John Sanford (governor) - Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Sanford was in Portsmouth by May 1638 when he was present at a general meeting of inhabitants, and when he and John Coggeshall were ordered to lay out a meeting house on a neck of land. The same month he had six acres allotted to him on the north side of the "Great Cove." In 1640 he was one of the Portsmouth men selected to effect the reunion of his town with Newport, and at the same time was chosen as Constable, then the following year was made a freeman of the colony. In 1644 he was called Lieutenant for the island, and from 1647 to 1649 he served as Assistant to the President of the colony. The President at the time presided over the two island towns of Portsmouth and Newport, as well as the two mainland towns of Providence and Warwick. William Coddington, who had previously served as governor of the two island towns from 1640 to 1647, did not care for the combined government with the mainland towns. In 1651 he went to England, and was able to obtain a commission to remove the island towns from the government with Providence and Warwick. Coddington then became Governor of the island towns in 1651, and in June of that year Sanford was chosen as the head magistrate of Portsmouth. In 1653 Sanford succeeded Coddington as the governor of the island towns after the repeal of Coddington's commission. Negotiations for the reunion of the four towns of the colony took place during Sanford's administration, and the statute books and town records from the period of separation were demanded from Coddington. Also, commissions were issued to several prominent members of the colony to prepare for military actions against the Dutch, if warranted. Sanford's term was short-lived as he died in office sometime after the signing of his will on 22 June 1653, but before his inventory was taken on 15 November of that year. His widow, Bridget, later married William Phillips, and died in 1698 in Boston, leaving a will.