[[007.john|(<-- 7. John(3) Seymour)]] [[start|(Back to Start)]] [[009.thomas|(9. Thomas(3) Seymour -->)]]
====== 8. John Seymour ======
8. JOHN3 SEYMOUR
(//[[003.John|John]]//2,
//[[001.Richard|Richard]]//1),
born at Hartford, Conn.,
12 June 1666, died there 17 May 1748. He married at Hartford,
19 Dec. 1693, ELlZABETH3 WEBSTER, baptized at Hartford 8 Feb.
1673/4, buried there 15 May 1754, daughter of Lieut. Robert2 and
Susanna (Treat), granddaughter of Gov. John1 and Agnes (Smith),
and niece of Gov. Robert Treat.
John Seymour lived southwesterly from the State House, on the
south road to Farmington, just west of Rocky Hill. Here his "Mansion
House" was located, but he was extensive land-owner in Litchfield
and Hartford counties, as appears by his will. He and his wife
Elizabeth were admitted to the South Church, 30 Mar. 1712.
He was appointed Surveyor of Highways, 20 Dec. 1720, and the
next year he was appointed one of the Inspectors to see that the
act concerning the cutting of wood was duly executed. The act
shows that the conservation of forest resources was an early idea,
and John Seymour is perhaps entitled to be enrolled among the
earliest of American foresters in the service of the state. Mr. John
Seymour was chosen Selectman, 11 Dec. 1729.
On 21 Sept. 1722, he was appointed one of the Committee "to view
the Western Lands," and to report to the next Town Meeting where
may be the best place for a new town. On 25 Dec. following, he
was appointed with Samuel Catlin and William Baker to act in
conjunction with a Committee from Windsor, "to make a further view
of the Land West of the Easternmost Stream of Waterbury River,
and northward of Litchfield, in order to the Settling another Town."
The Committee reported, 1 Apr. 1723, the laying out of another
town of 67 allotments, and their report was accepted and ratified
in Town Meeting.
All this had been done in defiance of a declaration of the General
Assembly in 1719, that the whole tract of land lying north of Litchfield
and Woodbury "should lie for the further disposal of the Assembly."
Nevertheless, the towns of Hartford and Windsor had a claim of
sorts going back to 1686, when a hasty grant was made to them by
the General Assembly of nearly all the western portion of the Colony,
then unsettled. This was done, in anticipation of the coming of
Andros as Royal Governor, in the fear that he might attempt to
sequestrate all the unappropriated lands held under the Charter of
1662. After the flight of Andros, no action was taken regarding the
lands, and no settlements were made until Litchfield was laid out in
1717.
Official cognizance was then taken of the matter, and in 1719 the
Assembly confirmed what had been done thus far, but tried to halt
further settlements. When Hartford and Windsor proceeded vigorously
with plans to layout another town, the Assembly was aroused,
and in May 1723 ordered the King's Attorney for the County of
New Haven to arrest the Hartford and Windsor Committees in
charge of the matter. It was necessary to call upon officials outside
of Hartford County, because public feeling ran so high. John Seymour,
Samuel Catlin, Baker, Ellsworth and Moore, were arrested
and prosecuted. Hartford responded by appointing Joseph Talcott,
Esq., Capt. Hezekiah Wyllys, Lieut. Thomas Seymour, and Mr. James
Ensign, to explain and defend the doings of the two towns. After
long discussion and delay, the affair was settled by a compromise,
the territory now embraced in Colebrook, Hartland, Winchester, Barkhamsted,
Torrington, New Hartford, and Harwinton being ceded to
Hartford and Windsor, the remainder being at the disposal of the
General Assembly.
In Dec. 1733, John Seymour was moderator of a meeting of the
first proprietors of New Hartford, held in Hartford. He owned
several lots in that town, and by will provided his sons, John,
Jonathan and Zebulon, with farms there. In 1737 he was appointed
by the General Assembly one of the Committee to settle the location
of the meeting-house at Wintonbury.
An undated document in the Wyllys Papers shows that "John
Seamore," with others, petitioned for compensation for having been
impressed and appointed under Sir Edmond Andros to go, under the
command of Robert Treat, Esq., now Governor, in the expedition to
Northfield, "Exposed to the Hazzards and Hardships of the winter
season, and to the rage and Fury of our Foes, which might as well
haue been Felt as Feared."
By his will, dated Sept. 1747 and proved 6 June 1748, he divided
his lands among his sons, John, Jr., Timothy, Daniel, Jonathan,
Nathaniel, Zebulon, Moses, and Richard. He also provided for his
wife, Elizabeth, and directed that his three daughters, Elizabeth,
Susanna Pomeroy, and Margaret Catlin, should have £30 each.
In his will he mentions half of the lot he had purchased of his
brother, Thomas Seymour deceased, and also his share of land in
Hartford, as yet common and undivided, which he held with Elisha
Smith and wife Ruth in her right, daughter of his said brother,
Thomas Seymour. He appointed his three eldest sons, John, Jr.,
Timothy, and Daniel Seymour, as his executors.
He was buried in the old graveyard back of the First Church in
Hartford, where his headstone may still be seen, as illustrated herein.
^ Children, born at Hartford and baptized at the Second Church, Hartford: ^^^^
| 20. | i. | [[020.John|JOHN]]4, b. 25 Dec. 1694. ||
| 21. | ii. | [[021.Timothy|TIMOTHY]], b. 17 June 1696. ||
| 22. | iii. | [[022.Daniel|DANIEL]], b. 20 Oct. 1698. ||
| | iv. | ELIZABETH, b. 1 May 1700; d. at Harwinton, Conn., 23 May 1761; m. at Hartford, 25 Sept. 1729, her first cousin, CYPRIAN4 WEBSTER, b. at Hartford 3 Sept. 1701, d. at Harwinton 24 Dec. 1770, s. of William3 (//Robert//2, //John//1) and Sarah (Nichols). ||
| | | Children: ||
| | | 1. | //Elizabeth//, b. 19 July 1730; d. 3 Aug. 1730. |
| | | 2. | //Elizabeth//, b. 19 June 1731; m. 31 Jan. 1787, William Hayden. |
| | | 3. | //Cyprian//, b. 28 July 1733; m. 25 Feb. 1768, Sarah Hayden. |
| | | 4. | //Timothy//, b. 11 Oct. 1734; d. 23 Jan. 1756. |
| 23. | v. | [[023.JONATHAN|JONATHAN]], b. 16 Mar. 1702/3. ||
| 24. | vi. | [[024.Nathaniel|NATHANIEL]], b. 17 Nov. 1704. ||
| | vii. | SUSANNA. b. 13 Apr. 1706; d. 27 Feb. 1778; m. at West Hartford, Conn., 20 July 1733, her second cousin, NATHANIEL4 POMEROY [[005.Richard|(5, i, 7)]], //q.v.//, s. of Joseph3 (Medad2, Eltweed1) and Hannah (Seymour). ||
| | | Children: ||
| | | 1. | //Nathaniel//, b. 23 May 1734; m. 16 Sept. 1756, Abigail King. |
| | | 2. | //Lucina//, b. 27 Oct. 1736; m. 19 Apr. 1759, James Smith. |
| | | 3. | //Susanna//, b. 17 Jan. 1738; m. Ichabod Smith. |
| | | 4. | //John//, b. 7 Mar. 1741; m. Elizabeth King. |
| | | 5. | //Daniel//, b. 19 Feb. 1744; m. 7 July 1768, Hannah Hale. |
| | | 6. | //Asa//, b. 1 June 1749; m. 15 Dec. 1771, Mary King. |
| | viii. | MARGARET. b. 30 Jan. 1707/8; d. at Litchfield 5 Oct. 1792; m. at Litchfield, 25 Aug. 1731, JOHN4 CATLIN, b. at Hartford 20 Oct. 1703, d. at Litchfield 25 Dec. 1768, s. of Samuel3 (John2, Thomas1) and Elizabeth (Norton). He was appointed Ensign of the 2d Co. in Litchfield, May 1749, and Lieut., May 1752. ||
| | | Children: ||
| | | 1. | //John//, b. 30 July 1732. |
| | | 2. | //Eli//, b. 22 Jan. 1733/4: m. Elizabeth Ely. |
| | | 3. | //Theodore//, b. 16 Oct. 1735: m. 12 Nov. 1758, Mary Goodwin. |
| | | 4. | //Alexander//, b. 6 Jan. 1738/9: m. 26 Feb. 1766, Abigail Goodman((Almira6 Catlin (1777-1846), daughter of Capt. Alexander5 and Ahigail (Goodman), married Stephen Twining (1767-1832), and became the mother of Anne Loring7 Twining, wife of James Hadley, who in turn became the mother of Arthur Twining8 Hadley, the noted economist and educator, president of Yale University.)). |
| | | 5. | //Margaret//, b. 4 Nov. 1741. |
| | | 6. | //Anna//, b. 12 Oct. 1743: m. Seth Wadhams. |
| | | 7. | //Ashbel//, b. 10 Sept. 1745; m. (1) Sarah Palmer; m. (2) Huldah (Seymour) Gross. |
| | | 8. | //David//, b. 21 Apr. 1747: m. Rhoda Peck. |
| | | 9. | //Roswell//, b. 30 July 1752; m. Rhoda Smith. |
| 25. | ix. | [[025.Zebulon|ZEBULON]], b. 14 May 1709. ||
| 26. | x. | [[026.MOSES|MOSES]], b. 17 Feb. 1710/11. ||
| 27. | xi. | [[027.RICHARD|RICHARD]], bapt. 22 Mar. 1712/13. ||
\\
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