Wm. Franklin Seymour, was born in Oneida county, New York, February 16, 1836, and died July 20, 1902, aged 66 years, 5 months, and 4 days.
Mr. Seymour at an early age was placed in Hanover Academy where he obtained a liberal education, and about the time he reached his majority he came to Minnesota territory and visited his cousin, Mrs. O.P. Whitcomb, and after viewing some of the plains of Minnesota, in 1856 he bought a homestead in Orion township, Olmstead county, with a shanty on it and eight acres broke, for which he gave a gold watch.
In 1858 he went to Illinois and married Miss Sarah Ryan who brought happiness and aid to his domestic life. He brought his bride from Winona to his claim on a lumber wagon freighted with a few households and provisions.
The first settlers of our state were stalwart men and women. They lived and worked in sun shine and rain, summer and winter to make themselves and children comfortable. I don’t think the pioneer life in Minnesota will ever fade from my vision.
Forty-six years the coming October1), I stopped with my family for my first night in Olmstead county, where this young man, Seymour, was stopping with three other young men who were holding claims. They are now all gone. Mr. Seymour was a marvel of a husband, an affectionate, loving father, a model citizen, prompt in his business, always keeping his word good and thereby secured the confidence of his neighbors. God was good to him here, and now has taken him to the mansion prepared for the redeemed. What a heaven of bliss awaits the obedient and faithful. Mr. Seymour leaves a wife and seven children. We will miss the father, husband, and brother, but will meet again in the morning, where our joy shall be unbroken. God will clear away the mist.
J.W. Fulkerson
Predmore, Minn.