James Walter SANFORD notes

James Walter Sanford

I just surfed in on Newspaper Genealogical Extractions (updated 3/05/02) and found some very interesting information.

1. HATTIE CARROLL / died / buried in Chamberlain. Hattie was a sister to my wife's great Grandfather Ephraim Dennis Sanford. She was born in New York State and married PHILLIP CARROLL in Grant County, Wisconsin and that coupled turned up in Chamberlain, SD. We knew that Hattie Sanford Carroll had died in Brule County, SD.

My wife's Grandfather, JAMES WALTER SANFORD a nephew of Hattie Carroll also came to Chamberlain, as a young man. After piecing together skimpy oral history we find that he found work with Phillip Carroll as a stable hand and James lived in a shack down by the Missouri River. James also homesteaded a quarter section of land 9 miles South and 3 miles West of Chamberlain and Phillip Carroll homesteaded the land next to James. JAMES WALTER SANFORD ended up as Mayor of Chamberlain in about 1910 and he had his hand into everything. Telephone, saloon, pontoon bridge, two steam boats, automobiles, manager of the telephone company and built the first theater in Chamberlain. He died in 1913 and we are still looking for his obituary. (found)

Our family history for James is growing and growing and it is about time to publish our findings. However, I am very tempted to travel to Chamberlain this Summer to do some very serious digging into his history. SUSIE SANFORD METCALF was James' youngest sister. She and her husband THOMAS ALVIN METCALF owned a hardware store. Tom Metcalf died in 1929 and was the Mayor of Chamberlain at that time. Susie ran the business for many years. Susie died in 1975. Incidentally we do have the newspaper obituary for Tomas Metcalf but none for Susie Metcalf.

Yes, we will share our publication with Chamberlain when finished.

Wayne Locher, Fresno, CA