James Madison Hanford (1827–1911) was an American railroad executive. The city of

Hanford, California Hanford is a city and county seat of Kings County, California, located in the San Joaquin Valley region of the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley. The population was 53,967 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History ...

is named after him. Hanford was a native of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. His parents were Stephen and Maria Hanford. He worked as paymaster for the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

. The pay cars “started from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and were stocked with enough money to pay all the employees along the way”. by James M. Hanford III (August 1990) Hanford retired in 1908 after 39 years with the railroad and died at his home in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

in 1911.

References

External links

*
Obituary
''Marin Journal'', December 7, 1911 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanford, James Madison American railway entrepreneurs 1827 births 1911 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople