The Sanford Family

William Sanford was a German Quaker, born about 1804 in Brockville, Ontario and was one of the earliest settlers of Gosfield, north of Kingsville.  

Nancy Ann Geauvereau

He married about the year 1827 Ann Geauvereau, of Gosfield, the grand-daughter of Simon Girty; with whom he had eleven children:

Peter(1829)of Kingsville, married Mary Cascadden 

Thomas( abt 1830) 

Prideaux(1839) of Nebraska, married Margaret Stephens 

William(1844) of Gosfield South, 1st wife Jane Stephens, 2nd wife Mary Smith

Hiram(1846), married Mary Elizabeth Anderson 

Caroline(1833), wife of Major Wagstaff of Cottam

Catherine(1837) wife of Samuel Hickmott of Gosfield South

Elizabeth(1836) wife of Richard Fitzpatrick 

Sarah(1843) wife of Thomas Smith of Gosfield North 

Adeline(1848) wife of Robert Hooper of Gosfield North

Olive(1851) wife of James Stephens

Adeline Sanford Hooper( 1848 - 1933) and her daughter, Elina Beatrice.  Adeline had 10 children of her own!

Catherine Sanford Hickmott(1837-1893)  Catherine had nine children with Samuel Hickmott.

Elizabeth Ann Sanford(1836-1916) in the back, with her husband Richard Fitzpatrick, daughter Augusta, and son-in-law Donald Mitchell.

1861 Census of Canada, Gosfield

William Sanford eventually settled on Lot 1, a 200 acre bush farm, 3rd concession, East Division, which he bought.  Afterwards, he bought another 200 acres, lot 2 of the same concession.  He also owned at one time lots 262 and 269 Talbot Road north, each of 100 acres, the Pykett lot no. 265, and the Brooker lot No. 283, where Essex Centre now stands, these two lots he sold but his other property he divided among his family.  

1861 Agricultural Census of Canada.  The columns from left to right are labeled: (1)Name, (2)concession, (3) Lot, (4) total Acres of each person, (5) acres under cultivation, (6) acres of crops, (7) acres of pasture, (8) acres of orchards and gardens, (9) acres of woods or wild, (10) cash value of farm, (11) cash value of machinery, (12)acres of fall wheat, (13) bushels of fall wheat produced, (14) acres of spring wheat, (15) bushels of spring wheat, (16) acres of barley, (17) bushels of barley, (18) acres of rye, (19) bushels of rye, (20) acres of peas, (21) bushels of peas, (22) acres of oats, (23) bushels of oats, (24) acres of buck wheat, (25) bushels of buck wheat, (26) acres of indian corn, (27) bushels of indian corn, (28) acres of potatoes, (29) bushels of potatoes, (30) acres of turnips, (31) bushels of turnips, (32) acres of mangel wurtzel, (33) bushel of mangel wurtzel, (34) bushels of carrots, (35) bushels of beans, (36) pounds of hops, (37) Hay, (38) Clover and other grass seed   

From 1845 to1850 he served as a councilor for Gosfield in the District Council.  According to his obituary in the local newspaper:

 "[he] bore the reputation of being the best that ever sat there.  He was a man of indomitable courage and could do more work than any three men.  He was also a great hunter, and had many fights with the wild denizens of the forest.  He has killed great quantities of deer, coon, bear, turkeys, and wolves, and with the exception of old Michael G Fox, of Olinda, was the mightiest hunter of his time."  

-from the Amherstburg Echo, 23 Jan 1891, p7.

from Canada Deaths 1891

William Sanford is buried at the Greenhill Cemetery in Kingsville Ontario.