Blog no. 58

Hon. James Turner Sandford was born in 1770, in Loudon County, VA, likely to James Robert “Robert” Sandford and Susannah Kerenhappuch Turner. He had many siblings, but due to there not being much record of them, I was not able to find each and every one. 

Sometime before the year 1800, James married his cousin, Winnefred Speight Turner. They had 10 children, and their names were Robert J. Sandford, Susan E. (Sandford) Reilly, Mary Brown (Sandford) Thompson, Kerenhappuch Turner (Sandford) Greenfield, Winefred (Sandford) Holland, Ann H. (Sandford) Glasscock, William A. Sandford, Sarah Sandford, Betsy Sandford, and George W. Sandford. 

While having just moved to the Maury County, TN area, James became a Justice of the Peace of the county in September of 1809, but that is not all he did for the community. He served as County Court Chairman for several years and owned and operated a cotton gin in Spring Hill, TN, which at one point, the town petitioned the county court for a road from Columbia that lead to it. He even gave land for the Manual Labor Academy (later Jackson College), a school that once stood near his home and Denning Lane in Spring Hill, TN.

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, James moved to Spring Hill, TN in 1809. He owned a home just off of Denning Lane in Spring Hill, TN. After James’ death, his son-in-law, Absalom Thompson, built a farm and home near where James’ was, which is now the historic Oaklawn Plantation. 

James was a veteran of the War of 1812. In the book War of 1812 Soldiers of Maury County, Tennessee, it lists him as being the rank of Captain with his own company, but he was called Colonel Sandford frequently. It is unknown at this time what his rank actually was.

James was important in not only Tennessee, but the United States. From 1823 to 1825, James was a United States Representative from Tennessee. Once his term was up, James Knox Polk, who was later the 11th President of the United States of America, took his seat. 

In the 1830’s, after James’ death and during the years of Jackson College, students lived at cabins on his property. One of the temporary tenants were Harvey Magee Watterson, who later took James Knox Polk’s seat as United States Representative when Polk became the Governor of Tennessee. 

Sadly, on December 13, 1830, in Spring Hill, Maury County, TN, James died. He was buried at Jackson College Cemetery/Old Brick Church Cemetery in Spring Hill, Maury County, TN. James’ historical legacy will forever be remembered in history books and by the people who are to find they descend from him and his large family.