In the final years of his life he was involved with the landmark court case of Dred Scott v. Sandford [sic], which is perhaps what he is best known for today.
[Note 2] John F. A. Sanford, the eldest child of seven, attended the academy at West Point,[3][4] and in 1825 became a clerk and interpreter in the St Louis office of Indian Affairs under William Clark.
He replaced the former agent, 29-year-old Peter Wilson, who had died earlier that year after being taken ill in a Mandan settlement.
[6] For a period of about seven years Sanford worked with several tribes including Minitarees, Crows, Arikaras, Assiniboines, Knisteneaux and Yanctonais Sioux, estimating that the population in his area was in the order of 75,000.
These were ignored and to further add to his frustration, he was criticised in the House of Representatives for the expenses incurred when he took a delegation of tribesmen to Washington.
In about 1829 Sanford's father moved his family to Fort McHenry, Maryland, to take up the post of an army sutler.
[10][11][Note 3] Sanford's second wife, Isabel, moved to Paris, France in the 1860s with the 2 children from their marriage - Emilie and John Francis.