Ezra Sanford, Jr. and His Three Sons

This is the house on Covered Bridge Road just before you get to Sanfordville Rd. When I was growing up in the New Milford section of Warwick, this was the Mrs. Reynold's house. This house relates to my previous post concerning the Park/Hann farm on 104 Dekay Rd. It appears that the common denominator here is the Sanford family.

David Sanford was born in Connecticut in 1711. He came to Warwick and built a house on Cascade Rd. in 1765. They lived there for four generations before moving into the valley. One of David's sons, Ezra, was born in 1747. He lived until 1822. One of Ezra's sons was also named Ezra. He was born in Warwick on November 11, 1793 and lived to a ripe old age. He died in 1883 or 5. Ezra, Jr., married Adeline Terry and the couple had ten children. His three sons later became the owners of or lived in four historic houses I am currently researching.

It appears that Ezra, Jr., purchased the Col Hathorn property in 1834. His son Pierson Ezra Sanford (1832 - 1916) ended up owning the Morehouse home on Hathorn Rd., where the late Bill Raynor lived. Later he ended up owning the Col. Hathorn house. His lovely estate is illustrated in a lithograph contained in the Beers County Atlas of 1875. (Email me for a copy of the Pierson E. Sanford obit.)

It seems that at some point Ezra Sanford, Jr., purchased the house and farm on Covered Bridge Rd. This house, pictured above, sits on the hill just before the intersection with Sanfordville Rd. This was a large farm and I believe it included the old Wheeler/Sanford mill.

This may have been Dekay property originally. According to he Warwick Historical Papers, Nos. 1 and 2, p.67: David McCamly built the mill in 1760. In 1770 Judge John Wheeler bought the property. And around 1855 Ezra Sanford puchaed the farm.

In the notebook of W.B. Sayre, the owners are listed as: David McCamley, Judge John Wheeler, James Wheeler, Ezra Sanford Sr.(my Jr. I presume), William M. Sanford, James Everett Sanford, Mrs. A. Moreau Reynolds and Raymond P. Sanford 1967.

On our maps we have the following information:
1805 John Wheeler, Esq.
1859 Ezra Sanford
1863 Ezra Sanford
1875 ?
1903 Mrs. William Sanford

William More Sanford (1827 - 1887) was a son of Ezra Sanford, Jr. His early years were spent at the Col Hathorn house. For our New Milford followers, William attended the Charles Winfield School on Route 94 in the New Milford section of Warwick.
The information here comes from an obit. published in the Warwick Advertiser, dated August 25, 1887. (Email me for a copy if you need it.) William and his wife, Sarah, do of James Burt, Esq., had seven children. J. Everett and Ezra T. are two of them. Ezra T., who lives on the farm, received it from his grandfather by devise. By devise is an old legal terms meaning he was left the farm by his grandfather. However I don't see him listed as an owner anywhere else. Don't yet know if Mrs. Reynolds was a Sanford. And I don't yet know where Raymond P. Sanford fits in.

George W. Sanford, another son of Ezra Sanford, Jr., (1821 - 1900) is my next subject. Ezra Sanford, Jr., and Adeline Terry owned my father's farm on 104 Dekay Rd. George W. Sanford and his wife Francis Baird were living there when their first child, Lansing Haight Sanford, was born in 1847. So this fact would date Dad's farm to that time. The previous post discussed Dad's farm. From here George W. Sanford bought the Sanford house at the end of Maple Avenue, Maple Terrace Farm, in 1847.

The following information comes from the notebook of W.B.Sayre, regarding this property:

Owned by Garret Ackerson in 1805 grson of Garret (?son? Jane Ackerson & Aaron Taylor, Ezra Sanford, George W. Sanford 1926 John W. Sanford. John W. Sanford, Jr.

The old house and buildings on this farm stood in the meadow near an old well still visible (1926) about 100 yards east of the present State Road and about 300 yards south of the barn on the farm on the farm belonging to the heirs of Ross W. Sly.

The old road ran down by them back of the present Sly barn on up by the spring on the Sly farm now (1926) used as a milk spring.

The old Jersey claim line ran short distance north of John W.Sanford's house.

The above information comes from Sue Gardner who did this draft transcription of W.B. Sayre's notebook. I certainly thank Sue for her massive efforts of getting the archived material out to the public. Sue does give a warning to double check before using this data.