John William Augustine Sanford Jr. (November 3, 1825 – August 7, 1913) was a lawyer, Alabama Supreme Court clerk, and Attorney General of Alabama for three terms. He was born in Milledgeville, Georgia. John W. A. Sanford of Georgia was his father.[1]
Sanford Jr. graduated from Oglethorpe University November 13, 1844, with a B.A., Harvard university in 1851 with a B.L., and University of Alabama in 1878 with an LL.D. He was admitted to the bar October 19, 1852.[1] He was a Democrat and supported secession after Abraham Lincoln's election as president.[1] He served as an officer in the Confederate Army. During the war he wrote to Confederate Attorney General Thomas H. Watts seeking the transfer and promotion of his brother-in-law.[2]
March 7, 1860, in Montgomery to He married Sallie Maria Taylor, daughter of Col. William H. Taylor, in Montgomery on March 7, 1860. They had a daughter Valine[3] and a son John W. A. Sanford III who married Minnie Smoot of Mobile. They had several grandchildren.[1]
He attended the Alabama Constitutional Convention of 1901.[3]