William Taylor Barnes Sanford
William Taylor Barnes Sanford (1814–1863) was an American road builder, landowner, and the second postmaster of Los Angeles after it became part of the United States. He also served on the Los Angeles Common Council from 1853 to 1854.
Sanford was born in Kentucky in 1814, the son of John Dozier Sanford and Hannah Barnes. His brother, John Sanford, was murdered in 1863 by the bandit Charles Wilkins (who was later lynched), and his sister Rebecca Sanford married California pioneer Phineas Banning. Sanford died in 1863 in the Ada Hancock steamer explosion in San Pedro harbor; his wife, a daughter of Benjamin Davis Wilson, was injured.
He was the second postmaster of Los Angeles after it joined the United States and served on the city council in 1853–54. He also helped promote public information by suggesting that reporters from the two newspapers attend council meetings. In 1854 he was elected to the Los Angeles school board with Manuel Requena and Francis Mellus, contributing to the creation of the city’s first public school; School No. 1 was built on Spring and Second streets in 1854–55.
As a road builder, Sanford cut a new wagon trail over Cajon Pass in 1850, known as the Sanford Crossing or Sanford Pass Route, used until 1861. This route over Baldy Mesa Ridge linked Los Angeles with the San Bernardino Valley. He joined Phineas Banning and David W. Alexander to open a trade route from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City along the Old Spanish Trail. In 1854 the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors contracted with Sanford and George Carson to build a wagon road through Tejon Pass, later improved and known for Beale’s Cut. In land deals, he helped purchase Rancho San Pedro land that would become Wilmington, and was co-owner of Rancho San Jose de Buenos Ayres with Wilson W. Jones until Benjamin D. Wilson bought out Sanford in 1858.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 19:04 (CET).