Background
Sanford was born in Vermont in 1890, the son and grandson of Episcopal priests.
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Edgar Sanford
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Sanford entered the priesthood after a period of turbulent years. As a young man he learned engineering drafting in various New England machine shops, and then went to college relatively late in his life. After graduation he taught Latin for a short time.
Finally, motivated by boredom, he went to China, where he worked as a teacher and engineer of sorts and as a lay missionary and administrator of a Christian boys school.
Still in China, at the age of about 32, Sanford was ordained to the Episcopal ministry. After a short time together in China, they returned to the United States where he took a parish in Moorestown, serving as a rector for 23 years from 1926 to 1949.
When he became older, he resigned to take a less exacting church in Massachusetts and eventually made his home in Westboro outside of Worcester. Participant of his life and work is told in his son"s book Dreams: God"s Forgotten Language.
Agnes Sanford recounts their lives together in China and America in her autobiography, "Sealed Orders" (1972).
