American Seymour Genealogy

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====== 215. Lot Norton Seymour ======

215. LOT NORTON<sup>7</sup> SEYMOUR (//[[116.noah|Noah]]//<sup>6</sup>,
//[[060.william|William]]//<sup>5</sup>, //[[020.john|John]]//<sup>4</sup>,
//[[008.john|John]]//<sup>3</sup>, //[[003.john|John]]//<sup>2</sup>,
//[[001.richard|Richard]]//<sup>1</sup>), born at New Hartford, Conn., 3 Mar.
1788, died there 27 Oct. 1844; married at New Hartford, 26 Feb. 1812, BELINDA
SPENCER, born at Bristol, 4 June 1792, died at Springfield, Mass., 19 Nov. 1873,
daughter of Henry and Eunice (Alling).

In personal appearance Lot Norton Seymour was tall, spare, with very black hair
and eyes, and had a dark complexion. He was a farmer and millwright, but seems
to have devoted 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 sensitive, 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 memorization of the poem was so perfect that he
could recite all or any part of it. Even Lord Macauley, distinguished as he was
for feats of memorization, was proud of having memorized "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 question which
no one need decide.

Belinda (Spencer) Seymour, his wife, was also tall, of dark complexion, and had
piercing black eyes. Her father, Henry Spencer, had marched as a boy with a
company of Wallingford men to repel the British troops at New London. 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, at least to the extent of abjuring CalVID1Sm. 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 be said to have
"suffered accordingly." The author has his copy of Jefferson's works in four
volumes. Ultimately he became affiliated with the Whig party.

His granddaughter Mrs. Vadakin recalled him as "a very kindhearted man, always
good to the children, taking us to long rambles over the fields with him,-that
is, myself and Aunt Harriet, we taking turns in being carried on his back when
we were too tired. He was tall and spare and very erect. I was never allowed to
visit him on the Sabbath until almost dark, and then I would go out and look in
at his bedroom window, and he would smile and I would run around the house and
go in and be greeted very lovingly." At one time, earlier in life, he built
carding machines, traveling about the state to erect them; and mechanics were
more congenial to him than farming. "He had no music in him; he said the babies
would rather go to sleep than hear him try to sing." He prayed very loud,
doubtless because of his deafness. "When Uncle Alborn was buried, he rose in the
church and exhorted sinners to believe." -- much to the embarrassment of his
wife and family, but there was no doubt of his sincerity and zeal. "He delighted
to entertain the circuit ministers. I think his last years were mostly concerned
with the life to come."

Mrs. Maria (Watson) Pinney, granddaughter of "Squire" Chauncey Seymour of New
Hartford, lived there as a little girl, and remembered Lot Norton Seymour very
well. She recalled him as dark and thin and very deaf. He was very pious and led
the neighborhood meetings in prayer. On account of his deafness, he did not
always know when to stop, and sometimes kept on after the next man had begun.
His wife, Mrs. Pinney thought, was not at all pious, and unappreciative of his
genius for godliness, but a woman of unusual executive capacity.

^ Children: ^^^
| 295. | i. | [[295.ralph_cowles|RALPH COWLES]]<sup>8</sup>, b. 26 Dec. 1812. |
| | ii. | HARRIET ADELINE, b. 20 Dec. 1814; d. 22 Apr. 1817 ae, 2. |
| 296. | iii. | [[296.henry_albert|HENRY ALBERT]], b. 22 Jan. 1818. |
| | iv. | ALBORN A., b. 6 Oct. 1820; d. 23 Nov. 1842 ae. 22, drowned in the Farmington River; buried at Nepaug in the old yard by the Nepash. |
| | v. | HARRIET JANE, b. 11 July 1831; d. 27 May 1871; m. 11 June 1854[?], ELISHA E.<sup>7</sup> HAWLEY, b. 11 June 1830, d. at Fair Haven, Conn., 7 Dec. 1878, s. of Eleazer<sup>6</sup> //(Elisha<sup>5</sup>, Samuel<sup>4</sup> Joseph<sup>3</sup>, Samuel<sup>2</sup>, Joseph<sup>1</sup>)// and Lavinia (Fox). On 21 Sept. 1872 he m. (2) Frances D. Harrington, b. 10 Feb. 1835, dau. of Stewart and Rosanna (Robinson). A resident of Winsted, Conn. |

The author cannot forbear to insert here a tribute to his Aunt Harriet, a tall,
angular, plain, old-fashioned woman, pleasant spoken and with singularly
ingratiating manners. My father, her brother, was very fond of her, and was much
opposed to her marriage to Mr. Hawley, who, he felt, was not good enough for his
sister.

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