Edward J. Sanford

Edward J. Sanford
Photograph from Notable Men of Tennessee (1905)
Born	Edward Jackson Sanford (1831-11-23)November 23, 1831 Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA
Died	October 27, 1902(1902-10-27) (aged 70) Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Resting place	Old Gray Cemetery Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Occupation	Entrepreneur, financier
Political party	Republican Party
Spouse(s)	Emma Chavannes
Children	Edward, Alfred, Hugh, Emma
Parent(s)	John W. Sanford and Altha Fanton
Relatives	Albert Chavannes (brother-in-law)

Edward Jackson Sanford (November 23, 1831 – October 27, 1902) 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.

Sanford was born in Fairfield County, Connecticut, 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.

Toward the end of the war in 1864, Sanford formed a drug company, E.J. Sanford and Company. In 1872, this company consolidated with a business established by 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 South.