I was on a roll after completing my research on the children of Ambrose Quintilla Sanford and Naomi Jane Liner, so I decided to stay on the same research path I had chosen by moving forward in my search of William Sanford and Mira Crawford‘s grandchildren. My next step was to take a deeper look into the children of Samuel F. Sanford and Emma Massey.
Samuel F. Sanford and Emma Massey were married on 20 Feb 1881 in Crabtree, Haywood County, North Carolina. According to census records the couple had nine children over the course of their 20+ years of marriage, but only five who survived infancy: Thomas, Grover Cleveland, Ceneth A., Charles, and William Crawford Sanford. Brief histories of each child can be found below:
Samuel and Emma Sanford Family, Circa 1896
Thomas Sanford: Thomas Sanford was the eldest of the living children born to Samuel F. Sanford and Emma Massey. He was born 3 Feb 1882 in Haywood County, North Carolina. Tom married Nellie M. Sanford (a cousin) about 1906 probably in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. The couple raised 15 children. Tom passed away in Sep 1967.
Grover Cleveland Sanford: Grover Cleveland Sanford was born on 27 Apr 1885 in Haywood County, North Carolina. Grover married three times. His first marriage was to Dora Ball probably occurring around 1920 in Union County, South Carolina. The couple had two daughters. Grover next married Elouise Walker and then to Viola Medford – I’m currently unaware of children born out of either of these marriages. Grover passed away in Mar 1967.
Ceneth A. Sanford: Ceneth A. Sanford was the only living daughter of Uncle Samuel and Aunt Emma. Unfortunately, I have very little to report on her. Ceneth was born in April of 1886 in Haywood County, North Carolina. She can be found in the 1900 Spartanburg County census living with her family, but she disappears after this. I have heard rumors that she was either adopted and moved to Colorado after the untimely death of her parents or that she passed away at the same time. I have no personal insights on her disappearance, but would love to hear from anyone who has any further information on her.
Charles Sanford: Charles Sanford is another mystery child born to Uncle Samuel and Aunt Emma. He was born in Jun of 1889 in Haywood County, North Carolina. He can be found in the 1900 Spartanburg County census living with his family, but disappears after this. The same rumors circulate about Charles as circulate about Ceneth. If anyone has any information on him I would love to hear it.
William Crawford Sanford: William Crawford Sanford was born 9 Sep 1896 in Haywood County, North Carolina. After the untimely death of his parents in Spartanburg County, South Carolina he returned to Haywood County, North Carolina where he married Bertha Mae Thompson about 1919. The couple raised ten children. William passed away on the 3 Jul 1955.
I plan to make more detailed posts about each individual child in a later post.
**Photo credit belongs to elbowjo of Ancestry.com
What happened to the parents ? Did they die young ? Cement is such unusual name. Is it a family name?
I suspect that Uncle Samuel and Aunt Emma died fairly young… before the 1910 census was taken. A distant cousin of mine once told me that the couple had died from influenza around 1907. After the death of their parents, the children were sent to live with relatives or sent to children’s homes. I was told both Ceneth and Charles were adopted by a family who moved to Colorado, but I haven’t been able to prove this.
Ceneth is a very unusual name. It is definitely not a family name from the Sanford side, but may have been with the Masseys… I’ve honestly never tried to figure out where the name came from. I have often wondered if her name wasn’t Cynthia and simply misspelled by the census taker. I did several searches for her using the name Cynthia, but it didn’t help. I have left it in my tree as is for now… who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky enough to have someone recognize it and point me in the right direction!
Oops. I meant to write the name Ceneth but my kindle went on autopilot with the spelling !
Spell check… happens to the best of us! lol