book:willet8
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- | ====== Willet(8) Seymour ====== | + | ====== Willet Seymour ====== |
//Note: This information was supplied by Paul Carleton Seymour.// | //Note: This information was supplied by Paul Carleton Seymour.// | ||
Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
// | // | ||
// | // | ||
- | // | + | // |
- | died 1897 in Thompkins, Delaware, NY. Married Mary Goodrich (b. 1814 in Sidney, | + | died 1897 in Tompkins, Delaware, NY. Married Mary Goodrich (b. 1814 in Sidney, |
- | Delaware, NY; grandaughter of Zenas Goodrich, a Revolutionary soldier. (Rev War | + | Delaware, NY; grandaughter of [[http:// |
- | Pension File R1780, CT Line) and founder of Sidney, New York). | + | a Revolutionary soldier((Rev War Pension File R1780, CT Line)) and founder of Sidney, |
+ | New York). | ||
- | ^ Children (born in Thompkins, Delaware, NY): ^^ | + | ^ Children (born in Tompkins, Delaware, NY): ^^ |
| Lewis | died infancy | | | Lewis | died infancy | | ||
| Amanda | | | | Amanda | | | ||
| Alonzo | 1836 | | | Alonzo | 1836 | | ||
- | | [[gilbert9|Gilbert]] | 1839 | | + | | [[gilbert9|Gilbert]] | 1839-1896 | |
| George Washington | | | | George Washington | | | ||
| Charles | | | | Charles | | | ||
Line 23: | Line 24: | ||
| Florence | | | | Florence | | | ||
| Rector | | | | Rector | | | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[http:// | ||
+ | historical website, more information about William' | ||
+ | ancestors. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | Tompkins on May 6, 1805, and lived his long life of 92 years on that farm, | ||
+ | never having any other home. On William Jr's death, Willet became possessor | ||
+ | of the old homestead and continued the occupations of his father, lumbering | ||
+ | and farming. Later on, he started, and for several years ran a grocery store | ||
+ | in Cannonsville. In 1830, he married his first cousin, Mary Goodrich, | ||
+ | daughter of Allen and Elizabeth (Lord) Goodrich, born in Sidney in 1814. | ||
+ | They had 10 children: Lewis, who died in infancy, Amanda, Alonzo, | ||
+ | **Gilbert** //(my GG Grandfather),// | ||
+ | Willet, Jr., Florence and Rector. Mary Goodrich' | ||
+ | Goodrich was a Revolutionary soldier and a pioneer of Sidney." | ||
+ | |||
+ | //I did some research into Zenas Goodrich, but it's sufficient to say that | ||
+ | he's another member of our family who fought in the Revolutionary War (Proof | ||
+ | document--Rev War Pension File R1780, CT Line)., | ||
+ | another American town, this time the one where both my sister and I, and | ||
+ | both of our parents were born. Also where my Great Grandparents, | ||
+ | Clinton Seymour, and Carrie Cuyle Seymour are buried, after my Grandfather, | ||
+ | Westley C. Seymour moved them both there just prior to the destruction and | ||
+ | flooding of Cannonsville. | ||
+ | Seymour, are also buried there, at Prospect Hill.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | A postcard of Uptown Sidney in the 1950' | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{willet001.jpg|A postcard of Uptown Sidney in the 1950' | ||
+ | |||
+ | //The last time I was there in 1999, it looked remarkably the same aside | ||
+ | from the cars, of course. | ||
+ | 2010, it looks like the town is dying somewhat, since the factories that | ||
+ | fuelled the local economy have mostly closed down. My grandmother, | ||
+ | Dann Seymour, worked at the Hotel Decumber (the black sign in the picture on the right hand side) in the late 1930's as a young | ||
+ | divorcee raising my Uncle Richard Curtis before meeting my grandfather. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Another article on Willet Seymour**, a son of William and Dorothy Seymour, | ||
+ | and the father of the subject of this sketch, was born on the old farm in | ||
+ | Tompkins, May 6, 1805, and was reared to agricultural and lumbering | ||
+ | pursuits, in which he was employed throughout his life. On the death of his | ||
+ | father he became the possessor of the old homestead; and here he still | ||
+ | resides in his ninetieth year, retaining to a remarkable degree all his | ||
+ | faculties. His wife was Mary Goodrich, to whom he was married July 28, 1830. | ||
+ | She was born in Sidney, N.Y., September 1, 1814. Her grandfather, | ||
+ | Goodrich, who was a Revolutionary soldier and a pioneer of Sidney, married | ||
+ | Mercy Lawrence. Allen Goodrich, the father of Mrs. Willet Seymour, married | ||
+ | Miss Elizabeth Lord, a daughter of Eliphalet and Mary (Green) Lord. Willet | ||
+ | and Mary died on the same day, March 30, 1897. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Nine of the ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Willet Seymour lived to reach | ||
+ | maturity namely Amanda, Alonzo, **Gilbert**, | ||
+ | Florence, and Rector, Lewis dying in infancy, and Washington dying at the | ||
+ | age of forty-eight years. Mrs. Seymour was a thrifty housewife, and before | ||
+ | her marriage had learned, besides the necessary household accomplishments, | ||
+ | the art of weaving, carding, and spinning, so that in her early, married | ||
+ | life she dressed her children in the homespun which she made entirely with | ||
+ | her own hands. | ||
+ | |||
+ | //I had to look up carding, as I'd never heard of it before//: | ||
+ | [[wp> | ||
+ | unorganized clumps of fibre and then aligns the individual fibres so that | ||
+ | they are more or less parallel with each other. The word is derived from the | ||
+ | Latin carduus meaning teasle, as dried vegetable teasles were first use to | ||
+ | comb the raw wool. These ordered fibres can then be passed on to other | ||
+ | processes that are specific to the desired end use of the fibre: batting, | ||
+ | felt, woollen or worsted yarn, etc. Carding can also be used to create | ||
+ | blends of different fibres or different colors. When blending, the carding | ||
+ | process combines the different fibres into a homogeneous mix. Commercial | ||
+ | cards also have rollers and systems designed to remove some vegetable matter | ||
+ | contaminants from the wool." | ||
+ | |||
+ | //Following are three different stories on Alonzo Seymour, who was Willet' | ||
+ | oldest son, and who became a big rough lumber dealer in Philadelphia. | ||
+ | There' | ||
+ | them all. Our Gilbert, his younger brother, seemed to do more farming than | ||
+ | lumbering, but was also involved at least part time in lumbering with | ||
+ | Alonzo.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | brother, Don's great grandfather and my great-great uncle)//, was born at | ||
+ | the old homestead in 1836 where he lived with his parents until he was 24 | ||
+ | years old, working for and with his father at the business of lumbering and | ||
+ | farming, lumbering being the main business. He became very expert in every | ||
+ | part of the business - from cutting and getting out the timber and | ||
+ | manufacturing it into lumber, to rafting it down the Delaware River to | ||
+ | Philadelphia and selling it. In later life he became one of the best | ||
+ | salesmen and was one of the largest rough-lumber dealers in the city of | ||
+ | Philadelphia. In about 1859, he went into partnership with his father, | ||
+ | Willet, and bought 200 acres of land on Sands Creek on which there was a one | ||
+ | and a half story log house with a small shed on the backside used for a | ||
+ | woodshed and storeroom. There was also a good frame barn and a water-power | ||
+ | sawmill, and another small board house called the millhouse. In 1860, he | ||
+ | married Josephine Bradbury who was born in Sparta, NJ in 1838. Her father | ||
+ | was John Bradbury, a minister, and Olive O. Terwilliger of Newburgh. | ||
+ | Immediately after their marriage, Alonzo and Josephine moved into the log | ||
+ | house on Sands Creek and proceeded to build a new house and raise a family. | ||
+ | They had six childlren: Oakley Arlington, Irvin Winfield, Ziba Angle (Don's | ||
+ | grandfather), | ||
+ | daughter, Belle (Shackleton). " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ALONZO SEYMOUR, | ||
+ | present tense) //a native resident of the town of Tompkins, which he | ||
+ | represents as a member of the County Board of Supervisors. His great- | ||
+ | grandfather, | ||
+ | (//which we now know is inaccurate, but I wonder why they ever thought that? | ||
+ | Maybe William Jr. had no contact with him, and maybe why stories weren' | ||
+ | passed down very well from generation to generation// | ||
+ | prominent business man at Newburg, N.Y. He also built two Liverpool packets | ||
+ | (// | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | tons burthen, the largest packet at that time in the Liverpool trade. He was | ||
+ | an extensive dealer in real estate, and did much for the improvement of the | ||
+ | village, where he was a resident to the time of his death. | ||
+ | |||
+ | His wife (//this must refer to Rhoda Chidsey, but there doesn' | ||
+ | any record of their marriage, and Jr. was born while Sr. was married to | ||
+ | Esther Sands. I suppose it would have been impolite in the 19th century to | ||
+ | imply that a founding citizen, and respected businessman had been born to | ||
+ | his fathers' | ||
+ | born in New Haven, Conn. (//listed as Greenwich Ct. On other sites, but | ||
+ | actually East Haven would make more sense, since it's Rhoda' | ||
+ | she was quite young//), moved then to Delaware County, where they were among | ||
+ | the first settlers. This son purchased a tract of heavily timbered land on | ||
+ | the south side of the west branch of the Delaware River, which included the | ||
+ | land now owned by the subject of this sketch. In these early days no | ||
+ | railroads or canals shortened the distances between towns and villages, and | ||
+ | the isolated pioneers subsisted chiefly on the products of their own land | ||
+ | and the deer and fish which were then abundant in the surrounding country. | ||
+ | William Seymour, Jr., (//then about 16 years old//) commenced at once on his | ||
+ | removal to his new home to clear his land and take his lumber by-means of | ||
+ | rafts down the river to Philadelphia, | ||
+ | December 16, 1803, he married Dorothy Lord, daughter of Eliphalet and Mary | ||
+ | (Green) Lord. She was born August, 28, 1788, and died January 28, 1866, the | ||
+ | mother of ten children, having lived to see the wilderness about her home | ||
+ | transformed into the seat of a prosperous, wealthy community. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | father in buying the standing lumber and rafting it down the river to | ||
+ | Philadelphia. Upon reaching his majority he purchased a tract of land in the | ||
+ | town of Tompkins, on which there was an improved water-power and saw-mill, | ||
+ | and has been since that time continuously engaged in the manufacture and | ||
+ | sale of lumber. He has also been greatly interested in farming, and in 1888 | ||
+ | purchased the old homestead which he now occupies. In 1860 he married Miss | ||
+ | Josephine Bradbury, who became the mother of six children: Oakley A.; Irvin | ||
+ | W.; Ziba A.; John W.; June; and Kate, who died at the age of five years. And | ||
+ | they have also an adopted child, Belle. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Politically, | ||
+ | active worker of that party, and has held many offices of trust and | ||
+ | responsibility, | ||
+ | in 1893 and re-elected in 1894. He has also held positions on various | ||
+ | committees, his long experience and natural business ability and well-known | ||
+ | integrity making his co-operation doubly valuable. Mr. and Mrs. Seymour are | ||
+ | both earnest, active members of the Baptist church, where they are | ||
+ | universally esteemed." | ||
+ | |||
+ | //The following are also from the Delaware County Historical website, but | ||
+ | were written much earlier, evidently in the late 1800's or early 1900's | ||
+ | based on the use of the present tense while discussing George who was born | ||
+ | in 1848// | ||
+ | |||
+ | **" | ||
+ | William, Jr//.) is a successful farmer in the town of Tompkins, N.Y., where | ||
+ | he was born October 7, 1848. His grandfather was William Seymour, who is | ||
+ | further mentioned in the biography of Alonzo Seymour elsewhere in this | ||
+ | volume. Charles D. Seymour, the father of George, was born in Tompkins, | ||
+ | April 26, 1823, and was brought up a farmer. He married Phoebe Walker, | ||
+ | daughter of John and Betsey Walker, residents of that part of Tompkins now | ||
+ | known as Deposit. George S. Seymour in his childhood was educated at the | ||
+ | district school, and worked on his father' | ||
+ | purchased from his father in 1880. On January 19, 1881, he married M. Eliza | ||
+ | McDonald, daughter of D. G. and Jane (Chambers) McDonald, of Walton. Mrs. | ||
+ | Seymour' | ||
+ | Scotland, and settled in North Carolina, where he remained for thirteen | ||
+ | years, and then came-to; Delaware County, New York. He married Jennette | ||
+ | Smith, daughter of John Smith, of Walton. Their son, D. G. McDonald, was | ||
+ | born in North Carolina, and, when thirteen years of age, removed with his | ||
+ | parents to New York, where he was engaged in the lumber business and | ||
+ | agricultural pursuits. D.G. McDonald married Jane Chambers, who became the | ||
+ | mother of eight children, namely: Maria; Eliza, the wife of the subject of | ||
+ | this sketch; John; Archibald; Jennette; Jane and David, who were twins; and | ||
+ | Sloane. The family are Reformed Presbyterians, | ||
+ | homestead. Mr. McDonald is a Republican in politics. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Mrs. Seymour resided with her parents in Walton, teaching school in various | ||
+ | towns of Delaware County for five years. She is the mother of two children - | ||
+ | - David N. and Ethel N.; and both she and her husband are members of the | ||
+ | Presbyterian church. Politically, | ||
+ | supporter of the platform of that party; and his position as a man of | ||
+ | unquestionable integrity is manifested by the respect with which he is | ||
+ | regarded by all who know him. | ||
+ | |||
+ | //I find it interesting that both the religious and political affiliations | ||
+ | are stressed in the biographies. | ||
+ | being of the highest integrity, which is a trait that the Seymours have been | ||
+ | well known for, for many generations before and afterward, up to and | ||
+ | including, I hope, yours truly. Although my ex-wife would probably disagree, | ||
+ | I believe that others who know me would be in agreement. // | ||
+ | |||
+ | //The following article was written by my GG Uncle Oakley Arlington Seymour | ||
+ | ca. 1934. Note the rather high quality English for a guy in the Depression | ||
+ | in the middle of nowhere upstate NY. Also imagine yourself floating down | ||
+ | the river through the wilderness, and arriving in the big city several days | ||
+ | later. | ||
+ | loading, and I can only imagine what kind of time these guys had in Philly | ||
+ | with their pockets full of cash.....//: | ||
+ | |||
+ | RAFTING IN THE CANNONSVILLE SECTION | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I think that the first rafting that was done on this branch of the Delaware | ||
+ | was not later than the year 1810, as my great-grandfather, | ||
+ | had been here since the year 1800, and was one of the pioneer lumbermen of | ||
+ | the (west) branch. I do not know, nor do I know of any way to find out, who | ||
+ | ran the first raft (presumably of pine or hemlock logs) out of the branch. | ||
+ | William Seymour' | ||
+ | power sawmill here at Cannonsville, | ||
+ | one with Alonzo Seymour on Sands Creek. Willet did his rafting here at | ||
+ | Cannonsville but he and Alonzo rafted the product of the Sands Creek mill at | ||
+ | Hancock, but on this same branch of the Delaware. Between the two of them | ||
+ | they probably rafted several million feet of sawed lumber from these two | ||
+ | places, the most of it being hemlock. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There were several other quite extensive lumbermen in the vicinity of | ||
+ | Cannonsville, | ||
+ | Boyd and Sherman, Jerry and John Gregory, who operated at what was called in | ||
+ | those days, Carpenter' | ||
+ | family of Grants who lived at that place who were quite extensive lumbermen. | ||
+ | Also a father, brother and son by the names of Francis, Aarad and Clark | ||
+ | Frazier, who lumbered practically all their lives. They were also known as | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | Hancock, but no farther. In fact, there were very few men in these parts but | ||
+ | what did more or less lumbering, as it was generally a means of procuring a | ||
+ | little ready cash at least once a year. | ||
+ | |||
+ | On Sands Creek, where I was born and raised, there were nine sawmills, run | ||
+ | by waterpower. All of them were up-and-down mills except one that was | ||
+ | originally of that class and later built over with a circular saw. These | ||
+ | mills all shipped their products, mostly Hemlock, by way of the West Branch, | ||
+ | to the Philadelphia market. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Sands Creek, a tributary of the West Branch, was named for Samuel Sands, | ||
+ | the owner of the largest mill on the creek, and one of the largest lumber | ||
+ | dealers in that whole territory, rafting his lumber at Hancock**, but I do | ||
+ | not know whether he confined his rafting operations to the West Branch or | ||
+ | whether he used both. The Crary Bros. also were quite big lumber dealers, | ||
+ | and they, also, had a mill at this place. Alonzo Seymour was one of the | ||
+ | largest lumbermen on the creek. I once heard him say that he figured that | ||
+ | over a million feet of lumber had been manufactured in his one small mill on | ||
+ | Sands Creek, and it was all rafted on the West Branch of the Delaware at | ||
+ | Hancock, just below the suspension bridge which goes over the river into | ||
+ | Pennsylvania. On the opposite side of the river from where he rafted I saw | ||
+ | in one spring what they claimed was a million feet of hemlock logs which | ||
+ | were rafted that spring. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I am not posted at all on lumbermen anywhere above Rock Rift, although I | ||
+ | think that rafts have been run from as far up as Hamden, and possibly as far | ||
+ | as Delhi. But if they were they would have to have been very small, | ||
+ | especially in length. As near as I can remember, they used to be about 16 to | ||
+ | 18 feet wide by 150 to 160 feet long. If a man had two of them, he would run | ||
+ | them out of the branch single, and lash the two together when they reached | ||
+ | the main river. It used to be quite an event for the boys here in the | ||
+ | village to go down the branch to Hancock and then walk back 11 miles by way | ||
+ | of Sands Creek. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another creek which contributed considerable traffic to the West Branch was | ||
+ | 'Roods Creek,' | ||
+ | do not recall, which came into the West Branch from the Pennsylvania side at | ||
+ | Hales Eddy. I call to mind Begeal, Travis and Gardinier as quite prominent | ||
+ | lumbermen in that territory. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The main timber rafted from this section was hemlock, mostly sawed into | ||
+ | scantling or joists, 3 inches thick, from 4 to 12 inches wide, and from 12 | ||
+ | to 24 feet long. However, there was very little of the latter length. In the | ||
+ | later years of rafting considerable maple was cut and rafted to the | ||
+ | Philadelphia market. Raftsmen would put in a hemlock bottom and load the | ||
+ | maple on it. The maple was usually sawed into 2 inch planks. If there were | ||
+ | more than 60 or 70 thousand feet, it was usually made into two rafts. I have | ||
+ | heard of two hemlock rafts that counted out 180 thousand feet in | ||
+ | Philadelphia. Rafts from here were built from 16 to 20 feet wide; from 160 | ||
+ | to 180 feet long, and had from two to five oars, according to the size of | ||
+ | the raft and the amount of water they would draw. I have heard of their | ||
+ | drawing a high as 33 inches of water. They used from 2 to 5 hands, according | ||
+ | to the size of the raft and whether it was double or single. I have heard of | ||
+ | one man running a light raft, which they called a " | ||
+ | Trenton alone. I went down once, there being four of us on the raft, and we | ||
+ | had a very pleasant trip, reaching Trenton in four days. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Some other names involved with rafting on the Delaware are: Daniel Skinner, | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | Delaware; Josiah Parks; Peter Swartwood Barnes; Oliver Tyler; George C. | ||
+ | Abraham; John B. Conklin; Elias Mitchell; Nathan Calkin; Benjamin; Daniel | ||
+ | and Stiles Chamberlain; | ||
+ | and Martin Love; George Grant; Jeremiah and Sherman Gregory; Huntington; | ||
+ | James Ostrom; James Lovelace; John Sprague; Sherman Sutton; Israel Gillette; | ||
+ | Henry and Steve Durfee; " | ||
+ | Kelsey; Caleb Kelsey; Alfred Beers; Jacob and Samuel A. Hathaway; Nathan | ||
+ | Dean; George L. Rood; Benaih G. Jayne; D.W., S.F. and J.O. Whitaker; David | ||
+ | Lord; J. Harrington Smith; Milton Whitaker; Stiles; Bridges; Barmer Hadley; | ||
+ | Henry Evans; George Peters; John M. Briggs, Sr.; George W. Briggs; Fletcher | ||
+ | Palmer; Palmer Boroughs; G. Halsey Bielby; Benjamin S. Boroughs; G. Mott | ||
+ | Briggs; Albert Boroughs; Edgar Webb; Moses Cole; George Huyck; Alexander; | ||
+ | David Lord; Bonnefond; Joshua Pine; MacLean; Weed; Ogden; Abraham and Judge | ||
+ | Isaac; Thomas and Jared Marvin; Isaac and William Townsend; Beers; Stockton; | ||
+ | Bennett Beardsley; Jeter Gardner; A.N. Wheeler; M. Case; Sylvester Brisack; | ||
+ | Joseph Combs; N.C. Thomas; George Marvin; John Launt; Ira Peake; Joseph and | ||
+ | J.B. Yentes; Eli and Alfred Gould; Hull and George Bradley; Nichols; | ||
+ | Wakeman; Graham; Cables; Buckbee; William Boucher; Elias Mitchell; Leander | ||
+ | S. Conklin; Boney Quillen." | ||
book/willet8.1272843294.txt.gz · Last modified: 2010/05/02 18:34 by jims