[[050.daniel|(<-- 50. Daniel(5) Seymour)]] [[start|(Back to Start)]] [[052.william|(52. Lieut. William(5) Seymour -->)]]
====== 51. John(5) Seymour ======
51. JOHN5 SEYMOUR (//[[019.John|John]]//4,
//[[007.John|John]]//3, //[[002.Thomas|Thomas]]//2,
//[[001.Richard|Richard]]//1),
born in 1734, died at Norwalk, Conn., 22 Nov. 1786 ae, 52 (gravestone);
married REBECCA KEELER, who was living at Norwalk in 1790.
Administration upon the estate of John Seymour 2nd, late of
Norwalk deceased, was granted to Samuel Seymour, 3 Dec. 1785.
Inventory taken by John Lockwood and James Seymour. Amount,
£369-18-0.
Division of the estate of John Seymour, jr., late of Norwalk
deceased, was made 4 July 1788 between the widow, eldest son
Jonathan, son Samuel, son John, and daughters Ruth Sammons wife
of Augustine Sammons, Rebecca Seymour, Sally Seymour, Betsey
Seymour and Patty Seymour.
^ Children: ^^
| i. | JONATHAN6, b. 11 July 1755; m. at Norwalk, HANNAH BETTS, b. 25 Nov. 1769. Four or more children. |
| ii. | SAMUEL, b. 20 Oct. 1758; m. LYDIA HANFORD. Several children. |
| iii. | RUTH, b. 16 Oct. 1760; d. at Norwalk, a widow, 22 Sept. 1838, ae. 78 (gravestone); m. AUGUSTUS SAMMIS of Lloyd's Neck, Queen's Co., L.I. Their son John Seymour7 Sammis, married his cousin, Nancy Williams7 Seymour; they were grandparents of Hon, Daniel Sammis9 Sanford, see below. |
| iv. | REBECCA, b. 22 Feb. 1763; was living in Norwalk, unm. 1811. |
| v. | SARAH, b. 1 Mar. 1765; d. at Lanesborough, Mass., 10 Nov. 1834; m. EBENEZER SQUIRE, b. 22 July 1769, d. at Lanesborough, Mass., 9 June 1857. |
| vi. | JOHN, b. 23 May 1767; d. at Whitney Point, N.Y., 15 June 1856; m. 31 Dec. 1793, SARAH6 STODDARD, b. at Stockbridge, Mass., 14 Nov. 1776, d. 23 Nov. 1868, dau. of Orange6 (James4, John3, John2, John1) and Experience (Nash). He enlisted Apr. 1781, in Capt. Uriah Raymond's Co. of State Troops, Col. Stephen St. John's Regt., and served one year at Norwalk; and reenlisted in 1782, and served another year under the same officers. Eight children. See below. |
| vii. | BETTY, b. 18 Oct. 1770; m. (1) 1 Dec. 1798, at Norwalk, WILLIAM ASPINWALL CANNON, b. at Norwalk, 23 Feb. 1767, s. of John and Esther (Perry); no children; m. (2) GERSHOM BRADLEY, and had one daughter. |
| viii. | MARTHA (PATTY), b. 11 Feb. 1774; d. at Smithboro, Tioga County, N.Y., 15 Oct. 1852; m. 1 Jan. 1797, BRIANT6 STODDARD, b. at Stockbridge, Mass., 14 Sept. 1774, d. at Asylum, Bradford Co., Pa., 19 May 1861, s. of Orange6 (James4, John3, John2, John1) and Experience (Nash). |
The Whitney Point branch of the Seymour family has produced
several men of distinction, and we interrupt the genealogical sequence
to insert a few memorabilia.
**JOHN6 SEYMOUR** (1767-1856) had, among others, a son, **GEORGE
WHITFIELD7 SEYMOUR**, born at Lisle, N.Y., 12 Apr. 1812, died
about 1888, who married 6 June 1838, Mary Freeman, born 10 May
1817, died about 1894, daughter of Stephen and Clarissa (Thompson).
They had, as surviving children, two daughters, Stella8 (born
26 Feb. 1843, died 18 Apr. 1929), a pianist of distinction, of Scranton,
Pa., and Mary Louise (Mrs. W. O. Newcomb), and three sons,
sketches of whom follow.
**HON. JOHN SAMMIS8 SEYMOUR**, born at Whitney Point, Broome
Co., N.Y., 28 Sept. 1848, died 16 June 1931, married Clara E. Olmstead,
born 28 Feb. 1858, died 11 Oct. 1912. He was educated at
Whitney Point Academy and at Yale University, from which he
received the degrees of B.A. (1875) and LL.B. (1878). He was
admitted to the Bar and began practice in New York City, becoming
senior member of the firm of Seymour, Seymour & Harmon, making
a specialty of corporation and patent law. His residence was in
Norwalk, Conn., and he served in the Connecticut Senate in the
dead-lock sessions of 1891-93. He was appointed Commissioner of
Insurance of Conn., 1893; and was U.S. Commissioner of Patents,
1893-97. He was a member of the Board of Estimate and Taxation
in Norwalk, and after 1897 resumed the practice of law in New
York City, with the firm of Seymour, Seymour & Megrath. Two
children survived:
| i. | HAROLD FREEMAN9, b. 12 Mar. 1884; m. HELEN P. SULLIVAN, and had children: ||
| | I. | Elizabeth Sullivan10, b. 25 Oct. 1907; m. Dudley C. Lewis. |
| | II. | Richard, b. 24 Nov. 1911. |
| ii. | MARY, b. 28 July 1888; res. (1936) Cleveland, Ohio; m. (1) CHESTERM. KERR, b. 5 Feb. 1886, from whom he was divorced; m. (2) MARSHALLCURTIS BROWN, who d. 19 Apr. 1928; m. (3) CHARLES S. BROOKS, b. 25 June 878, d. 29 June 1934. Two children (Kerr). ||
**FREDERICK8 SEYMOUR**, brother of the above, born at Whitney
Point, 2 Aug. 1856, died 29 May 1925, married Julia C. Dikeman.
He was graduated from Yale College in 1881, attended Columbia
Law School, and was admitted to the New York Bar in 1882. He
settled in East Orange, N.J., and was a member of his brother's law
firm. His children were Helen9 (wife of her first cousin, Clive Newcomb),
Margaret (Mrs. Ripley Nelson), and Frederick Dikeman.
**LOUIS IRVING8 SEYMOUR**, youngest of the brothers, had a colorful
career. He was born at Whitney Point, N.Y., 23 Dec. 1860, and
died at Zand River, Orange River Colony, South Africa, 14 June
1900; married 30 June 1886, Kate Perry of Whitney Point. No
children.
Mr. Seymour was educated in his native village, and being mechanically
inclined, at the age of seventeen entered the machine shops
of John Cotter at Norwalk, Conn. After working there three years,
he went up for examinations at Annapolis, but after passing it was
found that he was a few weeks too old, so he had to abandon the
hope of a career in the U.S. Navy. After working for the Lackawanna
Iron and Coal Company from 1881 to 1884, he accepted at
the age of twenty-four an engagement offered by the Dickson Manufacturing
Company to erect a mill engine for EI Callao Gold Mining
Company in Venezuela. After finishing the erection, he was retained
as the chief mechanical engineer of the company.
Early in 1886 he returned to the United States, and a few months
later married his boyhood sweetheart. At this time he held positions
with the Washington Cotton Mills of Lawrence, Mass., and
with the Plymouth Cordage Company of Plymouth, Mass. While
working with the latter he became more widely known, and in Feb.
1890 he was engaged to proceed to Kimberly in South Africa, where
he took up the work of chief mechanical engineer for the De Beers
Consolidated Mines.
In July 1893, he becamemanaging director of Fraser and Chalmers.
Erith, England, at the same time retaining the position of consulting
engineer to the De Beers Consolidated Mines. In 1896 he returned
to Africa, and in that connection the following story is told. It is
said that a group of English capitalists invited Seymour to dinner,
after which his host asked him whether he could be induced to
return to South Africa. "I could be," said Seymour, "but it would
cost money." "How much?" inquired his host. "Fifty thousand
dollars a year," was Seymour's prompt rejoinder.
His terms were accepted, and he took up his residence in Johannesburg,
holding the position of mechanical engineer to Messrs. H.
Eckstein and Company and the Rand Mines, Limited. At the outbreak
of the Boer War, he organized the Railway Pioneer Regiment
and was made its Major, the highest rank that could be held by any
but a British subject. While building a bridge at the Zand River,
his regiment was attacked, and he was shot and instantly killed.
When Sir Alfred Moseley, who had made a fortune in the Kimberly
diamond mines, about 1903 brought a group of English educators
to this country to inspect American schools, he stated at a
banquet given him in Boston that his admiration for American technical
education dated from his observation of the prodigious feats
of two young American engineers, one of whom was Louis Seymour.
Oddly enough, Seymour had not enjoyed the advantages of technical
education, but was an engineer by native endowment, an aptitude
which amounted to genius.
He was said to be brilliant as an organizer. As an administrator
and executive head, he commanded the unlimited confidence of all.
He was a man of vivid personality, of enormous virility and vitality,
with a magnificent physique; generous, kindly though masterful,
honest and straight. He remained an American citizen and, though
living much away from his native country, was always loyal, while
strongly supporting the movement for understanding between the
United States and Great Britain. After his death a committee was
formed of his associates, including such men as John Hayes Hammond
and Gardiner Williams, with Sir Alfred Milner as honorary
president, to raise a Seymour Memorial Fund, with which was
founded the "Seymour Technical Library" at Johannesburg.
**HON. DANIEL SAMMIS9 SANFORD**, through his mother Helen E.8
Sammis, was doubly a Seymour descendant of this branch, his
grandparents being John Seymour7 Sammis and Nancy Williams7
Seymour. Born at Redding, Conn., 10 Apr. 1859, he was educated
at Yale College (B.A., 1882, M.A., 1885), and in the Harvard
Graduate School, where he took courses in education in 1891-92.
He was principal of the Oil City (Pa.) High School, 1882-83,
mathematics master at St. John's School, Ossining, N.Y., 1883-84,
principal of High and Centre Schools, Stamford, Conn., 1884-91, and
head master of the Brookline (Mass.) High School, 1891-1905. In
1898 and 1899 he studied and observed school methods in France
and Germany. He became known as an educator, and contributed
articles on the subject to various periodicals. In 1905 he founded
the Sanford School at Redding Ridge on the site of the Redding
Institute which his father founded in 1847. He later became Clerk
of the School Fund Office, Treasury Department, State of Connecticut,
a post for which his knowledge and ability admirably fitted
him. He was a close personal friend of the author for upward of
half a century.
\\ [[050.daniel|(<-- 50. Daniel(5) Seymour)]] [[start|(Back to Start)]] [[052.william|(52. Lieut. William(5) Seymour -->)]]