Ferdinand Sannoner

Dublin Core

Title

Ferdinand Sannoner

Subject

Ferdinand Sannoner

Description

Ferdinand Sannoner was born in Leghorn, Italy, in 1793. He graduated from the French Polytechnic Institute at Paris. Sannoner worked as a surveyor for Napoleon in France. He came to America around 1816. In 1818, John Coffee appointed him to survey the area that was to become Florence. Sannoner completed the survey, and drew the town plan. He gave it the name “Florence” after the Florence, Italy of his homeland. His payment for surveying Florence was partially made in land. He received two lots on Tuscaloosa Street between Wood Avenue and Walnut Street.
Sannoner worked for the Cypress Land Company for a number of years, as well as being a clerk for Lauderdale County. He and his brother operated a bakery and delicatessen on Tennessee Street as well. Sannoner and his wife moved to Memphis in 1857, and he died there in 1859. He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis. His grave was unmarked until 1973, when a marker was donated by James Jackson, great-grandson of the James Jackson who owned Forks of Cypress and assisted in founding Florence. The Sannoner Historic District in Downtown Florence is named in his honor.

Creator

Kayla Scott, University of North Alabama

Source

William Lindsey McDonald, A Walk Through The Past: People and Places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama. Bluewater Publications, 2003, p. 3, 11-12.
Robert S. Steen, History of Foster House- Courtview- Rogers Hall and Early City of Florence . Florence: University of North Alabama, No Date, p. 10.

Image Courtesy of UNA Collier Library Archives

Date

1818-1856