William Sandford (colonist)

Before 1660 William moved to Surinam, where his brother Robert was a plantation owner and government official. The brothers lost a power struggle with Governor William Byam and were tried on charges tantamount to sedition. Robert was disenfranchised and banished, while William was let off with minor sanctions.^[5] In 1664 William leased and managed a plantation owned by his uncle. He left Surinam after the Second Anglo-Dutch War resulted in the loss of the plantation.^[6]

In 1668, William acquired the first land grant awarded in New Barbadoes, a tract of 15,308 acres (23.92 square miles).^[7][8] He and his family settled there in 1670. In 1671, the grant was divided between Kingsland and Sandford, with Sandford becoming the sole owner of the southern third of the tract.^[9] That land would remain in his family's hands for more than six decades and eventually be known as West Hudson.^[10]

Sandford served East Jersey as a member of the Governor's Council.^[11] He also served as court president^[12] and justice of the supreme court,^[13] as well as attorney general. He was commissioned as a captain in the East Jersey militia. In 1680 he commanded the garrison at Elizabethtown in a tense engagement with leaders of New York as they moved to take control over New Jersey.^[14] He was promoted to the rank of major in 1683.

As he departed Surinam in 1667, Sandford married Sarah Whartman in a shipboard ceremony that was kept secret for at least ten years. While Sandford was recorded in 1668 as a resident of Barbados, the whereabouts of his family from 1667 to 1670 are unclear.^[15] The couple would raise five children, as well as a daughter of William's by another union.^[16] His descendants include two governors of New Jersey, William Sandford Pennington and William Pennington.