Thomas Sanford arrived in the colonies with his younger brother Andrew and his uncle, Andrew Warner, in 1632 at Dorchester, Massachusetts. He sailed on the ship Arabella as part of the Winthrop Fleet. Many ships over many months came as a part of that activity. He married Dorothea Meadows in Dorchester and they had one child. She died shortly after. He married her sister Sarah Meadows and they set out for Hartford, Connecticut, where some of his relatives had settled, then went on to Milford, Connecticut 1639-43, where they made their home. They became important property owners there, and were very active in both church and civic affairs. They were considered among the founders of Milford, Connecticut. There are no stones marking their graves. However, the Memorial Bridge built in 1889 in Milford has the names of the original 44 Milford Pioneers engraved in the large stones of its battlements: "Thomas San(d)ford Obit 1681; Sarah His Wife." Thomas spelled his name in personal correspondence without the "d".
- Multiple sources online quoting identical information, and most is derived from Thomas Sanford, the emigrant to New England; ancestry, life,and descendants, 1632-4. Sketches of four other pioneer Sanfords and some of their descendants, Carlton E. Sanford, pub 1911.