant) funds. During the same period, he advocated the establishment of a public school system in Knoxville, and served as the president of the city's Board of Education in the early 1880s.
Sanford's son, Edward Terry Sanford
Edward Terry Sanford
Edward Terry Sanford was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court from 1923 until his death in 1930. Prior to his nomination to the high court, Sanford served as an Assistant Attorney General under President Theodore Roosevelt from 1905 to 1907, and...
(1865–1930), was a prominent Knoxville attorney who served as an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court from 1923 until 1930. Another son, Alfred (1875–1946), continued publishing the Knoxville Journal until 1928, when he sold the paper to senator and publisher, Luke Lea. Sanford's son, Hugh (1879–1961), was a Knoxville-area iron manufacturer who advised the War Industries Board
War Industries Board
The War Industries Board was a United States government agency established on July 28, 1917, during World War I, to coordinate the purchase of war supplies. The organization encouraged companies to use mass-production techniques to increase efficiency and urged them to eliminate waste by...
and the Council of National Defense
Council of National Defense
The Council of National Defense was a United States organization formed during World War I to coordinate resources and industry in support of the war effort, including the coordination of transportation, industrial and farm production, financial support for the war, and public...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
External links
- Sanford family, 1886 — portrait of Edward J. Sanford and family on file at the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection