Genealogical and family history of the state of Connecticut, a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Volume IV, Part 31

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Clement, E. H. (Edward Henry), 1843- joint ed. cn; Hart, Samuel, 1845-1917, joint ed; Talcott, Mary Kingsbury, 1847-1917, joint ed; Bostwick, Frederick, 1852- , joint ed; Stearns, Ezra Scollay, 1838-1915, joint ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1178

USA > Connecticut > Genealogical and family history of the state of Connecticut, a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Volume IV > Part 31

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1667, lived on the south branch of the Little river, within the limits of the present town of Hartford, near the Farmington rond. in 1688 the town "granted to John Seamor the parcel of woodland at the west end of the wood lot, he had by exchange with Sergt. Ja- cob White unto the river." In the course of the settlement of the estate of Mrs. Marga- ret Watson, the court allowed to John Seamor, September 6, 1683, the land he possessed. which was part of the home lot of his mother, provided the said Seamor do maintain the fence around their land, which John Watson the administrator affirmed to be the terms upon which the land was granted to said Seamor by his mother Watson".

John Seymour was one of the founders of the Second Church at Hartford. on February 12, 1669, when the name of "Jolin Seamer" and "Mary Seamer" appear in the lists of those who "owned the Covenant". They were received into the "full communion" on March 31, 1678. Dr. Parker in his "History of the Second Church of Christ in Hartford". speaks of John Seymour "as an active and influential man" (p. 58). In his tribute to Thomas Seymour, Esq .. first mayor of Hart- ford (a great-grandson of John, the son of Richard) Dr. Parker says: "For more than two hundred years this Seymour family main- tained an unbroken continuity of membership in this Church or Society which John Seamer helped to found, and for the greater part of that time exerted a commanding influence in its affairs" (p. 135). John Seymour was leather sealer 1673, and chimney-viewer for the north side in 1693. His will, dated De- cember 10, 1712, was proved August 3. 1713. and he died between these dates. Mary, his widow, survived him, but the date of her death is unknown. In his will, by which he disposed of a considerable estate, he appointed his "lov- ing Wife Mary Seamore" and his "loving friend: Mr. Ichabod Wells and Mr. Thomas Hosmer" his executors. In the inventory of his effects, the item of the greatest interest to us is "a great bible to ?". This is unque :- tionably the "Bishop's Bible", already referre ! to. containing the arms of the ducal family of Seymour, and on another page a micmoran- dem of a business transaction and the nanie "John Seimor, Hartford. 1666".

Children : 1. John, born June 12. 1666 2. Thomas, born March 12 1660. 3. Mary. horn November, 1670. 4. Zachary, born De- cember 22. 1672, probably died in infancy. 5. Margaret, born July 1 ;. 1674. baptize.l same day. 6. Richard, born February IL, 1676, baptized same day. 7. Jonathan, born January 10, 1678, baptized. January 19. 8.

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Nathaniel. born November 6, 1680. baptized November 7. 9. Zachary. born January 10, 1084.

(III) John (2), son of John (1) Seymour. was born at Hartford, June 12, 1666, and married. December 19. 1683, Elizabethi, daughter of Lieutenant Robert and Susannah (Treat ) Webster. and granddaughter of Gov- ernor John Webster. Her mother, Susannah Treat, was a sister of Governor Robert Treat. He lived on what was then known as the South road to Farmington, just west of Rocky Hill. Here his "Mansion House" was located. but he was an extensive land owner in Litch- field and Hartford counties, as appears by his will. With Elizabeth, his wife, he was "added to the Church and received to full commun- ion" of the Second, or South Church, March 30, 1712. On December 20, 1720, he was elected surveyor of highways, and the next year was made one of the inspectors to see that the act concerning the cutting of wood. was duly executed. The act shows that the conservation of our forest resources is not a new thing by any means, and John Seymour is perhaps entitled to be enrolled among the earliest of American foresters in the service of the state. On September 21, 1722, "Mr. John Seymour" was placed by the town of Hart- ford on a committee to "view the Western Lands and to report in the next Town Meet- ing where may be the best place for a new Town." On December 25 following he was appointed, with Samuel Catlin and William Baker, on a committee representing Hartford to act in conjunction with a committee rep- resenting Windsor, "to make a further view of the Land West of the Easternmost Stream of Waterbury River, and Northward of Litch- field in order to the Settling another Town". In payment of his services in connection with these "Western Lands" he was granted sev- eral parcels of land in the new town of New Hartford, and was moderator of a meeting held at Hartford. December, 1723, of the first proprietors of the new town, where subse- quently several of his sons settled, where some of his descendants have lived until re- cently, and where the name bids fair to be perpetuated by a French family, who on their arrival in the old town promptly found it con- venient to change their name of Simard to Seymour, with what confusion to the anti- quarian of the future, time alone may reveal. In 1737 he was appointed by the general as- sembly one of a committee to settle the lo- cation of the meeting house at Wintonbury. From time to time he served on a committee appointed by the town of Hartford to lay out land to different individuals, &c., &c. Through-

out a long life he seems to have constantly been in the public service.

He died at Hartford, May 17, 1748, and is buried in the old burial ground back of Cen- ter Church. His tombstone, a rudely sculp- tured slab of red sandstone, bears the fol- lowing inscription: "Here Lies Interred the Body of Mr. John Seymour Who Died May the 17th A. D. 1748 Aged 84 Years". His wid- ow, Elizabeth, died May 15th, 1754, and lies buried beside him. Ilis will, by which he dis- posed of an estate inventorying £603 01 06, was executed September. 1747, and witnessed by Ebenezer Webster. Medad Webster, both cousins, and George Wyllys. ( See Hartford Probate Records, vol. xv. p. 197-8-9, 208, and Manwaring's "Early Connecticut Probate Records". vol. iii, p. 636-637 ). By his will he left lands in New Hartford to his sons John, Jonathan and Zebulon. By Elizabeth, his wife, he had twelve children-nine sons and three daughters.

Among his descendants may be mentioned Major Moses Seymour, of Litchfield. a Revo- Intionary officer of distinction, and Sheriff Ozias Seymour, his son; the Hon. Thomas Seymour, first mayor of Hartford, and his son, Captain Thomas Youngs Seymour, a gallant soldier of the Revolutionary War; Captain Thomas Hart Seymour, a grandson of Mayor Seymour, who served with distinction in the Mexican War ("Hero of Chapultepec"). was U. S. Minister to Russia and Governor of Connecticut : Judge Origen Storrs Seymour of Litchfield. Chief Justice of Connecticut, son of Sheriff Ozias Seymour: Hon. Edward W. Seymour, Hon. Morris W. Seymour, and the Rev. Dr. Storrs O. Seymour, sons of Chief Justice Seymour: Governor Horatio Sey- mour. of New York, and his sisters-Julia Chenevard Seymour, afterwards Mrs. Roscoe Conkling, and Helen Clarissa Seymour, aft- erwards Mrs. Ledyard Linklaen : Major Gen- eral Truman Seymour, U. S. A .: Hon. Ho- ratio Seymour, for many years U. S. senator from Vermont, and a great friend of Daniel Webster, who considered him the best lawyer in New England in his day: Rt. Rev. George Franklin Seymour, late P. E. Bishop of Springfield Illinois; and the late Professor Thomas Day Seymour, of Yale. To this list miglit be added the names of many Seymours who, let us say, from 1700 to 1850, bore proni- inent parts in the civil, religious and social life of Hartford.

The family as a family has been "noted for its military training and spirit", says Miss Talcott, who has collected a vast amount of material for a family history. The Hon. Morris W. Seymour has compiled a list of

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seventy men of the Connecticut family who took part in the Revolutionary War, some of them with high distinction, and all of them with credit.

(IV) John (3). son of John (2) Seymour, was born at Hartford. December 25. 1694; married June 25, 1718, Lydia, born August 2, 1692, daughter of John and Hannah (Ar- nold?) Mason ; and ( second ). May 7, 1733. at West Hartford, Hannah, daughter of Da- vid and Hannah (- -) Ensign, of West Hartford, baptized at First Church, Hartford, February 10, 1711-12.

After 1730 he lived on the corner where the middle road to West Hartford intersects "Quaker Lane", To this road he seems to have given his name, since it was long known as "the John Seymour road". At a town meet- ing held December 26, 1731, he was elected inspector of staddle wood. and again in 1732- 33-37 ; in 1739 he was elected inspector of staddle wood and leather sealer: in 1740 in- spector of wood and hayward: in 1741 con- stable: in 1742 leather-sealer, and in 1743-44 inspector of wood.

Staddle-wood (an Americanism) was a terin applied to standing trees between four and eighteen inches in diameter. The annual election by that small community of an in- spector of wood shows the force of the Eng- lish traditions by which they were controlled. The Hartford of that time was of course sur- rounded by forests, but this did not prevent its citizens from adopting regulations for the conservation of the timber resources of the colony, and these regulations had their origin in England. where the scarcity of timber had been felt long before the settlement of New England and where stringent regulations for its preservation were already in force.

On December 17. 1741. it was voted that John Seymour Junr., "have liberty to take, upon Lease, a piece of Land upon the Town Comons, for the purpose of sinking Tan- fatts therein". About 1750 (he was then fifty-six years of age). or it may have been earlier, he removed to New Hartford. then a frontier settlement, where his father, who was at this time alive, owned a large tract of land. the greater portion of which he gave or be- queathed to him. Here he lived in that part of the town known as West Hill, and here "Mr. John Seymour departed this Life July 25. 1758" ( New Hartford Town Records ). According to a tradition preserved by Miss Talcott, he lies buried in the Town Hill bur- ial ground. but no stone marks the spot to- day. His great-great-grandson. Henry Albert Seymour, of Bristol. ( 1818-1847 ) frequently went to the Town Hill burying ground as a

boy, as his grandfather Spencer was buried there, but he had no recollection of ever see- ing any old Seymour gravestones. In "New Hartford, Past and Present." ( Pub. New Hartford, 1883) the fewness of early stones is explained by the springy nature of the soul and the character of the stone used for grave- stones. "As far as can be found. the only graves of the first settlers which are traceable are those of Stephen Kelsey, died in 1745: Ensign Caleb Pitkin, died in 1768, and Joseph Merrill in 1788". * "In what seems to have been the early Seymour plot. only one partial inscription can be traced-that of the grave of the wife of Uriah Seymour". It seems likely, then, that the tombstone of John Seymour 3rd. who died in 1758. disappeared long ago, if indeed he ever had one. His grandson, William Seymour, of Fredonia. New York, who as a small boy saw his grand- father, remembered that he had "a cancer in his jaws and face".

By his two wives he had twenty children. all of whom were baptized either in Hartford or West Hartford. In "New Hartford, Past and Present" (before referred to) it is stated of John Seymour that "He was the father of twenty children, the majority of whoin came with him. it is supposed. about 1750. Six of his sons settled in New Hartford, as follows: William, Uriah. Elias, Hezekiah, Elijah and David. His daughters married into the Steele, Flower, Marsh, Smith, Andruss. Moody and Kellogg families". The same compilation says, "Uriah Seymour was a man of intelli- gence and influence in town matters. He com- manded. as lieutenant, a detachment of mount- ed men who volunteered for the relief of Charlestown in 1775." Uriah's sons, Captain Sylvester Seymour and "Esquire" Chauncey Seymour, were among the foremost citizens of New Hartford in their day. Nathaniel Sey- mour, another of John Seymour's twenty chii- dren. died at Crown Point, October 20, 1760. "in the old French war".

(\') William, son of John (3) Seymour. was born and baptized at West Hartford. Au- gust 18, 1728 : removed to New Hartford with his father about 1750: married, at New Hart- ford. December 27. 1753. Mehitable Merrili. daughter of Noah Merrill, "one of the first settlers of the town. Noah Merrill was the first man appointed town clerk of New Hart- ford. though he never acted in that capacity . having died before he took the oath of office. He died in !730. his having been the first death among the pioneers". She was born May 25. 1734. and baptized in West Har !- ford the next day. William Seymour. who was a farmer, died at New Hartford, March

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IS, 1782, and letters of administration were granted to Mehitable, his widow, and to Noah. his son. on January gth. 1783. After his death she removed to Stillwater, New York, near Saratoga, where several of her thirteen children were living, and where she died June 29. 1819. She is buried in the Yellow Meet- ing House Cemetery at Stillwater.

(VI) Noah, son of William Seymour, was born at New Hartford, November 10. 1759, and married there, November 17. 1784, Mir- iam, daughter of Deacon Noah and Clemence (Merrill ) Kellogg. He entered the army in 1776, and served nine months as orderly ser- geant in Captain Amasa Mills' company. Col- onel Roger Enos' regiment. serving on the Hudson. He afterwards served for six months in Captain Elijah Seymour's com- pany of Dragoons. In the "Register of Con- necticut Soldiers during the Revolution" his name appears also as a private in Captain Pettibone's company, Colonel Belden's regi- ment, serving at Peekskill. New York, 1777. He sold his farm in New Hartford and re- moved to Sodus, Wayne county, New York, about 1802, where he had a fine farm, and where the old soldier died March 26, 1832. His widow. Miriam, died there January 10, 1846.

Most of Noah Seymour's nine children set- tled in New York State, where their descend- ants are now living, but Lot Norton settled in New Hartford, and Horace in Fairibault. Wisconsin. Noah Seymour and his family were Congregationalists, but Lot Norton. his son, broke away from the rigors of Calvinism and became a Methodist. Perhaps the blue Congregationalism of the family was due to the mother, whose father. Deacon Noah Kel- logg, was a man of old-fashioned piety. Rev. Frederick Marsh says of him. in the "Marsh Manuscript". "This Mr. Kellogg appeared to me in my youthful days to be a very grave, serious and exemplary man, less cheerful and social than his brother Abraham. He was for many years a deacon in the church in New Hartford. He lived, brought up his family. and died. about three-quarters of a mile south- west of the meeting house on Town Hill. near the spot on which Ira Merrill built a new house in the summer of 1849. He was regarded as eminently pious and consistent : a farmer." Of Noah Seymour and his wife the "Marsh Manuscript" says. "Mr. and Mrs. Seymour were possessors of religion, hopeful- ly pious under the ministry of Mr. Griffin." In politics Noah Seymour was a strong Fed- eralist.

(VII) Lot Norton, son of Noah Seymour. was born at New Hartford, March 3. 1788:

married, September 5. 1815. Belinda, daughter of Henry and Eunice ( Alling ) Spencer, of New Hartford, and descended on the maternal side from several of the early New Haven fami- lies, including the Winstons, Newmans, Att- waters, Wilmots, Pecks, Bradleys, Aliings, Nashs and Tuttles. He died October 27, 1844, and is buried in the old burial ground by the river, at Nepaug, in the valley of the Napash. She died at Springfield, Massachu- setts, November 19, 1873, at the home of her granddaughter. Mrs. Eliza Vadakin, and is buried in the new cemetery near New Hart- ford village.

In personal appearance Lot Norton Sey- mour was tall, spare, with very black hair and eyes, and had a dark complexion. He was a farmer and millwright. but seems to have de- voted more time to his books than to either his farm or mill, and more time to religion than to his books. He was a man of a sen- sitive, emotional and religious nature, and left behind him the record of a singularly pure and blameless life. He had a remarkable memory, and committed the entire poem of "Paradise Lost" to memory: his memoriza- tion of the poem was so perfect that he could recite all or any part of it. Even Lord Ma- cauley, distinguished as he was for feats of memorization, was proud of having memo- rized "Paradise Lost". Whether our New England student of Milton would have been better occupied tilling his stony farm than with his volume of Milton, is an open ques- tion which no one need decide. Belinda ( Spen- cer) Seymour, his wife, was also tall. of dark complexion, and had piercing black eyes. She was a woman of keen mind, great energy, had a trenchant and sarcastic way of speaking, and in her later years was a constant reader and greatly interested in public affairs. It was natural to a man of his temperament and idealism to break away from the political faith of his family just as he broke away from its religious faith. He became imbued with the principles of Jefferson, and transferred his allegiance to the Democrats, and in that small community and in a strong Federalist family, may he said to have "suffered accord- ingly".

(VIII ) Henry Albert. son of Lot Norton Seymour, was born in New Hartford. Janu- ary 22, 1818, and married. July 28. 1844. at Bristol. Electa, daughter of John and Laura ( Wells) Churchill. of New Hartford. She was born at New Hartford. April 5, 1818, and died at Bristol. December ro. 1873. After their marriage they lived in New Hartford un- til 1846, when they removed to Bristol. His father, a poor farmer, was unable to give him

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an education more than he was able to get in the local schools, but by the time he was six- teen years old he had saved enough money to accompany his cousins and companions, Henry and George Kellogg, to the academy at Westfield, Massachusetts. for some extra schooling. This academy, of which Amos Cheesborough was at that time the princi- pal, enjoyed an excellent reputation, and he seems to have made good use of the time spent there, studying in particular natural philosophy and chemistry. He seems, indeed, to have had a passion for the natural sciences, and probably would have devoted his life to them if he could have had the advantage of a thorough education. The village library, called the Social Library, was a great resource, and he made good use of it : but perhaps the most important influence in forming his mind was the constant discussion in his own home cir- cle of public affairs. His grandfather Sey- mour, had been a strong Federalist, but his own father, out of deep conviction, had be- come an apostate-a Democrat. His father's defection from the political faith of the fam- ily gave birth to endless discussions and led him to wider reading than he would otherwise have done. I may mention his reading, when a very young man, the four volumes of Jef- ferson's "Correspondence and Miscellanies."

As a young man he seems to have displayed some of the military spirit which Miss Mary Kingsbury Talcott, the historian of the fam- ily, says has been its characteristic. He was not twenty when he became captain of the lo- cal militia company. One year when the state militia had their annual training at Nor- folk, Major General James T. Platt pro- nounced young Seymour's company to be the best trained in the regiment, which included about fifteen companies. For three years his company had the position of honor at the right of his regiment. of which Abram G. Kellogg was colonel. This position of honor was given to his company by Generals Sedgwick and Phelps and one cther, who reviewed the troops and decided that his company was the best trained in the regiment and so entitled to the place of honor at the right of the regiment. About this time his health failed-he was threatened with consumption -- and he re- , signed his captaincy and sold his accoutre- ments.

On first coming to Bristol he was promi- nently identified with town affairs, serving as first selectman, &c .. and for many years on school committees and as assessor. In 1870, when the Bristol Savings Bank was incorpo- rated, he became its president and held that office until his death, April 6, 1897. He was

a man of sound judgment, liberal views, wide- ly informed. and known for perfect integrity of character. Though a man of essentially re- ligious nature and much given to reflection on such matters, he never joined any church. He went to church with his family, but was not a communicant. He shared in the revolt against the severities of Calvinism, and seems to have accepted the tenets of the Universalists. His portrait, painted at twenty-six, shows a long oval face of strength and refinement, with the strongly marked features of the Seymour family. He had black hair, dark grey eyes, a dark complexion, and was above medium height. Electa (Churchill) Seymour had a brilliant complexion, dark blue eyes, hair dark brown almost to blackness, and remarkably beautiful hands,-a loyal, gracious and hos- pitable woman. On the paternal side she was descended from the Belden. Wright, Willard ( Major Symon Willard of Concord, Massa- chusetts ). Hosmer. Butier, Boardman. Holmes, Betts, Hubbard, Hurlburt and Fitch families, &c .: on the maternal side from the Pattersons, Wolcotts, Appletons, Burnhams, Goodrichs, Chandlers, Curtis, &c.

Their children were: 1. Laura Electa, born at New Hartford. April 5. 1846. 2. Henry Albert, born April 2, 1847 : married October 30, --- , at Washington, D. C., Mary Marilla, daughter of General Mortimer Dormer and Marilla (Wells) Leggett. 3. Mary Harriet. born July 22, 1849; married, October 18, 1871, Miles Lewis Peck, of Bristol. 4. Lilla Wells, born May 10, 1852; deceased. 5. John Churchill, born June 5, 1853: died June 5, 1853. 6. Grace Ella, born july 13, 1856: mar- ried October 11, 1881, William Shurtleff In- graham, of Bristol. 7. George Dudley, born October 6, 1859, mentioned below. 8. Helen Wells, born January 29, 1864: died July 12, 1866. All these children except Laura Electa were born in Bristoi.

(IX) George Dudley, son of Henry Albert Seymour, was born at Bristol, Connecticut, October 6, 1850. He graduated from the Hartford public high school in 1878: removed to Washington, D. C .. 18;8. and entered the law office of his brother ; graduated from the Law School of Columbian University. IS8o. LL. B .; LL. M .. 1881 ; mumarried. He has practiced in New Haven, Connecticut, since 1883, and is a member of the firm of Sev- mour & Earle, specializing in patent cases. He is interested in city planning and in the fine arts. He is a member of the New Haven Municipal Art Commission, the New Haven Civic Improvement Committee ( secretary ) ; the building committee of Ives Memorial Pub- lic Library : member of State Commission on

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Sculpture ( appointed by Governor Weeks) ; trustee of Henry Whitfield State Historical Museum (appointed by Governor Woodruff) ; member of Connecticut Academy Sciences, Sons of the American Revolution, Connecti- cut Society of Colonial Wars, corresponding member American Institute of Architects. In polities he is a Republican, in religion a Con- gregationalist. He is author of "The Old Time Game of Wicket and Some Old Time Wicket Players": "The Familiar Hole Book on New Haven." in preparation, and numner- ous papers on architecture, forestry, geneal- ogy, &c., &c. He is a collector of Colonial furniture, old prints. &c. He has traveled ex- tensively, and went round the world in 1902-3 with Hon. Gifford Pinchot. Clubs: Gradu- ates (New Haven), Century Association (New York). Cosmos (Washington, D. C.). Home, 223 Bradley street : office, 113 Church street. New Haven.

NOTE: The compiler of the foregoing narra- tive of the Seymours expresses his acknowledg- ments to Miss Mary Kingsbury Talcott. who has collected material for a history of the family; to Mrs. Maria Watson Pinney, of Derby. a granddaugh- ter of "Squire" Chauncey Seymour, of New Hart- ford, who has published a brochure on the family. and assisted in an examination of the English rec- ords; and to the Honorable Morris Woodruff Seymour, of Litchfield. who has also collected a great amount of material about the family and pub- lished a brochure on Richard Seymour, the Settler.

SEYMOUR (IV) Moses Seymour, son of John Seymour (q.v.), was born at Hartford, 1710, died there September 24. 1795. He married Rachel Goodman, who died there. July 23. 1763. Chil- dren, born at Hartford. Sarah, February 16, 1740, died 1799: Moses, mentioned below : Rachel, December 17, 1744, died July 24. 1794 : Dorothy. October 13. 1746. died June 5, 1819; Aaron, March 4, 1749, died 1820: Eunice. Au- gust 7, 1751 : Samuel. January 21, 1754: Cath- arine, August 29. 1756, died March 19, 1814. (V) Moses (2). son of Moses (1) Sey- mour, was born at Hartford. July 23. 1742. He settled at Litchfield. Connectient. He was a soldier in the revolution and was in the northern army at the surrender of Burgoyne. He died there. September 17. 1826. He mar- ried, November 17. 1771. Molly Marsh, who died July 17. 1826. Children, born at Litchi- fieid: Clarissa. August 3. 1772. died Septem- ber 2. 1865: Moses. June 30, 1774, died May 8. 1826, sheriff, 1819-25. postmaster, gave the site for the county court house: Ozias, mentioned below ; Horatio, May 31, 1778. died November 21. 1857. United States Senator from Vermont; Henry. May 30, 1780. died

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