American Seymour Genealogy

Father: Coleman “ Cole” SEYMOUR, (son of James SEYMOUR), b. 4 Mar 1818, Blaines Crossing Grainger TN, d. 23 Jul 1892, Jackson County Missouri

Coleman Seymour was born in Blaines Crossing TN Grainger County which is now in Union County TN. This is established on World Connect, and Family Search file and his parentage is proved on both files. .He first shows up on the census in Grainger County TN 1840 as a 22 year old with one child under 5 (William A) and a girl under 5 Arvesta and his wife Levica sometimes spelled LaVisa Smith. He migrates next to Jackson County Missouri where he adds to his brood. In 1850 Coleman moves to Pleasonton , Decatur County Iowa. It is said that most of the men who migrated from Missouri to Iowa with him did so with the assumption that they were still settling within the Missouri borders. Because of a border dispute which the state of Iowa won, they found themselves still in Iowa, a free state.. It has been said that Coleman was a rabid abolitionist putting him somewhat at odds with the rest of his neighbors who were pro slavery. My father said most of the other Seymours were confederate but that Coleman and a brother were pro union, The other brother must have been George Washington Seymour who was staunchly pro Union. (See notes for George Washington Seymour) . Certainly the politics were mixed in that area of Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. While most of his neighbors moved back to Missouri by the time of the civil war, Coleman remained in free pro Union Iowa until the end of the civil war. Coleman came from Eastern Tennessee which was an area of that state that was decidely pro Union. Coleman settled in Iowa and on the 1850 Census his name is misspelled Cemore. From Decatur County Iowa genweb comes the following “ The first actual settlers upon the lands now embraced in Hamilton Township appear to have arrived in the forties. CHAMP COLLIER, an uncle of the Missouri Congressman, CHAMP CLARK, who was named after him, ALLEN SCOTT, WYLLIS DICKINSON, AARON and MOSES TURPEN, ED WINKLE, WILLIAM CONOVER, COLE SEYMOUR, ALFRED LOGAN, MARTIN CASLINE, JOHN REID, WILLIAM HAMILTON, WILLIAM ACTON, ASA BURRELL and GIDEON P. WALKER were among the earliest. As most of these came in by the way of Missouri, they naturally held to the view of that state with reference to the boundary question, and supposed they were settling within its limits. This view placed the line six or more miles farther north than the Iowa claim allowed, which was that the Sullivan line run in l8l6 was the true boundary. The supreme court of the United States having decided in favor of the Iowa side of the controversy, these settlers found themselves in a different state from what they intended to settle in, and this will to some extent account for the mixed politics of the township in its early days. The first school was taught in a vacated cabin on the HAMILTON place, about a mile northwest of where Pleasanton is now. COLE SEYMOUR was perhaps the first teacher, followed by JIM DUNKERSON, MR. TILLERY and GIDEON P. WALKER; the latter teaching several terms. The teachers were paid by subscription, and the length of the terms depended on the amount of money raised in this way.” In later census's several of the children claim Missouri as their birthplace, when in fact it shows in 1850 Census Coleman is in Iowa, Decatur County. Also his children who die in the mid 1850's are buried in a Decatur County cemetery of Hamilton years 1852-1854. What accounts for this difference is that the states of Iowa and Missouri were in a land dispute for that very territory. Once the courts decided in the late 1850's his later children are born firmly in Iowa. So on those children who have disputed birth info I have listed it as born in Iowa or Missouri, although I suspect if there is any birth info and I doubt it this far back when records were not required to be kept, it could be in Iowa proper. Iowa won the court battle. In 1860 Coleman can still be found in the Iowa census in Pleasanton. By 1870, the Civil War over and the slavery issue settled, Coleman returns to Jackson County Missouri in the Sniabar township. In 1880 Coleman and Levicy are living in Sniabar still in Jackson County Missouri with their son Harrison,daughter Nancy E and another daughter Mary who is now married to Thomas Orchard. She and Thomas are living with her parents with three of their children, Orville, John and Ella. Sniabar is where it is said Coleman lives out the rest of his days. He dies according to a will index on July 23, 1892 in Jackson County. . Oddly, there is no death record and they were kept in Jackson County. Also, he is not buried in any cemeteries in Jackson or surrounding counties that I know of. . Most of the Seymour family is buried in Blue Springs and Highland Cemetery. A Seymour descendant from Independence, Mo Jeanne Hodges said it was rumored that Coleman may have died while visiting his son in California. That has not been verified.

Mother: Levica “Lucy” SMITH, (daughter of Josiah SMITH), b. 1818, Grainger TN, d. AFT 1895, Jackson County Missouri

Described in her father Josiahs will as Lucy. New information shows that Levica lived at least until 1895 where she is living with her son Harrison, his wife and children in Wyandotte County. She is listed as being 78 years old and born in Tennessee so this is certainly her. His sister Nancy is also living there with what appears to be her daughter Ida.

Married 15 Jan 1835, Grainger County Tennessee

Children:

1. Josiah S SEYMOUR, b. 9 Feb 1836, Grainger County Tennessee, d. 12 Feb 1920, Grain Valley Missouri, bur. Blue Springs Cemetery
2. Arvesta A SEYMOUR, b. 1839, Grainger County Tennessee, d. 13 Jul 1856, Pleasonton Decatur Co Iowa, bur. Hamilton Cemetery Decatur County Iowa
3. Wm Alexander SEYMOUR, b. 23 Jul 1840, Blaines Cross Rd Union TN, d. 21 Mar 1926, San Bernadino CA
4. James B SEYMOUR, b. 13 Oct 1843, Iowa or Missouri
5. John A SEYMOUR, b. 1844, Iowa or Missouri, d. 20 Jan 1920, Greenwood KS Reece
6. Willard P SEYMOUR, b. 1846, Iowa or Missouri, d. Nov 1893, Jackson County Missouri
7. George W SEYMOUR, b. 28 Jul 1848, Iowa or Missouri, d. 13 Sep 1855, Pleasonton Decatur Co Iowa, bur. Hamilton Cemetery Decatur Iowa
8. Nancy E SEYMOUR, b. 1852, Iowa or Missouri
9. Calvan SEYMOUR, b. 1853, Iowa or Missouri, d. 1 Dec 1853
10. Calaway "Calvin" SEYMOUR, b. 23 Oct 1854, Iowa or Missouri, d. 14 May 1919, Wyandotte County Kansas, bur. Highland Park Cemetery, Kansas City KS
11. Mary N SEYMOUR, b. 1855, Pleasonton Decatur Co Iowa
12. Harrison Lafayette SEYMOUR, b. 17 Oct 1858, Pleasonton Decatur Iowa, d. 1 Jan 1933, Kansas City KS, bur. Highland Park, Wyandotte County KS

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