Elder S. N. Redford was born November 20, 1872, in Washington County, Texas, the son of Elder B. F. Redford and Sarah Jane Redford. He moved, with his father and sister (his mother having passed away a few years before) to Valley Spring, Llano County, Texas in 1883, where he grew to manhood. On November 12, 1895, he was married to Henrietta Elizabeth Milton. He joined the church at Valley Springs February 1896; made his first attempt to preach in March 1899; and was ordained to the full work of the ministry, July 1900, at the Twenty-Third Session of Friendship Association convening at Valley Springs. Elders S. R. Woods, P. T. Watson, B. F. Redford, and Deacons J. R. Clark, N. R. Jeffrey and S. S. Redford sat as a presbytery for the ordination.

During his fifty years in the ministry, Elder Redford traveled widely over the country, as well as pastured churches locally. Following his father in 1923, he served Valley Springs Church as pastor for twenty four years. A gifted writer, he wrote extensively for Baptist papers. Although a very able preacher, he was an humble man with an open mind, qualities which endeared him the more to the Baptists.