Edward Dennis San ford is a well known contractor of Hamden and has occupied a prominent position in connection with public affairs of his community, having served for ten years as first selectman, in which connection he rendered moat important service on the side of progress, advancement and improvement.

He was born in Hamden, New Haven county, October 28, 1859, a son of Dennis Samuel and Mary Elizabeth (Rogers) Sanford. The father was born at Hamden, where he spent his entire life, devoting his energies to farming and to the ice business, which he conducted on an extensive scale, selling to both the wholesale and retail trades. He died in Hamden, as did his wife, who was a native of Guilford, Connecticut.

Edward D. Sanford acquired his education in the schools of Hamden, where he was also reared to the occupation of farming, which he followed up to the time of his marriage. He then engaged in the ice business as a producer, supplying the product to the wholesale and retail trades of New Haven, but disposing of the business on December 1, 1917. He is still actively engaged in. contracting and in trucking, operating a large number of auto trucks. He has the contract with all of the large mills and factories in Hamden for their trucking and his business in this direction has reached extensive proportions. He is equally well known as a road contractor. Each department of his business is carefully and intelligently directed, with a recognition of the opportunities and possibilities of the trade, and his interests are now large and important, ranking him with the representative business men of his community.

At Hamden on the 3d of January, 1879, when not yet twenty years of age, Mr. Sanford was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Broomhead Broadbent, who was born in New Haven and when seven years of age removed to Hamden with her parents, James Radcliff and Sarah (Rawling) Broadbent, who were natives of England and of Virginia, respectively. The father became a farmer of the town of Hamden and there Mrs. Sanford was reared. By her marriage she became the mother of a son and a daughter: Ralph Dennis, who was born in Hamden and who married Sarah Bradley, of Fairhaven, while in business he is associated with his father; and Mabel Elizabeth, the wife of Wilfred Lagrenade, a well known jeweler of New Haven.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Sanford hold membership in the Hamden Plains Methodist Episcopal church, in the work of which they take a very active and helpful interest, Mr. Sanford formerly serving as superintendent of the Sunday school, while at the present time he is financial secretary of the church. In politics he is a pronounced republican and is recognised as one of the party leaders in his community. He served as tax assessor for five years and for four years he was chairman of the republican town central committee. In October, 1907, he was elected the first selectman of the town of Hamden and by reelection was continued in that office until 1918, or for a period of ten years, in which he has made a most excellent record that has reflected credit upon himself and proved highly satisfactory to his constituents. As a selectman he put forth every effort to improve the district through the exercise of his official prerogatives. He built up the roads and instituted many improvements of permanent worth, the endorsement of his service and of his progressive labors coming to him in his frequent reelections. He displayed marked ability in that direction, taking cognizance of every public need and meeting it to the extent of his power.