History of Healing Springs, (Bath County) Virginia United States of America

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Henry Shelton Sanford, diplomatist, was born in Woodbury, Conn., June 15, 1823; son of Nehemiah C. and ?? (Shelton) Sanford. He attended Washington (Trinity) college and was graduated from Heidelberg university; was attach? to the U.S. embassy at St. Petersburg, 1847?48; was appointed acting secretary of the U.S. legation at Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1848; secretary of the U.S. legation, Paris, 1849?53, and U.S. charg? d'affaires at Paris, 1853?54, when he resigned. He was U.S. minister to Belgium, 1861?69; and for a time, during the war, he had supervision of the secret service in Europe, with headquarters at London and Paris, and negotiated and signed the Scheldt treaty with Belgium, attended the first consular convention, and a trade mark and naturalization convention. In 1869 he was appointed U.S. minister to Spain, but the senate adjourned without confirming the nomination. He was one of the founders of the International African association, representing the English speaking races on its executive committee, and as its minister plenipotentiary at Washington, D.C., he secured recognition of its flag as that of the Independent State of the Congo in April, 1884, He was a delegate to the Berlin Congo conference of 1885?86. He founded the city of Sanford, Fla., in 1870, and engaged in the cultivation of orange trees. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Trinity college in 1849, and the degree of J.U.D. from Heidelberg university in 1854. His official reports were published by congress. He died at Healing Springs, Va., May 21, 1891.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Healing Springs, (Bath County) Virginia

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