8. John Seymour

8. JOHN³ SEYMOUR (John², Richard¹), 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.

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