John Elliot Sanford (AC 1851) Correspondence Collection

The John Elliot Sanford (AC 1851) Correspondence Collection contains correspondence to John Sanford from his parents, especially from his father. Most of the letters were written to John in Yarmouth Port from his parents in Amherst, and then to John in Amherst from his parents in Bridgewater. Frequent topics include the health of the parents – especially that of Reverend Sanford - and their advice to John about how to preserve his own health; money matters, including details of Reverend Sanford’s investment in the new railroad in Amherst; Amherst news, including Amherst College news, and the personal and professional lives of both young John and his older brother Baalis (AC 1845), both of whom were at early stages in their respective careers during the period of this correspondence. Researchers should note that there are no letters from John E. Sanford in the collection – instead, we see John through his parents’ eyes.

The topics Reverend Sanford refers to most frequently in his letters to John are his health and religion – often in combination. Reverend Sanford seems to have been a longtime sufferer of a condition that caused him pain and sleeplessness, with symptoms such as stomach and bowel issues, joint pain, and poor appetite. He mentions taking opium for pain relief, which may have exacerbated his problems, although he may not have seen the connection. During his water cure therapy in Northampton, Dr. Denniston made him stop taking it, and it’s unclear whether he returned to its use. Because of his condition, he frequently reflects on death and the comforts of religion, on the importance of living in accordance with religious values, and on his own philosophy of suffering.

The correspondence also suggests something about a minister’s life that modern readers may not expect; namely, that for an everyday preacher, there needed to be more ways to support a family than “sermonizing” alone. On the contrary, the Sanfords raised some of their own food and had a hay lot, which the minister himself – no stranger to physical labor – worked until he was no longer able to do so. Sanford also invested enthusiastically in the railroad being built in Amherst and had his sons help him manage the investment. The family took in boarders, many of them Amherst College students, but money was always tight in this period of their lives, and Reverend Sanford frequently mentions money matters, especially in his efforts to balance what he owed and what people owed him. Later – and after the period of the correspondence in the collection – both Sanford sons made enough money to support their parents comfortably, but the letters show a fear of poverty in old age that repeats itself in every generation. Reverend Sanford therefore relied on his sons and understood that he would need to do so even more in the future, often reminding them in an almost transactional way of their responsibility to their parents in return for all the parents had done for their children. However, John and Baalis were much more than just a hedge against poverty –both parents also express pride in the accomplishments of their sons, who were clearly a source of emotional comfort to their parents.

Reverend Sanford often mentions local Amherst people and events in his letters, typically only in passing although he provides some useful details for Amherst history, especially about the new railroad. The Sanfords were well-known to the family of poet Emily Dickinson, and young John is mentioned in several of the poet’s letters. Rev. Sanford also mentions the Dickinsons - mostly Austin, whose schooling paralleled John’s.

The first folder in the collection contains correspondence from Sophia Loud (later Sanford) to her sister Deborah Raymond. Although there are only a handful of Sophia’s letters, she reveals herself to be lively, practical, and shrewd – her letter to John of June 6, 1854, provides an down-to-earth summary of her view of her husband’s health problems and what he ought to do about them, and her earlier letters to sister Deborah Raymond are very lively.

The last folder in the small collection contains miscellaneous correspondence to and about John E. Sanford from later in his life.