Stanford, John

Stanford, John a Baptist minister, was born at Wandsworth, Surrey, England, Oct. 20, 1754. Early confirmed in the Church of England, he nevertheless came under the influence of the venerable Romaine, which led his uncle to cut him off in his will. Left with the care of three orphan sisters, he went to Hammersmith to take charge of a boarding school. Later he became a Baptist and united with the Church of which Benjamin Wallin was pastor. Through the instrumentality of Mr. Stanford, a Baptist Church was established at Hammersmith, to which he was called. He was ordained and installed in 1781. He left England Jan. 7, 1786, and arrived at Norfolk, Va., April 16, but removed to New York in the following month and opened an academy there. In 1787 he accepted a call from the Church in Providence, R.I., and was shortly after elected a trustee of Brown University. He returned to New York in November, 1789, and resumed teaching. In 1794 he erected in Fair (now Fulton) Street a building to be used as an academy and lecture room, and held services on each Sunday. A Church organization was the result, and he became its pastor; but, his congregation becoming scattered, the organization was discontinued in August 1803. In 1807 he acted as supply for the Bethel Church in Broome Street. In March 1808. he preached for the first time in the Almshouse, and in June, 1813, became its chaplain. His life until its close was devoted to degraded, fallen humanity. He labored in the State prison Bridewell, the Magdalen House, the Orphan Asylum, Debtors' Prison, Penitentiary, Lunatic Asylum, and other charitable institutions. He was honored with the degree of D.D.) from Union College. His death took place Jan. 14, 1834. Dr. Stanford published, An Address on the Burning of the Orphan House, Philadelphia (1822): — the Laying of a Cornerstone of the Orphan House, Greenwich (1823): — Discourses (1824, 1826), and The Aged Christian's Companion (1829, 8vo). See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 6, 244.